Envy and a Trip Down Bird Memory Lane

Last week I received this picture in an email from my good friend, Jeanne. I call her my JeanneDeb. She knows why. We bowl together on Tuesday mornings and I love her to death. She gets me. And that is why she knew I'd DIE when I saw this photo...taken right outside her window! She sees this action all the time. I admit to full-on envy.

Can you stand it? I cannot. Anyone that knows me has no doubt had to listen to me rave about the wildlife up here in ye olde Pacific Northwest. Not once did I ever see this type of action in SoCal. The closest I came was once when an unseen wayward skunk "exploded" under our bedroom window, causing us to think there was a massive chemical spill in the area that was going to kill us. True story.

Anyway, I thought I had it made last week when an eagle flew right over Brian and I as we were pulling around our corner. Then I laid eyes on this picture. JeanneDeb really has it made...and she knew that sharing it with me would make my day. Thanks JeanneDeb!

So, what kind of wildlife do I have hanging around my house? Well, check out Exhibit A: Baby birdies! Okay, so they're not baby bald eagles, but I take what I can get. But there is an interesting back story to this nest. It's a story of recycling. (And yes, that is my very high-tech device that I refer to as my "compact mirror lens." Fancy schtuff.)

Remember this? (scrolllll down past Laura making googly eyes at the coffee maker....heee!)

Look familiar? I couldn't bear to just throw the engineering marvel of the nest in the trash, so I put it back up on the beam. And there it sat, undisturbed for the past 10 months. Last week, Danny asked if the nest was still there. I'd actually checked the week before he asked and told him, "Yep, still there. Still empty." So, while sitting on the deck steps the other day, I saw blue shell fragments. Horror!!! You can imagine my surprise when I went and grabbed the nest, expecting the worst only to find three tiny babes fast asleep (I think there are 3...I didn't look too long for fear an angry mama bird was going to dive-bomb me.) I checked again today and the mama is obviously caring well for them because they've easily doubled in size. Now I have to worry that the big, bad raccoon that frequents my other deck just about every night will discover them. GAHHHHH!!!

So the weirdest part of this is that my Missy Laura and her Corey were up visiting last year when the nest massacre went down. And they were just here two weeks ago. (Exciting blog post about that coming next!) Laura, I'll bet you that the nest had pretty blue eggs in it while you were here and WE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK!! We must've been busy drinking margaritas that your man whipped up for us. =)

In other animal news, Willie didn't come home this morning. We always worry...and then he always comes home. Sigh. Just not yet today.

Edited Thursday morning: He sauntered home last night around 10:30. Right after the raccoon ate all his food that sat out all day. Serves him right! Ha!