Friday, December 26, 2008

The Dreaded James Gang

You’ve heard of them. Jesse, his brother Frank, and the rest of the robbers, thieves, and thugs that rode from town to town robbing banks, trains, stagecoaches and generally causing mischief and mayhem and sometimes worse, wherever they went. The sight of the James gang appearing on the edge of town was enough to cause all others to tremble in fear, running to take refuge wherever they could until finally the gang were all caught and jailed or hanging from various trees.

The James gang is long gone of course, but over the years new gangs have always sprung up to take their place. And now it’s a gang of 8 or so swooping into neighborhoods, taking whatever strikes their fancy and claiming it as their own. A gang of thieves that uses coercion, intimidation and fear to get what they want, showing little or no regard for others or their property and scattering the residents into their hiding places to wait it out until the thugs have had their fill and decide to move on to greener, richer pastures.

Hearing rumors of this new gang and wanting to get proof of their raids, I lie in wait with my camera. Like all gangs, they can’t get along with each other and are not willing to share the spoils (no honor among thieves) but I did manage to get one picture of three of them in that nano-second when they weren’t fighting with each other. And if you’ve ever seen a picture of the James gang, you’ll remember that they are definitely not good looking, with their un-bathed bodies, dirty clothing, and ratty looking hats covering even rattier looking hair. But these modern day gang members are quite the opposite. All decked out in their finest colors when they decide to pillage, all wanting to look their best in case they get caught on film.

The Dreaded Jays Gang


39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, so cute - you made me smile this a.m.! Hope you have a wonderful day.

flydragon said...

Thanks Mildred,
Hope you have one too.

Roses and Lilacs said...

I have a special table for them where they can swoop in and grab their peanuts. Such beautiful colors, these may be the prettiest birds at my feeders.

Marnie

flydragon said...

Hi Marnie,
They are good looking aren't they? I think the only ones that are more striking are the red headed woodpeckers.

oldcrow61 said...

lol, that is so funny, and isn't it the truth.

sweetbay said...

That is cute! Oh well, at least they're prettier than the original James gang.

beckie said...

Once in a while I catch a glimpse of some of this gang. They can be bullies running off the smaller weaker ones. But oh, be still my heart, they are so handsome!

Rudee said...

Hey, is that Pretty Boy Floyd and his gang of ruffians? They are handsome devils.

flydragon said...

oldcrow,
They certainly do cause a stir when they all show up at once:)

Hi sweetbay,
Thanks for visiting. And they are definitely waaaaaay better looking than old Jesse and the rest.

beckie,
And did you notice how tall and stately he's trying to look. Big show off.

rudee,
I'm sure he thinks he's much better looking than Pretty Boy Floyd. And after seeing a pic of Floyd, I think I'd have to agree.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, where was Harry? Sleeping on the job? Maybe he doesn't care for the "blue" flavor. I bet he could show those rascals who's in charge. Hope you had a nice holiday.

Far Side of Fifty said...

Beautiful robbers thieves and thugs you captureed there! :)

Anonymous said...

That is the most beautiful gang I have ever seen. What a great photo!

flydragon said...

Di,
I haven't seen Harry for about a week. Maybe the sight of 8 big flapping blues even intimidates him.
Hope your holiday was a good one, too.

farside,
Dang, they are a good looking bunch of blues, aren't they?

Cheryl,
I tried about 20 times to get a photo of more than one on the feeder but all I could get was a blur of blue. Got lucky on this one.

Nunya said...

another post that brought a smile to my face.

is it safe to assume your keyboard is up to speed again?

type "x" for yes... and you know the rest....

flydragon said...

NVAM
X so far, at least.

RURAL said...

What great shots of those cheeky brats. We have Stellar Jays here, and they are so vibrantly blue, it is a shock when we catch a glimpse of them. It is rare, mostly summer that we see them.

Lucky you, seeing them all year round.

Jen

flydragon said...

Jen,
I've seen pictures of Stellar Jays and they look gorgeous. Maybe one will fly off course one day and end up over here. Now that would be a great pic.

Anonymous said...

My first thought on seeing these guys was "Smooooth operator":-)

SisterNan

flydragon said...

Nan,
Perfect description!!

P.S. on the chocolate...I bought a bag of Hershey's Kisses, Truffle creme wrapped in dark chocolate. Are these the ones you were talking about?

Anonymous said...

On the Hershey's--My bag says "Nuggets, Truffles, Special Dark, with Chocolate Truffle filling"--nothing about kisses. But you may have 'discovered' something better--let us know, ok.

SisterNan

Susie said...

Oh those big beautiful bullies! Right now we are not seeing too many birds of any kind so thanks for sharing the story and photos.

Anonymous said...

Love the pictures of the birds! So colorful.

flydragon said...

Nan,
On the kisses...yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Susie,
All your birds must have decided to come up here for the cold weather. They must be out of their pretty little pointy heads.

Hi Geri,
Thanks for stopping by.
Nothing brightens up a gloomy day than a bunch of blue bullies flapping all over the place:)

Rose said...

LOL, you got me on this one, Flydragon! I know the jays can be bullies, but they're such a beautiful blue, I enjoy seeing them whenever they case out my neighborhood.

flydragon said...

Hi Rose,
They are bullies, but they also let everyone know they're coming with all that color and loud squawking, giving the rest of the birds enough time to hide. I have to admit, I do like them, bullies or no:)

TC said...

I waited till the end to see the picture, you had me fooled! I thought I'd see a photo of old cowboys doin something in the garden. ;~)

TC said...

Oh, one other thing...how'd you know that was Pittsburgh??

flydragon said...

TC,
Uh huh, sure you did.

I knew it was Pittsburgh because:
1. I am extremely intelligent
2. I'm a psycho I mean psychic
3. I clicked on the pic and you had it titled Pittsburgh

I think it was number 1.

TC said...

Seriously, I DID NOT scroll to see the photo first. I promise.

And this is for me as to how you knew it were the Burgh: DUH!!
(I fixed that though.)

flydragon said...

TC
DID TOO

Changed it to "tough plant". Better delete my comment too, since I told everyone else where it was:)

TC said...

Okay, I reluctantly deleted your comment, but provided an explanation. And be sure to read my parenthetical thought.

(Did not!) ;~P

Anonymous said...

You would never guess who I thought you were writing about? I thought I'd see a picture of four little girls all dressed up, and fighting between themselves. Loved the picture. Middle sis

Anonymous said...

Hey I just took another look and I think your cheating. I see leaves on the trees. MS

flydragon said...

Betty,
Great idea. I'll have to use the fighting brats for another post.
And there was no cheating on this one. I took this picture on Nov. 24 th. right before they put the tarp on the garage. Those leaves are the asarina vines on the trellis.

KALI said...

your writing becomes exciting everyday...

this is funny! i dont know the James Gang, but i imagined something else...

poor lovely birds...

flydragon said...

Kali,
Ha, no you wouldn't have heard of the James gang. They were a bunch of robbers that did most of their bank robbing in the 1870's. A lot of books and movies have been made about them here in the U.S. Otherwise I wouldn't have ever heard of them either:)

KALI said...

so, thanks for the books??!??

Kylee Baumle said...

The "Jays Gang". LOLOL. Love it! Great photo, too!

flydragon said...

KALI,
Mostly history books.

Kylee,
Good thing I took that photo throught the window because I think one of them is giving me the "evil eye"