“I have a funny story to tell you” laughed my mother-in-law.  We knew it had to be good if she was already laughing.  Apparently my father-in-law was being harassed by a bluebird. For a couple of days, this bluebird would peck on the front door and when it couldn’t get the attention it wanted or my father-in-law would try to shoo it away, it would fly around to the back of the house and peck on the back door.

Now, I would think this was pretty cool but I was not schooled in the ways of old wives tales or superstitions, in this particular case that a bluebird pecking on your window means that someone in the house is going to die.  So naturally, when this very persistent bird continued to visit, my father-in-law was getting a little nervous.  All he knew was he needed to get rid of this bird.

My aunt said that she had this same problem at her house with all of her large windows and she solved the problem by putting a picture of a person on the windows and it kept them away.  So, my mother-in-law looks for the biggest photograph she has of anyone in the house and it’s my father-in-law’s senior picture, a glorious 8×10.  So she makes a couple of copies of it and puts them on both doors.  And the bird kept pecking.

So a plan began to form in his mind.  He told my sister in law to go to her uncle’s house and in true Kentucky fashion, ask him to come over and shoot the bird.  So, he shows up at the house, gun in hand and shoots the bird on the porch.  My mother-in-law said she nearly jumped out of her skin and then, because he didn’t kill it with the first shot, he had to shoot it again.  Problem solved.  My husband’s response?  “Well, I really DID grow up in Kentucky”.

Okay, perhaps this was a bit overkill, all puns intended, but things can be a little different in the south.  And in this family, when they tell a story, they pull no punches, all with a sense of humor, all in fun, all in love.  These are the same people who would give you everything they had if you needed it, share their food with you and apologize for not having more, pray for you without ceasing, and hug you without reservation.  Just don’t be a bluebird knocking on my father-in-law’s door.