Return of the yellow-billed Sacramento valley magpies....

A few years ago we use’ta get thousands of magpies here in Ol Fair Oaks....they’d come ‘n visit, roosting mainly across the street from us, stay for a few weeks ‘n then move on as was their wont ev’ry year...(as was their wont is a phrase that you just don’t hear often, at least these daze)....

Anyways, what happened was the West Nile Virus came along ‘n devastated the magpie population...it was pretty hard on Crows ‘n ‘Jays as well but it took out about 90% of the magpie population....we didn’t see any magpies for about two years ‘n then we had one come by one summer day, sort of an advance scout maybe...he wuz a young bird ‘n we were sitting on the porch ‘n he just flew in, looked around for a few moments...didn’t say much but they’re much more talkative in groups....anyways the following year, we’d catch a glimpse now ‘n then, here ‘n there, but never a flock as there use’ta be...until t’day...

Today, for whatever reason, we have a flock of magpies...not sure how many but enuff of ‘em that they were talking,,,I kept an eye on them ‘n during the evening walk with da boyz, I stopped to talk with my neighbor, Doug, when they came to roost...must’a been 40 or 50 of ‘em...Doug sed he’d never seen so many at one time...I’m not sure he believed me when I told him that thousands use’ta roost in his back yard every year but if the West Nile don’t come back ‘n get them, he’ll find out....

I like magpies but they are annoying birds... they make a lot of noise, they run off the ‘jays ‘n they get drunk on the mulberries ‘n crap purple all over the landscape...but then on that proverbial other hand, they are strikingly attractive birds, black ‘n white with yellow beaks ‘n they’re only found in the Sacramento valley (or so I’ve been told)...at any rate, I’m glad to see ‘em back....

Euphemistically speaking...which is what our esteemed politicians do best...the arguments between the conservative right ‘n the liberal left continue unabated...I think the general opinion of most Americans is that they’re almost as bad as several thousand chattering magpies...anyway there is nothing conservative about the uber right ‘n there’s certainly nothing liberal about the far left...you gotta wonder why leftist Americans persist in referring to themselves as ‘Liberals’ when in fact, they are anything but liberal in their ideology. A more correct term would be Marxist or Socialist or Commuinist. I’m sure they wouldn’t be ashamed to call themselves any one of those particular terms so there must be another reason for branding themselves as Liberal...all in all, I’d rather listen to the magpies....

My question for Congress is, if you don't have time t'do it right, when will you have the time t'do it over?