Beneath the Wraps

Roland is allergic to birds but he insists on filling the bird feeder with seed so he can watch the birds fly around as he looks out the window in his office. There aren't magpies in Oregon.   I thought they were pretty birds but learned to hate them when they wouldn't leave our already pathetic crops alone.   In Oregon the most hated bird seems to be the blue jay.   I think blue jays are really pretty birds   - but blue jays are bullies. Funny, I remember watching "Peep" with Jenna and there was one story in which Peep, Quack and Chirp encounter a blue jay who thinks she is special and is unkind to other birds.   I didn't know that I was watching an accurate description of the real life bird. So Roland has watched blue jays bully other birds and he has purchased big seed and little seed and has decided to feed the little birds and let the blue jays fend for themselves. I have open...

            Most mornings seem to be routine for me.   I make sure that Jenna is dressed and has breakfast before we leave the house to catch the bus.   I take the bus with her because she doesn’t have the confidence in herself to ride it alone – and truthfully I think I would feel neurotic not knowing if she actually got off the bus or made it to school, etc.             I walk her to the grounds behind the school and turn around to head back to the bus stop on the other side of the main road.   Occasionally I will take the train somewhere – like the post office or the library.   Usually I just return home except for the one day I went out to see Kayla – which I need to do again. Jenna always wants to play verbal games as we’re riding the bus.   This morning she asked if I would come up with sentences in English that she could trans...

           I remember seeing Magpies when I was younger.   Occasionally I would notice one or two – never an entire flock!   I thought they were a very interesting and beautiful bird.   I didn’t know that magpies are dirty birds with thieving habits.   I still don’t know much about them.              They must have flown here from Colorado as I have seen more magpies this year than in the first fifty combined. I now feel the same annoyance toward them that I feel toward mosquitoes. If the Magpies would just leave our gardens alone and go after the mosquitoes, Jenna and I would be willing to call the Magpies our friends.             Poor Jenna.   She’s received four to six times as many bug bites as I have.   Her blood must be succulent like Patrick’s.   No matter how many precautions ...

When I dropped Jenna off this morning, I noticed several seagulls appeared to be basking out in the field.  The sun was just starting to peak its head over the horizon. It had rained earlier.  I’m certain that the lawn was wet.  I suppose they could have been looking for worms I was reminded of Roland’s answer to all of his children having asked, “Can we take one home?” And Roland would answer with, “If you can catch one, you can take it home.” The boys would wear themselves out as they chased the birds around – never having caught one, though I would imagine Biff came close.  He’s an animal charmer, that one.  Perhaps his magnetic charisma works just on the mammal group in the animal kingdom. I have home videos of both Jenna and Kayla approaching ducks and watching the ducks move at the same pace.  With Kayla, it was near the temple grounds in Idaho Falls .  Jenna was much younger when she sought out a particular bir...

          I’m walking my dog at the park when two geese started honking.  Highness hadn’t even noticed them until they brought it to his attention that they were there.  So of course he starts yowling and the geese took off and started circling the park – honking loudly as they flew.           Now since I don’t speak geese, I don’t know if they were warning other birds that there was a crazy dog in the park or if they were announcing: “No – it doesn’t appear to be springtime over here, either.” Or if they were just lost from their flock and asking others to make themselves known. It’s supposed to be springtime huh?  According to the goose’s bodily calendar, it is time to end their southern vacation and get back to work in the north.  But the elements just don’t jive with their predictions.  And it’s frustrating. But geese are not the only ones to suffer here.  I...