Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for June 03, 2016

You have to take under consideration that Bob’s is the only place in town to get bird seed and light bulbs.He even persuaded Wal-Mart not to carry them.

Susan, this one’s for you. Zappa

The light bulb over Bob’s head shorted out when he opened the store.

* (pop) p … huh? .. snork! oh… hi… I… uh…. * …. I was .. um…. just resting my eyezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Um… lil monkeys… I zzzzz…. huh?…oh yeah…. lil monkeys… I godda go home to bed…..Oooh… a banana dak…. did you guys…OH!Thanks Bev.Oh, and palm leaves …. mmmm……

The Fireman has to leave soon…but he’ll stay till Dimitri gets here to clean….and it’s only two hours till the morning shift gets in, and Antonio will walk you home if Big Monkey is still sleeping.

Do NOT wake him up…. And no, Antonio is a tiger, not a cat.OK, a big cat… but you can trust him…honest!

Thanks… and thanks Fireman….

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzGodda wake up to go home…

Thanks Dennis… but why?Maybe I’m just ti…….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Only on Ballard Streat could Bob stay in business.

Never one to be kept in the dark. Bob had the bright idea that he could illuminate and nourish at the same time.

Like most businessmen of Ballard, Bob is a multi-tasker and has combined his desire to provide nourishment for his avian amigos while enabling the good citizens of the community to acquire a guiding light, a beacon of brightness in the darkness..

This idea came to him, not by some cartoon bulb over his head but by a sort of logical ( for Bob ) progression. He was sitting one afternoon on his patio, drinking a Lite beer and observing a bird alight from a perch to search for seeds, and the glimmer of an idea flashed briefly in his mind.

“Say” he said brightly to himself. " What if I could bring a little sunshine into peoples homes ? Light up their lives and enable them to bring sustenance to our feathered friends at the same time ?"

And the rest, as they say, is Ballard History….

I told a friend that I had planted some bulbs in my garden. She asked it they had lit up. Everyone is a comedian!

This premise makes me wonder if this is a front for a seedier operation.

And yet, he looks well fed. There’s nothing slender about Bob.

Yawn…Wow…. I’m still at the bar?

How did I get on this pile of yak skins? It’s so quiet in here.. Where is everybody?

Susan, that was just because of your comments on being called “Susie”

I would shop there. I happen to be a connoisseur of light bulbs, AND I have a moderately sized charm of zebra finches to feed.