Bird warnings

Though this water tower is east of the newspaper office, you can see the darkening clouds, which are rolling in from the northwest. My office is surrounded by little concerned birds, tweeting in alarm. Are we going to have a storm??

What do they know that we don't?

Do you have your windows open? The birds have just been going crazy this morning with those high-pitched "tweets"! I noticed them at home when I was standing on my deck this morning, and I've heard them here at the office outside my open window.

Then, just a few minutes ago, I had to drive out to Westfield Park to take some photos of the concession stands, and all the birds were in an uproar there, too!

It's the sound that cardinals make when 1) there's a cat slinking around their nests 2) there's no black oil sunflowers on their feeder.

I just mentioned it to Lewis, the courier from the Dexter office, and he said, "Isn't it funny how animals KNOW things?? They just have an instinct."

Lewis remembered when his uncle died; he said that his uncles' dogs slunk around with their tails between their legs that day.

I don't know about a "sixth sense," but I remember a beagle we had who knew when a storm was coming. We always knew it was almost upon us, because Button would head for the barn as fast as his bow legs would take him! That, of course, was a matter of excellent hearing--not instinct!

I always feel a little restless and unsettled when a storm is coming. They usually come out of the north west, slithering and rumbling down from Bollinger County.

My sister, who lives in Springfield, is a pretty good predictor of what's coming. I'll call her in a minute....

From the darkening flatland that is North Stoddard County, this is your Advance reporter, hoping to get finished with the news before the deluge falls!!!!