empty nest

My babies have flown the coop.  Just look at how excited they were to say goodbye to me this weekend.  

Zoloft was very disappointed that she didn't get to play with her sisters.  So if you see the cat, please don't rub it in.  It's still a sensitive subject.

We have an exciting trip home planned for the end of the week.  I'm going tonight to print off 43 of the best chronological birdie pictures to share while we're home.  You'll have to remind me if you want to see them.

I need to pack, but I hate packing.  Abhor it.  It's the one thing that I always procrastinate.  Maybe The Hater can talk me into doing it tonight.  

He's out getting new tires for the car.  Which is more gaggy:  sitting in a waiting room all afternoon while they're working on your car -OR- changing a tire on the interstate nowhere near people you can call to come help you? ...

I think so, too; I doubt The Hater will agree with me.

tense mommy & vocal babies

I think they're really starting to hate the big orange ladder. Today was my fourth trip lugging it out to the nest, and this time Mommy swooped off before I could get her picture. She's shy.

I love how my babies still have little bits of white feather fuzz. This is the first day they've been eagerly vocal. Much to their dismay, I did not regurgitate my supper for them. Don't get me wrong --- I would have, but I'm not so sure they'd like whole wheat pasta with spinach and pumpkin pie.

Meanwhile, I keep mentioning to one of my coworkers that they really need to bring their kids over to see these birds before they fly away. She lives maybe 3 miles away, so it's not like they'd be out all night to come see them.

I guess she's just not into cultivating those types of kids.

Sister and I grew up watching box turtles hatching, playing with snakes, catching chicken-chokers with onion grass, feeding hummingbirds sugar water through an eye dropper, and cradling baby flying squirrels and baby birds. We watched Wild America every Sunday morning before church. We knew the names of all the trees in the yard, as well as most of the flowers. (They were always planting something new.) I think we turned out okay, but I concede that I'm biased.

My kids will see the baby birds.

More pictures in a couple of days.

flight of the scissor-tailed flycatcher

It's more of a progression than a flight, but it will end in flight -- so I'm going with flight anyways. We don't have scissortails at home - so I was extremely excited when I saw Mommy protecting her nest. These pictures have been taken over a course of several weeks -- the last ones were taken yesterday. I'll continue to update as they get bigger and more interesting.

Mommy bird has not flogged me yet, which I consider to be a good sign. Although she is never excited when I hike over to her nest with the big orange stepladder.

The Hater is out of town for a while, so the cat and I are holding down the fort. She's been a very sweet and vocal companion in his absence.

Speaking of absence, my brain has been on strike lately. One good story before I go to bed:

Last week I was handing out fliers (not to be confused with the flyers, pun not intended). I went into one doctor's office with the flier and mini-speech about how they were welcome to attend, dinner would be provided, yadda yadda yadda. And the lady looked at it and said, yeah, we got this yesterday. Knowing I'm the only person handing these out I said, no, that can't be. She looked at it again, certain that they had it, and then looked at me, and said, "And you brought it to me."

Me? Are you sure?

Oh yeah, she was sure. Then she replayed the whole conversation we had about a movie that I've not seen. I remembered talking about the movie, but not going into the office.

I asked her to let me know if I tried to bring her the same flier the next day. If I did, I don't remember.

I've been misplacing things, too. Dumb things. Forgetting things. Like posting on the blog. I'm too young for some-timers and too old to say Charlie Brown did it.

This is for the birds.

another exciting weekend

laundry, laundry, laundry...

That would have a much more interesting ring to it if I were involved with the mafia.

someone loves her mommy

I've not mentioned lately that my cat is the most precious and most brilliant and most adorable in all the land. She is being so very sweet and attentive to me tonight.

Maybe it's because The Hater's not home yet.
Maybe it's because I brushed her earlier.
Maybe it's because she's really the sweetest cat in the world.

"good news"

The Hater and I have made several phone calls eastward to report "good news". Inevitably, after we announced that we had "good news", it was always followed by a gasp on the other line. To which we quickly had to reply, "uh, no... not that".

* The other good news, which everybody acts like is a huge let-down since it'll just be the two of us making the trip, is that we're visiting home early July. Woo.