Majority Rules

Due to a very generous gift from Mom and Ronnie, I’ve been given the option of turning on the air conditioning. My first thought was to not bother – after all, we’ve made it this long, what’s a few more weeks? However, I don’t run the house as a dictatorship (unless its necessary), so I polled the residents before making a decision. The final results were 6 to 2 for AC (although Duncan voted twice), with 2 abstaining and 1 unclear (not undecided, just unclear). Khar’pern and Per’la were against the AC – they both said they were perfectly fine as they were. Belle voted for the AC, but said it had to be done in moderation, as her bones get creaky if she gets too cold. Loki thought AC was the best idea he’d heard in months. Mikey said it was okay, as long as it didn’t interfere with his sunbeam. Duncan actually voted twice, but I decided to let that slide since he hasn’t been feeling well. Niko thought it would be fun to be cool again, although he was concerned that he’d molted too many feathers to adjust to the new temps. Parm actually voted to be allowed back in the house, but since that wasn’t on the ballot, his vote counts as an abstention. I didn’t vote since I’d have made an even number and might have caused a tie. Reyna…well, I don‘t know what Reyna wanted, because she just spun in circles and barked. By that point, though, we had an obvious majority vote for AC, so I decided it didn’t really matter what she thought. Before bed last night, I turned on the AC for the first time this year. It took all night and part of the morning to cool the house down to the programmed temperature. Now I just have to find a temperature that keeps us all cool but doesn’t leave me sitting on the couch with a blanket wrapped around me. One not-unexpected side effect of the AC is a significant spike in spinning and barking. Apparently, Reyna’s feeling really spiffy now that she doesn’t have to camp in front of the box fan…

Thanks again to Mom and Ronnie, from 5 cats, 2 dogs, 1 bird, and me!

Almost Forgot to Post These….

My baby birds flew away (I hope) a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been a bit sidetracked with Reyna and the new job, but I haven’t forgotten about them. They were in the nest on Thursday, June 21, and on Friday, the 22nd, they were gone. I really hope they flew away, but I don’t think they had enough feathers. So, I’ve decided to go with the theory that they were doing some flight training, and Mom and Dad realized they couldn’t get all the way up into the plant, and decided to take them to their second home. After all, Mom and Dad had to be staying somewhere, and it certainly wasn’t in the plant with the babies.

Their extremely cute "Feed Me, Seymour!" pose...


This one was clearly the most assertive of the bunch.

I still think they look like half-plucked chickens.

Wearing only a few feathers the night before they left.

Who knew you could get empty nest syndrome when the babies that leave aren't your own? I have to say, I do miss the cuties, and I had really looked forward to watching them grow up a bit more.

Baby Birds

So, here's a pic of the babies taken on Saturday, the 16th. They're starting to show a bit more fluff (not to mention some actual physical features).



And here's one of Mom (or Dad, I can't tell) delivering a snack.



And this one was taken Sunday morning. The babies are definitly growing up. And apparently upset that they aren't getting fed while I'm standing there taking pictures....

Life

They've hatched! The baby birds are alive and (I assume) well. I'm so excited! I'm an aunt! Or a god-mother! Or something along those lines, anyway. This morning, I got to see the parent birds bringing in food for the babies. One adult would fly in with food, the other would take it and disappear into the nest. I'm really looking forward to tracking their progress, so get used to seeing updates!

Fireflies and Baby Birds

Last night was the first night that the fireflies were really showing off, and Duncan was completely fascinated. He wasn’t even interested in playing with Reyna or his jolly ball. Instead, he would follow a firefly around until he was distracted by another one lighting up nearby. Then he’d follow that one til he was distracted by yet another one. He also kept opening his mouth, almost like he was going to snap at one and try to eat it, but it was all in slow motion, more of a curious action than anything else. And he never got close enough to one to actually get it in his mouth, even if that had been his intention. I caught a couple and showed them to him, and he just stared at them until they flew away. It was really cute, watching him walk around with that rapt expression on his face.

In totally unrelated news, a bird has nested in my hanging geranium, and there are five eggs in the nest. Thankfully, no one has successfully nested in my dryer vent this year. The mama bird and I have come to an agreement. She leaves the nest when I need to water the plant, and I don’t try and take pictures of her while she’s in the nest. She seems to be somewhat camera shy...

Lock Me Up and Throw Away the Key

Its official – I am, however unintentionally, a baby bird killer. Would that be negligent aviacide or birdslaughter?

A small bird has been nesting in my dryer vent for most of the summer, which was fine. I would periodically check it, though, to make sure it wasn’t blocking the air flow. This Saturday I checked it and realized that there was a lot more debris in the vent and that it was blocking the air flow. And as much as I’m willing to help a bird in need, I’m not keen on the idea of my dryer getting messed up because the vent wasn’t working properly. I started pulling out some of the debris, and a nest popped out suddenly. There were five eggs in it, so I put the nest back in the vent, but not the rest of the debris, and I hoped that Mama would be okay with the new setup and not all upset that some human had been messing with her nest.

Sunday, John came over and we did laundry. When we went outside to play with the dogs, we realized that the air in the vent had pushed the nest out. Sadly, two of the eggs were broken. It never occurred to me that all the other debris was there just to keep the nest in place. I now have the nest – and the remaining three eggs – in one of my plant baskets outside, so it will get the warmth and hopefully be protected from any predators that might want to snack on little bird eggs. With any luck, these three weren’t horribly damaged in the fall and will actually manage to hatch. I’ll deal with the feeding and releasing to the wild issues later...