Another Thursday, another edition of Three Things Thursday, the purpose of which is to “share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.”
Three Questions and Answers
1. What’s that bird?
That’s the question we asked our waitress when we saw this bird:
We had taken the Tacoma Narrows Bridge over to Gig Harbor for a follow-up visit with the eye doctor after my cataract surgery. When we stopped for lunch after the visit, we saw this guy. Soon another bird who looked just like this one appeared as well. They both perched, though not together, where they could watch the water. We assumed they were probably watching for fish to eat.
The waitress didn’t know what kind of bird this was, so when we got home we consulted Birds of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Nancy Baron and John Acorn.
Answer: It’s a belted kingfisher. And yes, they were having lunch, too, watching for fish to dive for.
2. What does that mean?
While watching the belted kingfishers, we spotted this sailboat moored nearby in the marina:
When I asked my husband what zaftig means, he checked his phone.
Answer:
adjective, Slang.
1. (of a woman) having a pleasantly plump figure.
2. full-bodied; well-proportioned.—Source: dictionary.com
3. What WERE they thinking?
That’s what I thought when I saw these bushes for the first time:
I wondered why anyone would sculpt their bushes into this suggestively phallic shape. When I noticed similarly shaped bushes at other houses, I assumed that the home owners must employ the same landscaping service.
On a recent Franke Tobey Jones outing, I heard a woman on the bus explaining this mystery to her friend.
Answer: The deer, which we have a lot of, eat the bushes. The tops of the bushes are wider because the deer can’t reach that high.
So I was right: The home owners do have the same landscaping service.
Retreading for Retirement 