Haircuts and Birds

Good morning, Debbie,

First and foremost, I want to thank you from the very bottom of my
humble heart (or the heart of my humble bottom as my neighbor used to say) for your column. I check it nearly every day for new additions. Your piece regarding the scraps of fabric in the suet holder for nesting material reminded me of something I'd not thought about in years. When my sons were young, we spent many days at my in-laws' resort. Since I usually cut the boys' hair, we would do so outdoors where the hair could fall wherever and it mattered not. My youngest had beautiful platinum blond hair and lots of it, so when I cut his hair, there were many, many little piles of it around the area. It stood out from the grass and one day while we were cutting, he was awed and delighted to see the little birds collecting his hair for their nests. It was also quite comical because they would collect said hair very methodically, picking up bit after bit of 1" long hairs which resulted in what appeared to be a lovely silver moustache
protruding from either side of their beaks. Tom's hair has darkened now that he's in his 40s, but whenever I see photos of him as a youngster, I think of those little birds nestled in nests
woven with silver hair. We love birds and love hearing of people like you who share with them.

Bless you and yours,

Karen M. Johnson

...and the following after I requested to post Karen's email:
"I'm delighted you enjoyed the hair-in-the-nest story. Today that son is a 6'4" 250# body builder and is still fascinated with the birds and beasts.
I love "Hodgepodge" and hope you'll be there to teach us, delight us, and make us laugh and cry forever."
Hugs ~ Karen Johnson