Last year, a mommy robin decided to build a nest on our porch light. I encouraged her behavior. My daughter and I cut up a bunch of yarn and scattered it in my flower beds and the robin wove it into her nest. She took about a week to lay her four blue eggs, but they all hatched in the same 24 hours. We watched her bring her babies food and we watched them leave the nest. It was so much fun that I thought I might really be able to handle homeschooling. We learned so much about robins.
Side note: They are very clean. When I exclaimed my glee about my robin my neighbor made a face and shuddered. Robins are not barn swallows folks. No gigantic piles of stinky poo on my porch. Just sweet baby robins.
So anyway, I've watched the robins scoping out my yard for nesting grounds and have pled through my kitchen windows, "Pick us! We'll be good to you." Yesterday I saw her begin her nest. I should go look it up and see if mothers return to their same nesting grounds or if this is one of the babies returning. I think of it as my fellow mother of multitudes.
Anyway my daughter and I scrambled to cut up some wrapping paper ribbon (all out of yarn this week) and scatter it in the flowerbeds again. This morning we saw it delicately placed in her nesting spot. It will take her several days to build up the area underneath her nest, but she'll build the actual nest overnight if last year is any indicator.
I love spring.
I have 25 hyacinths blooming in my front flower bed. I have daffodils blooming in a couple spots. My holly have tiny red blooms or berries. My lilac is leafing out. My tulips are budding. My lilies are coming up. My Rose of Sharon hedge is planted. And my flowering bushes that I've planted at random are in full bloom.
My heart soars in the spring. I love the smell of the air and the feel of the breeze on my face. I love sleeping with the windows open. And being in Kansas, I love the sound of a thunderstorm racing across the prairie, bringing thunder and lightning and rain and the smell of wet earth. Not so fond of the hail and tornadoes, but hey, with all that is good about Kansas in spring, I'll take the good with the bad.
So now you can understand why the robin is such a big deal to me. When the robins come back and begin their nest, spring is upon me. Ahhhhhh......
But what's up with Amazing Race being on Wednesday?
2 comments:
You really should write a book set in Kansas, Jamie. You make me want to actually plant my feet on prairie soil.
Signed,
A devoted beach girl
I leave the Kansas writing to Deb Raney. I set in Kansas, but forget thunderstorms in the storms of life of my characters.
What I failed to mention is all the tornado drills. This morning I was standing in the library and the sirens started to blow. A lady in the same aisle and I looked at each other and siad simultaniously, "What time is it?" It was cloudy, but not stormy outside, as it was last month when tornadoes ripped up a neighboring town. It was eleven. They blow drills at eleven. I could have sworn that it was eleven on Mondays, but apparently they decided to do Wednesday this week just to shake things up.
One of these days we are going to have a tornado at eleven and a whole bunch of people are going to die because we look at our watch, shrug, and go about our business.
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