Banty Roosters....

The last thing you would expect to be wakened by at a Bed and Breakfast, is a banty rooster. Especially on Kauai. Especially at 3:30 in the morning.

Legend has it that the hurricane of 1982 must have swept up the local farmers' hens and chicks and swirled them around in space and dumped them out all over the island. I know that we were greeted by them everywhere we went, in 1992, whether at the top of Waimea Canyon, or down at Ke'e Beach parking lot.

As they encroached on Anini Beach, where so many posh mansions have been built, our friends Don and Alice allowed their little "rat dog" (as we called Benji) to chase them away. He was a good controller. He knew what to do.

Then, as they began to crow on OUR street, up on the bluffs of Princeville Resort, Bob felt we needed to run the roosters out of the area for the sake of our guests. So, we went to Walmart. (Yep, they are even in Kauai). When he purchased a strong sling shot and some steel pellets, the clerk said, "That's not going to do it!" The Hawaiian knew why we were buying it. He said we'd be back for something more lethal.

Well, you can't legally shoot them, and it didn't seem like a very good idea to be shooting anything at 3:30 in the morning, anyway. So, Bob practiced with his slingshot, and eventually got the hang of it, even encouraging some of the guests to try. Once or twice, he hit the tail feathers of that proud cock, and you should have heard the squawking and seen the rascal run! But all we did was train the cock to start running the minute he saw Bob start to take aim.

Steve and Carmen from Australia had the most fun trying the sling shot. From that time on, they called Bob, "The Great White Hunter."