Sunday, May 22, 2011

Baby Birdies, Baby Birdies!

I've been trying to get my 5-year old nephew Hassan (or more properly, Hassan-bo-bassan) familiar with soccer in the mornings. A few days back, he noticed something near his swing set during practice time.

FALLEN BABY BIRDIES!

Apparently, the not so wise mom built a nest on the swingset/playhouse that was doomed to fall. One poor birdie died :( Two others were alive and not moving, stuck on their backs! Well, if this ever happens to you too, hopefully this can help you.

The nest was intact so I put it in an empty butter container and put the survivors inside. Songbirds have a bad sense of smell, so there are no worries that the mom will smell humans and not return.

I called bird rehab (just google animal rehab to find a place near you). They said to leave them close to the area the nest was and the mom should return. And she has,
for the past 2 days.













One of the birdies keeps jumping out of the nest and jumping around and flipping out of the nest, but we keep placing it back, and now... put them in a larger box within a larger tub (!) so they don't jump out yet...so they won't be lunch for other animals :(



The hope is that they will fly very soon.






By the way, the mother does nearly attack when anyone gets close to her babies. Hey, not our fault she kinda messed up!


These little creatures seem so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, right?
But it's a reminder to me of the tremendous value of life. We were so concerned with these things - but why? Neighbors on the left and right came to visit them, bringing food (like worms mmm) and boxes for the birdie folk to reside in. It might sound ridiculous but there's a significant example of our innate drive to help, to nurture, to revive. Well, especially if the objects of our affection are super cute.

xoxo

UPDATE: The less active baby died today :( I feel really sad about it, and I'm puzzled by how disappointed I am. The other baby has been able to fly about 1 foot high so far...

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Barbeque Your Worries Away

Like totally, melt them on the grill.
Somehow, my day started off heavy, before even rolling out of bed
Mother's Day 2012
What was I going to do for my mom? So unprepared this year.
Portfolio presentation coming up. How worried should I be?
I want to run today, but my feet are sore from a Zumba OD yesterday. Am I being too weak?
I feel so unproductive. I'm tired of jerks. I'm just ah...

Whatever. Really, cooking can scorch the globs of nonsense away from your brain.

Especially when it involves fire.

So we had a nice Mom's Day BBQ today, my family and my bro's family. I threw them steaks on the grill, along with beautiful shrimp in terriyaki marinade and veggies on skewers. The smoke filling up the air and the kids laughing and getting excited in the background made everything perfect. The wonderful neighbors, Rick next door asking if I wanted any grilling tips and guys on the other side blasting their country and southern rock.

These are moments I love being Virginian. And scorching away worries with the fire of a BBQ grill. scorrrrchhhhh.

xoxo