Thursday, June 30, 2005

revision

Me, yesterday, to Pukka, summing up the synopsis I'd just given him of my "annual" review:
"So baby, you have a very good wife."

OK, well you have a wife who's very good at her job."

Maybe we should just say that you have a wife whose boss believes she's very good at her job."

Sunday, June 19, 2005

bird brains

Shortly after Pukka and I moved to our current location, I got a bird feeder. I filled it full of seed, put it outside and waited. No birds came. I waited awhile longer and still no birds came. I whined to my mother and listened to her advice. I started to move the feeder around a bit to try and find a more attractive location. I consulted the internet. And then one day, I looked around and realized that there were no birds to be seen in our neck of the woods. We live close to a major highway, in fairly new construction and it just wasn't such good birding territory.

We'd drive through other parts of town, parts with trees and birds, and I would yell at the birds, "Come to my house! There's plenty to eat there!"

Out of stubborness (or laziness), I left the birdfeeder where it was, and every so often, I'd knock the nasty seed out of it into the trash and replace it. Finally, about a year after the feeder arrived, I noticed a finch at it one day. Then for two weeks, no sign of anything. Then they started coming, slowly but surely. We have mourning doves, goldfinches, and either purple finches or house finches (I can't tell them apart -- maybe we have both?). We get chickadees and sparrows. Today I'd swear I saw some type of titmouse, but I haven't taken the time to look him up yet.

And then the non-seed eaters started moving in. Of course we get robins, and this year a pair of swallows nested in the eaves of our garage (and dive-bombed us whenever we had reason to go out there -- luckily we use it for storage and not our cars).

Logically, I realize that this phenomenon is mostly a function of time. The trees here have grown a little biggger. The sprawl has sprawled further, so we're less on the edge of town that we used to be. But I like imagining that my feeder had something to do with the renaissance. And if not, at least it's provided an endless source of entertainment for the cats.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

"Can we buy a rubber chicken?"

A few years back, this guy showed up to our local farmers market with a freezer truck of beef. It was a strange little bit of cognitive dissonance. In my mind, the farmers market was where you buy vegetables. But on the other hand, farmers raise animals as well as growing veggies. One day I finally broke down and decided to buy some hamburger patties from him. He talked me into some beef brats as well. We grilled them up later that week and were instant converts. I swear to you, I never knew meat could be this good. And we've indoctrinated others as well. My dad, who thinks brats are a waste of time, now has me bring some of these brats to him when we visit.

Yesterday, Pukka and I went to the farmers market for some beef and veggies. As we were making our way down the row, Pukka said, "Can we buy a rubber chicken?" I looked to where he was pointing, to see a man with a rubber chicken on top of a deep freeze. Sure enough, he was selling half and whole chickens. I'll be roasting one tonight and have high hopes it'll prove to be just as tasty as the cows are.

In other news, tomorrow will be one year since my first post. One of my biggest concerns when starting this blog was that it would be something I would do for a month or two, then give up on. There are so many unfinished projects in my life, and I didn't need another one. I haven't always kept up with posting as well as I could have, but overall, I think I've done OK. Here's hoping this next year is even better.