Friday, April 27, 2012

Housing Crises


Well, everyone.....that's it for the week!  It was a frog-strangler yesterday.  Rained all day which took the last of the redbud blossoms off.  

The Baltimore Orioles have arrived.  I watched yesterday as two raspy, sassy males swooped through the yard after the rain stopped, chasing one another.  Finally, they clashed in a blaze of angry orange and black fury, screaming epithets at one another.  What a sight!  There's plenty of room in yard, boys!  You need not fight! (not my photo, BTW)


Speaking of fights.....now begins my annual fight with Phoebe.  I know.  Such a sweet, humble, harmless avian companion...right?  Well....her building skills seem to lack some precision.  Her technique incorporates the application of really, hard, durable MUD.  Plus moss.  Plus grass.  Plus sticks...all GLUED to the rafters of the porch.  It would not be so bad, except Phoebe forgets where she starts.  So we wind up with five to ten nest-starts before she completes one.  And I don't like her messy brood littering the porch with all manner of baby-Phoebe do-do.  So, I wait until she completes one nest totally, and then--cruelly--remove it.  The thing is--before you dress me down for it--there are PLENTY of other nest sights--which she handily locates after I evict her.  Evicting her before she completes one nest simply results in more starts.  So it's essential to wait until one of her attempts is fully realized before erasing it.  The argument has begun. 
Finally....somebody is going to have to try again.  The windstorm visited several early nests and cleaned them out altogether.
It's called a housing crisis!  A type of foreclosure.

Have a delightful weekend, everyone!  Thanks for your kind words and your friendship!  I treasure you!
See you next week!
 

4 comments:

  1. Serendipidy strikes again! Seems we've both got birds on the brain.

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  2. You surely had a bad storm. Mother Nature knows what she is doing (I believe) so the parents will build again and there will be new generations. But it is sad to see broken eggs on the ground. Especially such a beautiful blue one. -- barbara

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  3. Hi Elora - at long last I've had a moment to read up on your last month of blogging :) Welcome back! once again I am enjoying your beautiful photos - and your new additions to the family!! xoxo

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  4. How lovely to hear from you, Elora! I know you're been very busy! I'll bet Andrea's parents are doing what MM and I are doing: planting garden!! Life in Southeastern West Virginia in the late spring and early summer, probably isn't that different than it is in rural Italy, right? Please tell your in-laws hi from fellow gardeners across the pond! I feel certain we would have lots in common were we to meet!

    Love you, girl!
    Elora

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