Black Jack's Story, The tale of a Scalawag

[Second Hand Pat]

At the request of Vera,

Several summers ago my daughter Diana and her trainer Jane decided to go on a trail ride in the neighborhood. It was early summer and the weather was getting hot as summers tend to get in Florida.

They were having a grand old time talking, the horses were quiet and one of them noticed something black under a pine tree. They walked the horses over to investigate and it was a young crow, feathered but just out of the nest. The crow was sitting in the sun and panting quite heavy.

Diana hopped down and placed the bird in the shade. Neither Diana or Jane had water so they rushed back to the barn, untacked the horses and hopped in Jane’s truck to rescue the crow. They found it still sitting in the same spot, picked it up and took it back to the barn where Diana was able to give it water and cool it down. After all, those black feathers get hot.

I arrived to pick Diana up from the barn and was told about the crow. I went and took a look, pitiful little thing. I asked what they are feeding it, “nothing” was the answer. I suggested moisten cat food since I had raised some crows as a kid. I also asked what Jane was going to do with it. I sort of fancied raising another crow.

One of Jane’s other students Tiffany saw the crow and wanted to take it home. She called her parents and asked if she could bring it home, they said yes and the crow went home with Tiffany.

More later...

[Skip]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats how you spell Scalawag!!

who knew?!:coffee:

[Second Hand Pat]

Learn something new Skip...

Scalawag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the English slang term for a young rascal or hooligan

[Skip]

i know the word.. i just have never seen it spelled out LOL!!!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Looks kind of weird doesn't it.

[Keith Perkins]

My mom from time to time talks about having a crow as a kid. I grew up 1/4 from her parents out in the country and if you knew my grandpa you wouldn't be overly surprised he climbed 30 or 40 feet up into a pine tree to get that family pet.

Also when I lived in the Chicago Suburbs we had friends (Kim and Jim) that had a crow, except there's lived full time in the corner of the dining room and came from California. Jim was out there just road tripping with his bike when a city crew trimming palm trees tossed a nest out of the tree with two baby crows in it. One jumped and died but the other road it out in the nest. Jim asked the guys what they're going to do with it and of course they say nothing. It road in his backpack from CA to IL and lived a VERY long life, much to Kim's dismay. Oh, the name of the bird was Edgar Allan Crow.

Waiting to hear more of your story.

[Second Hand Pat]

So three days later the crow comes back. Tiffany decided he was more then she could to handle, so Jane offered him to me. Of course I jumped on that one. Birds are a passion for me and I’m reliving memories of my childhood crow friends Midnight and Inky.

So home this crow comes in a cat carrier and he’s eating good, about four times a day. Since I work during the day Diana got to do the mid day feedings. Well, a couple of weeks go by and this crow is growing big time. His flight feathers are almost full length and this boy wants to fly.

You realize how small your house is when a crow is trying to learn to fly. Time to move the crow outside.

[Second Hand Pat]

So the crow is moved to a critter proof outside cage with a couple of perches for exercise. He was feed the first couple of times inside the cage. Important to establish the cage as “home base”. Time to allow the crow his freedom. Up on the roof he goes, now to the tree, back to the roof.

Ever watch a large bird land on a twig. The crow attempts to land and ends up falling through the leaves until he comes to something which can support him, wings all spread out over the leaves. He’s ok, got to learn somehow.

It’s getting late and time to put the crow to bed. The crow flies off across the neighbor’s place next door and lands in the very top of an oak tree. I call to him and he answers back, but he’s not coming. I periodically call to him all afternoon but he’s stuck in that tree. Night is coming and the owls will be out. Nite crow, hope you are there in the morning.

[Jason K.]

this story's getting good pat. more when your willing...hope it has a happy ending...

[Second Hand Pat]

:grin:

[Second Hand Pat]

So I sit on pins and needles all night hoping this silly crow is ok. I have grown quite fond of him even through he still has no name.

So the next morning I go out at dusk and call to the crow. No answer. Oh no. Is my little crow still alive? Go back inside and wait awhile. Get some coffee, let the dog out and go out again.

The sun is up by this time and it’s getting pretty bright out. I call again and I hear this little answer back. The boy survived the night. I’m dancing with joy. I continue to call to him and he finally comes. He is one hungry baby bird. I feed him and even manage to teach him to land on my arm that day.

[Vee]

Looking forward to the next "Scalawag" installment!

[Second Hand Pat]

My mom from time to time talks about having a crow as a kid. I grew up 1/4 from her parents out in the country and if you knew my grandpa you wouldn't be overly surprised he climbed 30 or 40 feet up into a pine tree to get that family pet.

Also when I lived in the Chicago Suburbs we had friends (Kim and Jim) that had a crow, except there's lived full time in the corner of the dining room and came from California. Jim was out there just road tripping with his bike when a city crew trimming palm trees tossed a nest out of the tree with two baby crows in it. One jumped and died but the other road it out in the nest. Jim asked the guys what they're going to do with it and of course they say nothing. It road in his backpack from CA to IL and lived a VERY long life, much to Kim's dismay. Oh, the name of the bird was Edgar Allan Crow.

Waiting to hear more of your story.

Keith, Edgar Allan Crow...that's cute. I had three crows growing up. They are a ton of fun and can get you in a world of hurt with the neighbors.


this story's getting good pat. more when your willing...hope it has a happy ending...


Looking forward to the next "Scalawag" installment!

Thanks guys, here you go.

[Second Hand Pat]

Now he never really would come to me at my request unless he wanted too. If I called to him he would always answer. Which was good, at least I could find him.

If I offered him something, food, a twig, rock or piece of grass, he would come and land on my arm, hand, head whatever was handy to checkout the treasure I was offering. I could never offer something I wanted to keep, he would take it and go hide it somewhere.

If he had something you wanted you had to trade for it. If he didn’t like what you had to offer off he would fly. Sometimes I would offer a little white rock and he would say nope, I would then offer an identical little white rock and that one would be ok.

The crow lived outside from that point on. He continued to grow and became an excellent flyer. Diana and a neighbor named the crow “Black Jack”, so now he had a name.

[Second Hand Pat]

Since I work during the day, I would feed him in the morning but keep him in the outside cage until I came home in the afternoon. As he got older he was left out more and more. Soon he was left out even at night to roost wherever he chose. Since I intended for him to return to crow society at some point, I figured this was a good thing even if it put him at risk of owls and hawks. Red hawks like to prey on crows, especially little Fish Crows. Black Jack was a Fish Crow vs the larger Common Crow.

As Black Jack grow up that summer, he became quite the scalawag. He terrorized the geese, the horses and even the dog. He would dive bomb the geese and the dog. The dog would try and catch him but Jack was too quick. Jack would land on the horse’s back and peck them. A tail swish would send him on.

He would even bat me in the head with his feet as he flew by when I walked between the barn and the house. Silly crow.

[jball1125]

Awesome story. Im hooked

[vera]

Oh Pat , this is my bed time story!!




You realize how small your house is when a crow is trying to learn to fly. Time to move the crow outside.

at this point i held my breath thinking u gonna buy a new house LOL
so Black Jack is listed main local offender:)

[Second Hand Pat]

Awesome story. Im hooked

Thanks, it was popular on the other forum also to the point where it was going to become a book.


Oh Pat , this is my bed time story!!

at this point i held my breath thinking u gonna buy a new house LOL
so Black Jack is listed main local offender:)

Yes Vera, main offender inside and out. :grin:

[vera]

More !!

[Second Hand Pat]

Black Jack could never quite understand why he couldn’t come back into the house. He would try and occasionally succeed to fly through the front door when I opened it to go inside. We have ledges above the doors and Jack would land on them and look into the house, looking for me to come out either with food or just to play with him. He would also land on the window sills to look in.

After a while the hubby would fuss at me about the bird poop around the door entrances and holes in the window screens. The hubby did run a monofilament fishing line across two small nails to encourage Jack to land elsewhere. That did work.

[Second Hand Pat]

One of our favorite games was playing with the little white rocks in the driveway. I would sit in the driveway and pick up little tiny rocks. Soon Jack would join me.

I would pick up a rock and offer it to him. He would give a little gruff call, take the rock and put it in the back of his throat. He would continue to accept rocks until every time he would open his mouth, a couple rocks would fall out. After a while, he figured that he couldn’t hold any more rocks, would fly of the top of the phone pole and dump the rocks, and then come back for more.

[Second Hand Pat]

Black Jack had a rather interesting relationship with our neighbor John. John was totally fascinated with Jack but Jack was not totally trusting of John. John would call Jack and hold out a cracker to entice Jack to land on his arm.

Well, Jack was having nothing to do with that. Jack would fly directly at John and would grab the cracker as he flew by. After a while it became a game between Jack and John. They would go through about three crackers a day.

A couple of weeks go by and Jack takes the game to a new level. He started landing on the roof of John’s house, reaching over the edge and tapping the window for John to come out and give him a cracker. John was thrilled at how smart Jack was until Jack started tapping on the window early in the morning and waking John up. Then John was annoyed. I bet Jack was laughing his tail feathers off.

[Second Hand Pat]

Post 37 next installment.

[RWD HERO]

subscribed

[vera]

He started landing on the roof of John’s house, reaching over the edge and tapping the window for John to come out and give him a cracker. John was thrilled at how smart Jack was until Jack started tapping on the window early in the morning and waking John up. Then John was annoyed. I bet Jack was laughing his tail feathers off.

haha ,u brought a trouble in to neighbourhood ! did Jack relatives come visit him

[Second Hand Pat]

They did. Future installment.

[two utes]

Ever thought of writting novels? .....l like it, and waiting for more :D

Thanks

[Jason K.]

Pat, you are quite gifted...

[Second Hand Pat]

subscribed

Thanks.


Ever thought of writting novels? .....l like it, and waiting for more :D

Thanks

Only for a sec, I'm not creative enough :( Writing is like painting. Lots of good ones out there but only a few get noticed.


Pat, you are quite gifted...

Thanks but truly Black Jack gets all the credit.

[Second Hand Pat]

I'm glad you guys are enjoying these little stories. They are being back memories reposting and reading them all again...and a few tears and lots of laughs.

[Keith Perkins]

And I hope as I write this you are writing the next installment.

[Second Hand Pat]

A neighbor had a sister who rescued turtles from construction sites. The sister needed a site to release a large female turtle and she called and asked us if we could accommodate this turtle.

We have some wonderful turtle habitat and said of course, bring her on over. The sister Becky also wanted to meet Black Jack. I told her Jack sometimes made himself invisible to some people but to please bring the turtle over and we would see about Jack.

So Becky brings the turtle over and we are making her comfortable in one of the available borrows and here comes Jack. He took right to Becky. Becky was wearing a brightly colored cloth hair band and Jack tried to steal it by landing on her head and trying to jerk it right out of her hair.

Becky removed the band from her hair and was going to offer it to Jack. I told her if she wanted to keep it then she better hide it. So she puts it in her shirt pocket. Well, Jack was bound and determined to acquire that hair band. So he nonchalantly flies by and grabs it right out of her pocket and keeps right on flying. Now I’m embarrassed and ticked, darn thieving crow.

Becky is laughing and I’m fussing at the crow. Gosh, it was so funny. I tried trading a variety of sticks, rocks and even food, but Jack wanted to keep that hair band. No trading that day. I never saw that hair band after that day. He had a hidey hole somewhere I never found. Oh geez, life with a crow.

[Second Hand Pat]

We were boarding my daughter’s horse Nautica at this time and a fellow boarder Joyce was considering building her barn on her newly acquired property. Tom and I had finished our barn the prior year and Joyce wanted to stop by and take a look see at my barn for ideas building her own. She also wanted to meet Black Jack.

Whenever Diana or I went outside, Black Jack would invertible follow us around looking for attention, a handout or just to play. So of course Black Jack would join me in the barn whenever I went to feed or just fool with the horses.

Now the barn was pretty much Jack’s space. He could fly through and in the barn. Being a Florida barn it was very open to allow for air circulation during the summer months. Jack would land on top of the doors or sides of each stall. The stall doors were the metal door you could buy from Tractor Supply and were the sliding type. Whenever I opened a stall door I always had to be mindful of where Jack was, I didn’t want to catch his foot in the door.

So Joyce comes over one Saturday morning and we start exploring the barn, both the inside and outside. I was telling her the story of how I designed the barn and some of the building process. Of course Jack was following us around and being his generally pesky self. Joyce starts asking questions about the stall doors and I demonstrate opening one of the doors and checking to ensure Jack was out of the way. I mentioned about being careful about Jack with the doors.

After talking for a while longer Joyce was getting ready to leave and she decided to open the stall door one more time. As the door slid back I heard a very angry caw, looked up and the door had captured Black Jack’s foot. I quickly grabbed the door and closed it, releasing Jack’s foot and off he flew still cawing angrily. Now Joyce was very concerned embarrassed and apologetically but she rather quickly left.

That was fine with me, I needed to go find Jack is see how bad the damage was. Well it took a while to find the silly bird, remember he was free roaming by this time. Actually I cawed to him and he finally answered. I think he was quite mad at me. I was able to entice him back to his cage with food and caught him.

His nail was pretty much destroyed by the door and I was able to clip it off. The bone in the toe seemed fine and the skin was not broken. I called the vet and described what happen. He suggested keeping some goo on the end of the toe while it healed. He did warn that toe might swell and it did for about a week.

The toe healed fine but the nail never did grow back. It didn’t seem to bother Jack and he did finally forgave me.

[Jason K.]

author/pet vet... nice.:)

[Second Hand Pat]

Jay, with horses you learn how to do a lot for yourself. Even give shots.




Next installment post 49 (my starting point for next installment).

[dadecountyalan]

pat this story is amazing. to be honest im not a big reader. i only read things that have to do with cars and sports.


but i am hooked on this story!!!!!!!

[Second Hand Pat]

Alan, glad Jack was able to capture your interest. :grin:

[RWD HERO]

Pat, is this your bird?!?!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/02/florida.hawk.folo/index.html?npt=NP1#

[Second Hand Pat]

You mean Black Jack?? The link is a hawk, not sure which type of hawk. Black Jack was a crow. Now I do have a pair of copper hawks which nest behind the barn. The hawk in the link could be a coppers hawk but hard to tell.

[Keith Perkins]

I have a pair of bald eagles that fish in the river I live near.:p

[Second Hand Pat]

Fun to watch them fish? You ever heard the eagles call to each other. They sound like a squeaky door. Most undignified for a large bird of prey.

[Keith Perkins]

There just sitting in the tops of tall trees watching for fish. Haven't seen one of them actually get one. Took a woman that was here from Idaho to look for one of her beloved cardinals, saw the eagle instead. The first I ever saw floated about 50 - 60 feet over my head while I was fishing in northern WI. At the same place while I was hanging over the side of a boat trying to retrieve a sinking fishing plug off a the rope of a foam buoy so I had to have the top of my head in the water I had one watch me from the top of a pine tree like what the heck is he doing? Heard one kill a heron there too, or more like heard a heron get killed by one. Seen one grab something out of a ditch about 25 feet away from me as I went past it in the car, no, maybe 20 feet. That one was close.

[Second Hand Pat]

Keith, sound like you have a fair amount of eagles in your area. I have seen eagles grab smaller birds on wing while driving to work. It happen a couple of times so suspect that particular eagle developed it's own hunting technique.

[Keith Perkins]

Cool. They haven't found a nest in our county but I've got to believe that pair has one somewhere nearby. There are two really good spots I can think or where it might be. One you can't get to and the other would be tough. That one I'd like to check with a canoe.

[Second Hand Pat]

Sounds like a fun trip via canoe even if you do not find the nest. If you heard that squeaky door noise you found the nest. Take your fishing pole.

[Jason K.]

keith they are in migration. they follow the river's, as those are the open body's of water... i've seen bald's along the fox this time of year as it has just opened. quite an amazing site to see such a large bird, and expecially this far south, for me at least. used to seeing them in the north wood's.

[Keith Perkins]

Yea, but I've seen this pair all summer the last couple of years. I forgot, that bridge over the river on the way to my house. One day I came home for lunch to feed babies and was heading back to work and pair flew maybe 50 feet about it right in front of me. Man was I glad I went home that day.

But back to the crow, more Pat more.

[Second Hand Pat]

In the morn...night, night

[Keith Perkins]

:( No bedtime story??? PLEASE, just 1 more??

[Second Hand Pat]

Keith, I was liberally in bed when I posted the last post from my iphone. Here ya go...

[Second Hand Pat]

Black Jack was just a little Fish Crow which is one of the two types of crows found in Florida. We had both types of crows in the area, the Common Crow and the Fish Crow. Occasionally a pair of Common Crows would come torment Black Jack. They would stand either on the roof or the closest telephone pole, caw at Jack and drive bomb him if he was out in the open.

So whenever these crows showed up Jack would hide out on either the front or back porch. I would hear Jack caw on the porch and walk out to see who was raising a ruckus. Jack would insist that I help him defend his home. So I would get to walk up to their perch and caw angrily at the intruders. Sometimes I would have to “flap my wings” to ensure I was making the appropriate impression on the intruder crows. As the crows flew off Jack would join to let me know he was supporting me 100% from the safely of the porch.

[Second Hand Pat]

Life with a crow is a wondrous thing. They are fascinating creatures; they’re smart, interactive, demanding, annoying, can drive you totally crazy inside about five minutes.

For example, let’s say you want to eat a sandwich on your front porch. You quietly walk outside and sit down to enjoy your lunch in peace. It’s a beautiful day, the birds are singing, the horses are coming in for their noontime drink of water and suddenly the crow comes winging into the front yard and then he sees you and you are all his.

He wings his way towards you, lands on the arm of your chair, hops in your lap and promptly tries to steal your lunch right out of your hand. While you are defending your sandwich, he eyeballs your drink and over it goes off the arm of the chair. Thank goodness for plastic.

By this time the only you are going to get any peace is to share. So you offer the bird a small piece of bread and off he goes to the roof or telephone pole to eat his winnings. He returns in about 60 seconds for his next share. So you go through lunch being blackmailed by the crow. You have to go back inside the house to get any peace.

[Second Hand Pat]

Next up post 53.

[Jason K.]

I now have my honey hooked on this story too... though she has not yet bought into raising a crow.

[Second Hand Pat]

I now have my honey hooked on this story too... though she has not yet bought into raising a crow.

Jay, it's most likely illegal in most states. Believe crows are protected now with some treaty with Mexico. As a kid having crows were no big deal as they were not protected. I would go with a cockatiel.

With Black Jack I did call the local animal rescue and they are inundated with young birds in the spring time so were rather full and believe they even suggested cat food.

[Keith Perkins]

I should have drawn out the PLEASSSSSSSE, just so you could have envisioned a child doing it easier.

[Second Hand Pat]

You funny Keith, I had already turned off the iphone so didn't see your post until this morning. Just for you I will post another one this morning. Can't have you feeling neglected.

[Second Hand Pat]

There are many outside things which become impossible in the present of a crow. One of these include riding your horse. Image riding calmly along and here comes Black Jack and lands on either you or the horse.

Now with a green broke horse and a rather green rider you rather not risk spooking the horse if the silly bird lands on you or a buck if the bird lands on the horse and pecks the horse.

Another is when you have a horse in cross ties for either grooming, bathing or tacking up. You might see where a crow and a horse in cross ties could be a bad mix. So whenever Diana or I rode, poor Black Jack would get locked up.

Other times when Black Jack got locked up was when I grilling outside. A hot grill with food and a inquisitive crow is recipe for disaster.

Now when Black Jack was locked up it was a pitiful sight. He would jump from perch to perch, cawing his head off. I felt so bad for him listening to his racket which he would continue until he was released.

[Jason K.]

I've raised cockatiel's, fun bird's to have they just don't like to return from a tree when you call them though...lol

[Second Hand Pat]

Two more short stories and it's done. :(

[Second Hand Pat]

I've raised cockatiel's, fun bird's to have they just don't like to return from a tree when you call them though...lol

Me too Jay, they are a hoot. You can teach them to return to you inside. My first cockatiel was called Turkey-Bird and that boy could fly even inside. I miss that bird. He was 25 years when he passed.

[Second Hand Pat]

You have most likely not considered what it would be like to go grasshopper hunting with a crow. Well, it’s sort of fun. Crow are not meant to catch bugs on the wing. They are a fine all purpose flyer to basically get from one point to another.

So in one of my effort to prepare Black Jack for crow society I thought grasshopper hunting would be a fine activity for the bored crow. It went like this. I would walk through the grass looking for grass hoppers. One would either hop or fly up and we would follow it to its landing spot.

I would either catch it and offer it to Jack or Jack learned to find it and catch it as I moved my hand away. Another technique was I would flush the grass hopper and Jack would watch it go down, fly over, land and catch it sometimes. He even managed to catch a couple on the wing which meant he got lucky. Our success rate was pretty low and was definitely not a main method for feeding a hungry crow. So it was more of a game but definitely fun.

[Second Hand Pat]

It was now December and Black Jack was a beautiful black glossy Juvenile crow. He had gone through his first mold at 6 months and now looked like an adult crow. He was still the ruler of the barn yard and any thing outside.

He had odd ways of showing affection. He would sit on my arm, fluff his feathers, cock his head to the side, take my finger in his month and give a gruff little caw. I would rub his beak with my thumb. He would hold still and close his eyes like it felt good.

Four days before Christmas I returned to the house about four o’clock, I was off from work for the next several days and the week after Christmas. I changed from my work clothes and went outside and cawed to Jack. No crow. I walked out to the pasture and cawed again. Still no crow.

I saw good neighbor John and asked about Black Jack. He had seen Jack a little earlier so I wasn’t worried. Later I went out to feed the horses. Still no crow.

I never saw Black Jack after that. I do not know where he went or what happened to him. It’s possible a hawk got him but I never found any sign of that. There have been occasions in the pasture where a crow stopped by and seemed to say Hello. I couldn’t tell for sure if it was Black Jack and I couldn’t get close enough to see if there was a missing toenail. Good neighbor John thinks he has seen Jack too, I chose to believe that Black Jack returned and become a responsible member of crow society like it was meant to be.

The End.

[Second Hand Pat]

...From the original thread

I do believe I saw Black Jack a couple of years ago. Have a crow land on the fence beside me in the pasture and look me in the eye. I went to look for a missing toe but it flew off before I could check. In my heart I believe it was Black Jack checking in to let me know all was well.

[Second Hand Pat]

These are the only Black Jack pictures I have.

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Black%20Jack/homepics016.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Black%20Jack/homepics015.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Black%20Jack/homepics022.jpg

[Jason K.]

what an awsome story pat! definatley worthy of being published. thank's again for sharing a piece of your life with us. friend request being sent...:D

[Second Hand Pat]

what an awsome story pat! definatley worthy of being published. thank's again for sharing a piece of your life with us. friend request being sent...:D

Thanks Jay, friend request accepted. I explored the hurdles of becoming published but it's a fairly expense, lengthy ordeal with no guarantees. Maybe when I retire I will look into that some more.

[April]

Very good story . maybe he went off and got married. Sad you never knee what became of him.

[LizStreithorst]

Submit it to a bird magazine. You would make a few bucks and then be considered a published author. Very nice story.

[Cuchulainn]

sigh....such a great story Pat. Thank you for sharing! Been anticipating each new entry as they came....signing in first thing in the morning, then again late night, just to read some more. I agree, this story should be published for all to read ;)

[vera]

Pat , sorry to hear u lost contact with birdy he might have become a responsible member of crow society
and a good husband :)
thank u for sharing yr story was beautiful !

[Second Hand Pat]

Very good story . maybe he went off and got married. Sad you never knee what became of him.

Thanks what I think April, my neighbor John and I both think we have had Black Jack visits so choose to believe he's out there being a well..crow.


Submit it to a bird magazine. You would make a few bucks and then be considered a published author. Very nice story.

Thanks Liz, that's a actually a good idea. There could be Black Jack's installments for a year. :cheesy:


sigh....such a great story Pat. Thank you for sharing! Been anticipating each new entry as they came....signing in first thing in the morning, then again late night, just to read some more. I agree, this story should be published for all to read ;)

Thanks Cuchulainn, seems like Black Jack's has wormed his way into a couple of hearts here on the board.

[Second Hand Pat]

Pat , sorry to hear u lost contact with birdy he might have become a responsible member of crow society
and a good husband :)
thank u for sharing yr story was beautiful !

Lets hope so Vera and you are more than welcome. I'm glad you asked about Jack's story.

One last tidbit....One day talking to my neighbor John who is in one or two of the stories. John told me he used knowing a tame crow as a dating tool. He would tell ladies he took a fancy to that he knew a tame crow and they would to come over and watch Jack steal crackers from John's hand. John never shared whether he scored or not. ;)

[Cuchulainn]

One last tidbit....One day talking to my neighbor John who is in one or two of the stories. John told me he used knowing a tame crow as a dating tool. He would tell ladies he took a fancy to that he knew a tame crow and they would to come over and watch Jack steal crackers from John's hand. John never shared whether he scored or not. Quote~

Brilliant! And here I am wooing the ladies with my Fish nerdiness, and they don't even do tricks ;)

[Second Hand Pat]

Brilliant! And here I am wooing the ladies with my Fish nerdiness, and they don't even do tricks ;)

Bring them over at feeding time...or maybe a dog. :grin:

[Jason K.]

Wooing you say. my wooing worked so well i had to move all my charm's to their own room downstair's...

[Second Hand Pat]

Jay...so you have your own fish room?

[Jason K.]

yes, just finished it... put the last of the tank's down there this morning. if I were creative enough in the literal sense I would write a story. it would be called... the fishroom fiasco! you see I may be good with stuctural problem's and what not.thing's like writing and photography are beyond me. hell i'm sure it's taken all of ten minute's to compose this have a@@ correctly... I'll try to get either my son or my brother to help me post some pic's, once all are settled in.

[Second Hand Pat]

I would love to see pictures of your fish room, once all are settled of course. If I can help with posting pictures holler back. I upload my pictures to photobucket and post them here via the Insert Image. Sorry if moving all was a PITA but sure it will be worth it once done.

[saltydog]

loved the story Pat! hopefully there are little Black jacks all around you!!

[Second Hand Pat]

loved the story Pat! hopefully there are little Black jacks all around you!!

Hum, now that you mention it the crow nesting activity around the house did seem to increase after Jack left. :grin:

[vera]

.One day talking to my neighbor John who is in one or two of the stories. John told me he used knowing a tame crow as a dating tool. He would tell ladies he took a fancy to that he knew a tame crow and they would to come over and watch Jack steal crackers from John's hand. John never shared whether he scored or not. ;)

pathetic lol
bet he miss BJ :D

[Second Hand Pat]

pathetic lol
bet he miss BJ :D

Me too ;)

[brewmaster15]

Pat,
I just saw this story here, what a great read.. It reminded me of a certain common crow I kept for a month that was caught and injured by my cat when I was a teenager. They are an amazing bird, and very intelligent...... we let ours go as soon as it could fly again....but I pleaded and begged for my parents to let me keep him.... Their wisdom prevailed...They pulled the..."Your cats going to wind up killing it if we keep it" whiich was true as my cat at that time was a notorious predator of anything that moved let alone flew... Legend has it that my neighbor watched him pounce on a red shouldered hawk that was attempting to take away one of kittens. All our cats after this one have been indoors only. :)

I too think you should publish the story....Its a great read.

-al

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Al, I bet you still miss that crow even through you had it for only a month. I had three crows as a kid, Inky, Midnight and Scrawny. Inky was an adult whose flight feathers were eaten away by mites (guessing here). My dad and I treated this bird and finally got it's feathers right so it could go free. It was not happy as a caged bird and did not accept being handled by people.

I raided a nest and acquired Midnight and Scrawny as fledglings. I know..me bad. I was a kid and crows were not protected then. I see some possible Midnight stories. ;)

[Keith Perkins]

Pat - I finally picked up the phone and gave my mother call. After greetings I told her I was going to test her memory from about 70 years ago...she was thrilled. Happy to say she passed the test with flying colors though, their pet crows name was Josey.

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Keith and glad your mom passed her test. Josey a great name.

Seems like there is quite a few pet crows. Al had one too for a short time.

[vera]

I raided a nest and acquired Midnight and Scrawny as fledglings. I know..me bad. I was a kid and crows were not protected then. I see some possible Midnight stories. ;)

wait !! i'll make coffee LOL

[Pardal]

I will be looking forward :) for another nice reading and excellent story.

Julian.

[Second Hand Pat]

Bumping this up in case some of the newer members might like a different read. :)