Am I the only one who thinks geese sound like hillbillies? Seriously, have you listened to one lately? Geese may look majestic, but they sound like hillbillies.
I’ve been doing a lot of geese research lately because a) they live all around us now and b) it helps me avoid any meaningful work. We have a pond behind our house and one about 300 yards to the right if you are standing on our front porch.
Both tend to attract a lot of geese. They also attract ducks and one lonely crane who seems to ignore everybody else. I’ve noticed the ducks hang out when the geese aren’t around and vice versa. There are also a couple of disagreeable hawks who think they own the place and terrorize the rest of the birds. All that is to say, we have sort of a United Nations of birds going on in the back yard, except they don’t really hang out together.
Anyway, getting back to the hillbillies, I was in bed one morning and heard the geese fly over on their way to the pond. They were honking and wailing and generally causing a ruckus. My wife was awake and drinking coffee, but my dog and I were still trying to snooze. In that moment it occurred to me that geese sound like hillbillies. And I made the same mistake I always do and said it out loud. My dog lifted his head, looked at me for a moment as if to say, “obviously” and plopped his head back down in exasperation.
My wife, on the other hand, questioned my sanity and said, “you are not right.” She didn’t mean my observation wasn’t right (although I’m sure that was implied) but that I wasn’t right in general and probably should be seeing an entire university psychology department worth of professionals.
But I say, pick your crazy. Things are getting crazier by the moment. In world where people are arguing about wars, tariffs, and pronouns, it’s nice to have a place where the grass is green, the water is calm, and the geese are hillbillies.
Carry on, Citizens!
