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06.27.02 -
Thursday
I had worried that I would be utterly mired in traffic hell on a daily basis once we moved, but it really hasn't been that bad. Since I tend to head out in the morning later than most (thank you, weird job with unorthodox hours), the drive west to the office is almost always a breeze. I really enjoy it, actually, it's a good time to blare music and think about the day ahead. When I cross the 520 bridge I'm constantly amazed by what a beautiful place I live in - on clear days the mountains jut over the cityscape, the lake is dotted with sailboats, and there is always a heron on one particular platform. Always. Sometimes he's hunched up like a cranky old man, sometimes he's stretching his neck out so he looks like a big glorious dart. Yeah, it's probably different birds, but I like to think it's the same one, day after day.
Speaking of birds, I have an update on the birds we had nesting in our carport. The other day, JB called me outside. He had been mowing the lawn when he saw a grey fuzzy birdlet lying on the ground. We huddled over it, worried. The baby was cheeping weakly, he was clearly unable to get up and move.
Me: "Oh no! We have to save him!"
JB: "Let's get him back in the nest."
Me: "Shouldn't we try and feed him ourselves?"
JB: "NO."
Me: (feelingly) "But-"
JB: "NO."
So in accordance with the strong belief that any animal touched by human hands will be forever abandoned by its kind, we used work gloves to pick up the little bird and put him back up in his nest. Later, we saw Mom Bird swooping in, worms in beak, and there was much happy cheeping.
Later that night:
JB: "I bet you wanted to put that bird in a shoebox lined with leaves and feed it yourself and watch it get stronger day by day until it finally flew away and you'd be all happy and sad at the same time then one day you'd notice a bird nearby watching you and singing and you'd realize it was the same bird come back to thank you for saving its life."
Despite the fact that he is the chalk for a million hopscotch games, JB can be REALLY annoying.
Mom Bird started getting really protective of the nest after this. Instead of flying away like she normally did when we walked through the carport, she started to stay close by and scold us. Once, JB and I were sitting in the backyard relaxing, and suddenly from the carport came our cat, scurrying towards us with ears flattened. Hot on her heels was Mom Bird, buzzing angrily. Cat slunk under the table, and Bird landed on the fence to issue a few final blasts before flying back to the nest.
Now the nest is empty, but Mom Bird keeps checking it. It's kind of sad - she flies in with a worm, and you can hear her confused indignant squawking before she flutters back out. All the kids have flown off to college, and now she doesn't know what to do with her day.
Oh - breaking news on the cat: she has shed a full pound of cat-beef, what with the diet food and the outdoor prowling. I mean for a cat, this is a Significant Weight Loss. She's looking less like a blob with legs, and more like a cat-shaped object. There is still a Brahma bull-like wattle under her belly, but I can't really fault her for that. I do not exactly have abs of steel, myself.
Media Time! I've been reading The Robber Bride, by Margaret Atwood. It is so engrossing that I have been reading it while drying my hair (propped on the bathroom counter) which has resulted in my hair getting all fucked up because I don't pay attention to what I'm doing. Before that I tore through Shirley Jackson's Life Among The Savages/Raising Demons (thanks for the suggestion, Red Dirt Girl), and it was with great great sorrow that I closed the book after the last page.
What have you been reading lately?
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06.25.02 - "One size fits all" my ASS.
06.21.02 - Marketing traditionally knows fuck-all about how stuff actually works, we just come up with all the blather to sell it.
06.19.2002 - "I have never heard of anything like a pants-horn"
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comments so far.
I have moved. - 1.03.2005
Obviously, a work in progress. - 12.27.2004
Happy holidays! - 12.24.2004
Listen, I am not a complete dick, it's not like I want Joe to die alone surrounded by cats or something. - 12.23.2004
Plus I am convinced my butt is extra big when it's upside down. - 12.22.2004
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