Here is a Robert story (see Robert in post below) I remembered last night while having dinner with a friend:

When Dennis and I lived above our shop, our cats, all of them formerly feral, had free access to our apartment via a cat door which opened into the basement, from whence they came up the stairs to the apartment. They were in the habit of bringing in live things to play with, mostly mice, but occasionally a bird. Dennis and I became expert in retrieving the poor creatures and putting them back outside, with the exception of a mouse who set up housekeeping and lived peacefully under an old desk, coming out to eat cat food when the cats were out. It was an interesting arrangement.

One day, Robert was with Dennis in the kitchen, having come up for a glass of water and to recount his latest tall tale. Britches came up the stairs with a live starling which she let go at the top of the stairs. The starling found his way to the ceiling fan, where he sat atop a blade while the fan turned around and around, the cat below, following its path with her eyes and head. Dennis had an appointment to keep, with no time for a capture and release, so he got out the pellet gun and, excellent marksman that he is, shot that starling right off the fan; it dropped, instantly dead, to the floor.

Robert, seeing this, said “Whooo-eeeee! Shot that boyd right off that fan!” You need to hear it, really, but Robert has a wonderful way of talking and an enthusiasm that goes with it.

Anyway, that’s a Robert story.