Fowl Weather: How Thirty-Nine Animals and One Sock Monkey Took Over My Life
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In Bob Tarte's home, pandemonium is the order of the day, and animals literally rule the roost—thirty-nine of them at last count. Whether it's the knot-tying African grey parrot, or the overweight cat who's trained Bob to hold her water bowl just above the floor, or the nightmarish duck who challenges him to a shoving match, this menagerie, along with his endlessly optimistic wife, Linda, provides daily lessons on the chaos inherent in our lives. But not until this modern-day Noah's Ark hits stormy weather—and Bob's world spins out of control—does he realize that this exuberant gaggle of animals provides his spiritual anchor. It is their alien presence, their sense of humor, and their impulsive behavior that both drive Bob crazy and paradoxically return him to sanity.With the same sly humor and dead-on character portraits that made Enslaved by Ducks such a rousing success, Tarte proves that life with animals offers a wholly different perspective on the world. Publishers Weekly This follow-up to Tarte's popular Enslaved by Ducks, which introduced the somewhat neurotic writer; his supportive wife, Linda; and their animals first a bunny and then an expanding menagerie of parrots, ducks, turkeys, cats and more bunnies has a somewhat darker undertone, but should still delight readers with its humorous "Dave Barry on a farm" sensibility. Tarte begins with an admission that his life of caring for 30-odd animals had become pretty run-of-the-mill, and that he "longed for the unexpected, and that was always a mistake." What he gets, over the next five years, includes his father's death, his mother's diagnosis with Alzheimer's, a garden pest control/philosopher who doesn't really know anything about gardening, and the sudden deaths of some of his favorite pets. Despite the many wacky barnyard moments, Tarte doesn't play it safe: he deftly explores his concern that "dark undercurrents had risen to the top like worms after a rain, and the worms were now in charge." But with the help of family, friends and a new parrot named Bella, he overcomes his setbacks and sees that the "mixture of wildness and comfort" created by his beloved animals "was life itself in miniature." (Mar. 16)Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Cast of Characters viiiAlien Abduction 1Vanished 20Ask an Expert 40A Duck Out of Water 61Wild Things 82Fowl Weather 106Bobo's Back in Town 128Golden Orb Weaver 148Somebody Left Something Somewhere 167Underwater 184Travels with Stinky 207Elbow Room 223Aquarium 242Muskegon Wastewater 261Bella 282The Creature in the Woods 303Acknowledgments and Culpability 307
