I have a funny for you all.

My son's band is leaving for Bands of America Grand Nationals in Indianapolis this week, so they are trying to get in all the performance time/experience as possible between now and then. Saturday they marched an exhibition performance at our drumline contest. Apparently there was a rat on the field with them as they were marching that managed to climb up the leg of a tuba player all the way to his neck. The tuba player reached up, swiped the rat off of his shoulder, and kept on marching without missing a step. Now THAT is a dedicated band student. I would have run off the field screaming bloody murder.

I thought, surely someone just made up the story, surely this can't be real. But it was confirmed by parents who had personally tried to chase the pesky rat off the field earlier (this was our drumline contest at our stadium) and the band director herself. This will be one for band legend at our school.

We seem to have an affinity for live creature interaction in our band. When my oldest was in band, one year their show was basically bird themed. They were marching preliminary competition in the Alamodome early one morning and the show started with bird call sounds. There were birds living in the dome that joined in with the bird calls. It was pretty funny.

Then this past June when the band showed up for the first day of music camp, they were meeting in the gym of a feeder middle school. Now, the show this year happens to be a snake charming theme and the middle school mascot is the Rattlers (only in Texas). Painted on the wall of the gym is a huge, red rattlesnake. That would have been karma enough, but when they walked into the gym, there was a live snake right in the middle of the gym floor. What can we say?