Behind the Lines: by David Heiller

David Heiller Goldfinches,  the old standby. This spring is going to the birds. It’s too chilly to get excited about the garden. The Twins are in the tank. But wow, the birds are something else. Many people have commented about how glorious the birds are this year. And not just at the feeder. Cindy and I were driving home from church on Sunday when we saw a bald eagle sitting in the top of a poplar tree, right at the side of County Road 46, a mile west of Sturgeon Lake. Sharp shinned hawk We pulled off the road to get a closer look. He didn’t like that, and away he flew, carried by air currents we couldn’t even feel. Red Hansen has a hawk at his feeders. Red doesn’t know how to handle the situation. The hawk is just following its instinct, and Red is respectful of that. On the other hand, it’s hard to see those songbirds get picked off. Red stepped out of his shop one day, and there came the hawk about head high, right past him. Red had a stick in his ...

David Heiller   I was eating supper at the Redwood Cafe the other evening, and had an interesting exchange with an elderly lady on the way out. We had parked next to each other. She was driving an immaculate white something, and I had my good old 1996 Taurus. She looked at my car and said, “You must live in the country.” Which was a polite way of saying, “That is the filthiest car I have ever seen.” I said something polite in return, like, “Υup, good old gravel roads;” which translated would mean, “Brilliant deduction, Sherlock” But she said it kindly, and it made me smile, because I don’t think of my car as dirty anymore, and seeing it through the eyes of that L.O.L. [editor's note: LOL does not mean laugh  out-loud.  In David speak L.O.L. means Little Old Lady.]  got me to thinking. Dirt on my car is so commonplace that I think of it as part of the paint job, like textured wallpaper. I see it so often that I don’t see it anymore. Car compani...