I won!  I got the item I was bidding for on E-Bay!  This may seem like a small thing, but it was my first purchase on E-Bay, and from all the email I'm receiving from them, they seem to be as excited about it as I am.  I never thought before that I wanted to get involved in the trouble of bidding and haggling, but I think I'm starting to like it now.

It all started out in a rather unusual way.  I was looking at Blogger; you know the place where people keep these online weblogs, called "blogs" for short.  They have a place on Blogger where they ask offbeat questions just to get people started.  Apparently some people have trouble with this; though, I'm not sure why they are blogging if they have nothing to say.

The question of the moment was, "Your Aunt has just given you a maple syrup dispenser shaped like a chicken for your birthday.  Write her a thank you note."  I found that amusing, which probably shows how easy I am to amuse.

My reply was "Thank you for the lovely rooster syrup dispenser. Ever since I received it, my pancakes taste just like chicken. I'm really starting to get tired of chicken. Do you suppose you could get me a gravy boat that looks like a cow so I can have a hamburger?"

Then I started speculating. "I wonder if there really is such a thing as a syrup dispenser shaped like a chicken?"  Naturally, I had to find out. I typed it into a computer search engine, and didn't have much luck with "maple syrup dispenser," but when I typed in "chicken pitcher" a whole new world opened.

It seems that there are not only pitchers shaped like chickens, but they are quite famous.  Also, quite cute I might add.  Auntie's gift was not as amusing as it might seem as these things retail for some very fancy prices, depending on size and quality.  They are believed to bring good luck and are often given as wedding gifts by those with little awareness of what newlyweds really need – like a DVD player or a TV satellite.

These pitchers, called Rooster Pitchers by those in the know, are very well known in collector's circles and even have a story attached.  According to the legend, enemies were attacking an Italian noble family after a night of festivity and wine, but the roosters were aroused and made so much noise the whole town woke up and stopped the attack. A ceramic pitcher that looks like a rooster was made to commentate the event -- and let the world know that the town gets up with the chickens.

I decided to buy a small one as a contest prize for my humor-writing friends who also came up with funny maple syrup stories at my request. Where else could I buy such a thing except on E-Bay? I had so much fun bidding on a small rooster pitcher, perfect for maple syrup, that I decided I wanted one for myself too.

The finest Rooster Pitchers come from Italy.  I quickly figured out from the bidding that the ones bringing the highest prices were the genuine Deruta Rooster Pitchers named after the Italian town where they are made. I've become highly knowledgeable in fine Italian ceramics, or at least as knowledge as one can become in one week of studying E-Bay.

I've just received an mail that time is running out to bid on another Rooster Pitcher on my "watch list." My finger twitched on the mouse button, and before I knew what happened, I had clicked the yellow button to bid on it. Now I've received another email, and guess what?  I won again! 

What am I going to do with all these pitchers that look like chickens?  I will soon have an entire flock of the things!   Not only that, but I am beginning to wonder if there is really such a thing as a gravy boat that looks like a cow.