Of Bluejays and Grandparents

My grandfather likes to tell stories. Most of them are old, and have been exaggerated beyond any hope of recovering even a sliver of factuality, but he enjoys telling them so much that you can't help but laugh along with him. Grandma maintains an air of cynical realism, and sometimes threatens him with various punishments for such egregious hyperbole, but I'm pretty sure she enjoys it too.

Tonight we were discussing possible crops for next year's garden. Grandpa decided that he'd really like to have sunflower seeds ready to hand, and grandma suggested filling the tree nursery (a few acres fenced in to the east of the house) with sunflowers, which would give the added bonus of attracting large groups of bluejays all winter long.
I suggested that a congregation of bluejays like that might get excessively noisy.
Grandpa responded that, if we wanted to have quieter bluejays, we might send them to university.
I reminded him that education doesn't always make one quieter, though if taught the bluejays to write instead of squawking and chirping...
By this point, Grandma was ready to send both of us away without supper.

Anyway, it's a good question for the latest (and much-delayed) WEEKLY POLL!!!

Which is more noisy?
	100 bluejays.
	100 bluejays typing on typewriters.
	Daniel, when he's been a week without eggnog.
Pollhost.com

Blinded By the Light

I love my Grandfather dearly. He's a very nice man, and he's managed to do very well for himself in pseudo-retirement.
But a few years ago he decided that his yard needed a light, and (being a Jackson) he needed the biggest and the best.
So, he bought an old streetlamp and installed it in the garden in front of the house.
He's had trouble getting the electrics working properly so (being a Jackson) the lamp has been unlit for the two or three years since he put it up. This weekend, he finally got around to fixing the problems, and the results... well, let's just say it's a very iluminating development.


I'm pretty sure you can see this thing from ten miles. Through the trees.
I think I might need blinds on the windows in my cabin now...