Talk Radio Bird Song

Growing up, I heard a lot of "You look just like your mom!" and it's true. I resemble my beautiful mother in many ways. What is also true is that I'm a total daddy's girl...so much so, that when I speak to him, I still call him "Daddy." And while we may not have been hearing for years that we look alike (Side Note: I do have his upper lip; a little known fact that I myself did not learn until high school during the one and only time he shaved off his mustache - Mom made him grow it back), I have come to learn that there are many ways in which we are very similar.

One such similarity is the love we share for talk radio. Now my dad is a morning show/humor kind of talk radio while I am more NPR talk radio, but the gist is the same: we both get a kick out listening to the goings on in the world via radio. We both also have a tendency to call in to talk radio shows. For years my dad has been doing this - requesting songs, making comments, winning stuff. I think one time he even won tickets for a plane ride around Yankton, or maybe he did that twice? I don't know, he's done this so much I can't keep it all straight! What I do know is that cool as it is to call in and win stuff, the best prize, in my dad's eyes, is being ON the radio. (Second Side Note: I think in another life my dad was a pilot and in the one before that he was a DJ.)

While my dad is the pro, my own call in tendency is just starting. I actually get nervous about speaking in front of others, even on the radio, so I'm not so quick to dial like my dad, but last fall I made my first call to no less than one of my favorite NPR shows - Car Talk. That's right. I love Click and Clack. They make me laugh every time I listen to them, probably because, in some ways, they remind me of the other funny old farts in my life (Grandpa Cliff!). Our Chrysler had been making some funny noises for some time, so I called and left a message for them (sound effects included). Sadly they never called me back to have me on the show. Here's the magic, though, of Click and Clack and talk radio - even though I didn't make it on air, the noise went away!

Fast forward to this spring. As many of you know, I have been driving my kiddos for naps for some time now. Not every day and not always long trips - sometimes I come back and park in the driveway while they snooze in the back - but I have logged some serious miles this spring on quiet Nebraska highways. Well, they should be quiet, but something is amiss, and as far as I can tell, there are four possible answers. Either I have completely lost my marbles (not unlikely), the ditches in NE are full of song birds (I don't know - could be), NETRadio has begun playing bird songs over top of their afternoon classics (odd choice), OR there is a bird living in my minivan (Oh. Good. God. I hope not!). But yes, I kid you not: while driving, I keep hearing birds!

At first I thought the bird noises were just happening when I slowed down to make a turn (hence the ditches theory), but then I started noticing it while just cruising down the highway (hence the NETRadio theory). And now it just seems to happen randomly, so unfortunately that leaves me with the lost marbles or bird in the van theory. Now, some you may also know of my insane/intense fear of birds, so as you can imagine the thought of a bird in my car is not welcomed. Well, song birds don't really freak me out, but still. The irony of all this is not lost on me.

So anyway, I have a feeling that another call to Car Talk is in my future. Sadly I am not talented like my brother and can't whistle very well, but I have been practicing the noise around the house (yep, lost marbles sounding more and more likely), so maybe I'll be able to replicate it well enough to get on the show this time. And if not, maybe it will just go away anyway. That would be nice because I really don't want to go looking under the hood for stowaways!