Spring Amnesty 2

At the risk of seeming like this is turning into all hearts and flowers, kids and cooking kind of blog, I thought I'd post my little find this week.

The annoying robins who built a too-low nest in my tree seemed to have abandoned ship, so I was going to knock it down with a broom. A sudden impulse to double check showed why momma wasn't sitting on the nest anymore.

They hatched; momma bird was off looking for worms.

Sigh. I'll give 'em a few more weeks rent-free, but then they gotta go. Now, on the other hand, if anybody sees the groundhog, he's toast.

Spring Amnesty

The robins around my house are not that bright and can be a bit of a pest at times. One thought that my garage was his home, a notion that I discouraged vigorously.

So now they've chosen a tree next to the garage and built a nest. At least it was a tree. The issue (for them) is that they only built it six feet off the ground, so they are easy prey for cats, foxes, and -- well me. As I said, not the brightest birds.

Given that the momma bird has already laid eggs and is sitting on them, I'll cut 'em a break -- for now.

In the meantime, it's picture time with camera phone.

Double Date

Today I had a double date with a brunette and a blonde, aka Blynken and Nod-girl.

Mostly it was regular stuff like haircuts, oil changes, and buying soccer gear. But it was nice to hang with the girls and have a little individual time with them.



The lady at the dry cleaner thought it was charming that I tried to get them to say "thank you" in Vietnamese - hey, I know at least six or seven words from working in restaurants. That earned them a free bubble gum from the dispenser.

After that we came home to a clogged washing machine that the repairman had to come out and fix -- you do NOT want a down washing machine in a family our size. While the girls tried out their new soccer balls I limbed the tree in back.

Yeah, Spring is here.

My Mistress Beckons

I have a mistress to whom my wife bids me go; "Indeed", she says, "you have been away too long".

It is not a lady that beckons, but rather the earth in my garden. For three years she has lain fallow; no crops, no food, no fruit of the earth has she given me. "Alas", I sigh, "my lady lies barren, my mistress comforts me not."

A man comes from the earth, made by the effortless hand of God; a man toils in the earth to bring forth its fruit by the sweat of his brow -- such is his doom. And yet the garden is his refuge, he longs to feel the land beneath his feet; to plant and to furrow; to take delight in the tender shoots from the earth; to reap and to gather the work of his hand.

If God in His mercy sends His rain in due season, yet shall she bear forth. My fields are plowed, my garden prepared -- let the sowing begin! "Come.", my mistress beckons, "Come and let it begin again."

Parcel of Parsley

Blynken and I went to Cox Farms on this rainy, overcast day to buy some parsley plants.

Fresh, earthy, tasty.

That's how we know Spring has arrived. More good things to come.