Friday, May 27, 2016

Drafts Folder

Wait! Have I forgotten to finish a letter to a longtime friend and correspondent? Is it languishing in the drafts folder? Let me see ... 

No, it's not there, I must have sent it. Good. 
There aren't as many drafts there as I thought, either. 

There's a Star Trek Christmas poem for the boys' dad.
There are several epitaph-type poems about pets that have died. I was collecting them to send to Karen after one of her beloved Yorkies chomped down on a sharp piece of cow hoof, which sliced into her upper palate and killed her. 

There is a link to the journal I kept online before this one. The draft's subject line is Blogging Through My Mother's Dying. The link goes to an entry written shortly after we got the news that Mom had terminal kidney cancer and maybe a year to live, at most. I'll never forget the shock of that. I remember falling to my knees a couple times after getting off the phone with Dad, and then just heading out to the field to be alone and bawl my eyes out. If you're new to this blog, you might be interested in that shitty little journey, which ended in tears but also gave us many enriching times together as a family: http://xoetc.antville.org/archive/2004/05/19/.

Today is 11 years since Mom passed away.  I miss her. It doesn't get less so. Time heals? I don't think so. And now that I've set her photograph next to my desk here at home, I think of her more often. Which is nice, but still hurts too. When they say this life is a vale of tears, they aren't kidding.





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We were quite pleased to see some husky robins chase away the bluejays who were tormenting the smaller birds like our mascots, the brave and bold chickadees. Robins are so cool; they love people or at least the worms we stir up from the ground and the water we provide. 

That's true: they do seem to love people! And we sure love them.
This year we've got a pair of merlins in our yard, which means the songbirds will probably be decimated. No one likes that, but the "experts" say the merlins won't be back every year.





Birdie has left a new comment on your post "Robins & Magpie": 
I have a friend who tells about being chased by crows for 2 blocks. The way he tells it is hilarious but it was actually not funny. Birds can be scary! 

When my husband and I have traveled throughout Canada we always enjoy the magpies. We don't have them here. 

I didn't know Nanaimo doesn't have magpies. I thought they were everywhere.
They are a regular around our yard, as they nest in our spruce trees. They are so common that I hardly glance twice at them, when really they are a very interesting bird. Smart and quirky. Also, the year-old birds stay with the parents and help raise the next brood; it's how they learn to be raise their own young. 






Magpies! Can't say I like those birds much. 

They are little buggers, that's for sure. Scott's always threatening to shoot them but he never does. I'm glad he doesn't because in winter, the only birds we see at our feeders are the magpies, chickadees, redpolls and woodpeckers. The magpies can't get into the feeders but they sure check out the snowy ground beneath them. I wonder what they find to live on during those cold months.