Tagged and I'm It.

I got tagged for the second time in a week for the "Eight Random Facts" meme. The taggers this time were The Birding Couple. Last week The Birders on the Border got me. I figured I'd better git-r-dun or the tagging might never stop.

What is the memeing of all this? Meme defined.

My initial plan was to play 'possum and hope that the threat would dissipate. Then I thought about acting like a hog-nosed snake and faking my own, very painful death.

But the true path of least resistance is to follow through with my own 8RF post and then, as with a cheesy chain letter, tag eight other innocent bloggers.

Rules for a memeingful life:

• write a post with eight random facts (8RF) about yerself
  
• list the rules of the meme
• at the end of that post, list eight other bloggers that you've tagged to write similar 8RF meme posts, (including the rules)
• leave comments on the "tagees" blogs to notify/warn them about the meme.
• get on with your life, the course of which has now been forever altered.
  

Here are my 8RF.

1. I was born in the mostly Dutch community of Pella, Iowa. I've been inside the hospital there as a patient exactly twice--both involving labor: once when I was being hatched in the early 1960s and once last Labor Day.

2. If I were not gainfully employed editing Bird Watcher's Digest and writing books, I'd be a studio musician or sound recording engineer.

3. My wife and I have a band called The Swinging Orangutangs. Yes, we rock.

4. Our farm, Indigo Hill, has been a home to 14 different breeding warbler species: Louisiana waterthrush, common yellowthroat, yellow-breasted chat, American redstart, black-and-white, ovenbird, worm-eating, yellow, prairie, blue-winged, pine, Kentucky, cerulean, and hooded.

5. There have been two important Chet Bakers in my life. Only one of them played trumpet. Only one of them kisses me on the face, poops in our meadow, and brings ticks into the house. Both are handsome devils.

6. The movie I'll always stop to watch is "The Outlaw Josey Wales."

7. I earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Western College at Miami University without ever taking a multiple-choice exam.

8. I have rooted tirelessly for The Pittsburgh Pirates since 1971.

And now for the tag-ees, some of whom may have already been tagged, but so what? (and I won't be mad if this meme virus stops with any of you...)

1. Julie "Beautiful Blogzilla" Zickefoose
2. Jeff "Birding, not NASCAR" Gordon
3. Jim "The Incredible Birding Hulk" McCormac
4. Kathi "KatDoc" H.
5. Mon@rch
6. Rondeau "It's Better than Pelee" Ric McArthur
7. Jeff "The Karaoke King" Bouton
8. Mike "Digiscoping Zen Master" McDowell

Good luck and let's be careful out there!