What a week we had at the Wilson County Fair, with all my friends coming through to chat and have their pictures placed in The Wilson Post on the "Seen at the Fair” page. Usually the weather will play a part in the comings and goings at the fair, but this year we had a little rain to start the fair run, and the rest was cooler weather than usual which played a large part in the crowds.

Shirley Manaley stopped by and as soon as I saw her, I knew she was a bird lover. Shirley was decked out in a beautiful blue shirt loaded with pictures of some of my favorite birds. We had a nice talk and I found out that she lived in Nashville.

Taking a trip through Fiddler's Grove brought me to the old popcorn stand that used to sit on the Lebanon square next to the old courthouse. Set up next to the popcorn was an old friend, Marty Rush, who has a passion to work with injured animals. Marty was known for starting the Wildlife Rescue and Rehab Center in Mt. Juliet. She is another that has worked with me at the old annual Wildflower Pilgrimage that took place in the spring at the Cedars of Lebanon State Park. They will bring different animals to show others what they look like in person.

Marty brought two special birds to the fair that have been injured and are not releasable. The smaller of the two was a female American Kestral that had broken its leg. Most people see these birds, but from a distance, either sitting on a power line or hovering in an open field looking for its next meal. They turn up quite frequently in the large field out behind my home where I wrote about all the rodent holes just under my feet.

If you would like some more information on the American Kestral, just go to the website, www.wilsonpost.com and click on my blog, Our Feathered Friends and go back to Dec. 21, 2011, to read Karen Franklin's article on the American Kestral.

Another bird that Marty had stole my heart. My most favorite bird, the Barred Owl, was needing language lessons to help him learn how to hoot. This beautiful bird had taken a spill from his nesting hole and wound up with a broken wing. His wing had been set by a veterinarian, but an infection soon caused some concern and was finally amputated as a last resort. It breaks my heart to realize that he will never be able to take his place in the sky above. Each time that I walked over to the Owl, I would take time to do some hooting, trying to reinforce his thought process on how to talk. Some people that were walking by must have thought that I was crazy with all the caterwauling that was coming from me. "Hootie," the name that seemed to sound best, was placed upon the Owl as members of his family have been known as eight hooters. The phrase, "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all," the "all" part would be a drawn out southern sound. Believe it or not, I have been hooting for Owls for about 40 years now. Each time that I stopped by, Hootie seemed to recognize me as a friend.

Patricia Beamon stopped by my booth to say howdy and talk about our feathered friends, as well as Evonne Dobbs. Others that came by to see me were Mary Rhode, George Evans, Will Casey, and Gary Mann who moved here from Iowa a few years ago, and a large number of friends, too numerous to mention. Another friend from my old karaoke days at Cedars, Makayla Burger, stopped by to talk. Time flies!

I received a nice letter from Alice Deffendall in reguards to my article dated Aug. 22 on the dimensions of the Bluebird house that Mr. Fred Brockette was asking about last week. Alice also has an in-ground bird pond with a waterfall which really attracts the birds to it.

We would love to hear from you as to what’s lurking about in your neighborhood and at your feeders. You can e-mail Karen Franklin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and you can write me at 606 Fairview Ave., Lebanon, TN, 37087 or you can e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it