Thursday, October 17, 2019 – Howdy! It is Take Your Bird to Work Day.
Or it was.
Last fall, employees in a Texas A&M University System office space were alerted that three parakeets had been placed in the building’s light-filled atrium, and that more were on the way.
They were to be greeted warmly: “The first word we would like to teach them is ‘HOWDY!'” an employee for Chancellor John Sharp wrote in an October 2018 email. “Please help them learn by addressing them this way when you see them.”
The birds were the brainchild of Sharp, who thought they might provide a relaxing distraction for employees, similar to how some companies host bring-your-dog-to-work days. He returned from lunch one day with several parakeets he’d picked up at a pet store, according to Copelin, and let them loose.
It did not go well. Click on the link and read the emails from the employees. Let me know when you stop laughing.
Mooving on, we learn that according to Chancellor Sharp, the cows at Tarleton State University, a great school in the Texas A&M System, will be wearing Fitbits. Click below to see the cows in their fashionable fitbits.
Fitbits for cows: A&M researcher milks new technology for higher yields, happier cows
Here’s what I’m thinking. I bet Chancellor Sharp was thinking aviary, a bird sanctuary, rather than atrium, which a large open area with a skylight. I wonder if Chancellor Sharp has thought of putting cows in the atrium.
Hawk in the backyard. Photo by me.
Here's What I'm Thinking 