Food Flight

For the first twenty-five years or so of living in this house, I had a couple of bird feeders hanging from the tree out front. I was forced to take them down a couple of years ago because, along with the birds, they were attracting rodents. I love the birds but I'm not a big fan of rodents - especially when they decide my house is not only a good place for food, but for lodging, as well.

I took down the feeders and, for what seemed like weeks, birds would still come fluttering up to where the feeders once were and they would hover in place, obviously wondering what the heck was going on. I kind of felt bad about it but if it was between encouraging birds and discouraging rodents, discouraging rodents is the clear winner.

Anyway, across the street from the end of my road, there's a doughnut shop - one of those with a drive-thru window - a convenience for those consumers too lazy to get out of their cars to walk into the building to get their daily, deep-fried doughnut along with a cup-of-whatever is required to wash it down. 

On any given day, at any given hour, it's not unusual to see cars snaking around the entire building, around the perimeter of the parking lot, out into the street, all waiting in line at the drive-thru.

A while back, for reasons so-far unknown, the parking lot was taped off with some of that crime scene/caution tape - and it now looks like the businesses is (presumably) temporarily closed. At first I thought, maybe they were going to be paving the lot or at least re-painting the drive-thru lines - but it's been several days and so far, nothing. 

Then I thought that maybe a crime was committed. Maybe someone cut in line, thus depriving another customer of their God-given, constitutionally protected* right to be first in line to get a doughnut. But I haven't seen any police cars over there, let alone any chalk outlines on the pavement of some guy who may or may not be holding a doughnut.

I should also note, there are no outward signs of a possible, though completely understandable, grease fire. 

So basically, like usual, I have no idea what's going on. 

Anyway, over the time it's been closed, I keep seeing the occasional car pull up and stop at the tape. The bewildered driver (and, if applicable, passengers) sit there, trying to figure out what this is all about; clearly wondering what is happening to their lives.

Eventually, reluctantly, they seem to accept the reality of their newfound doughnut-less existence and they slowly pull away, back into the traffic of life - their day, obviously ruined (or so I like to think). 

And I think back to those birds (and also, the rodents). And I wonder how long it will be before these doughnut-less consumers, too, will give up.

So far, they have the birds beat - and they're neck-and-neck with the rodents.

(*section 8, under "General Welfare".)

Long Walks

On our walk to the opening of the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago, Sam came upon a newborn baby bird laying dead on the sidewalk in town. Whether this bird fell out of it's nest or was pushed was open to a brief, irrelevant debate. I found a stick and  managed to scrape a small hole in a nearby patch of dirt, placed a rock over it and we continued on our way. 

Sam thanked me, which for some reason, caught me by surprise.

The subject of this baby bird came up once or twice thought the day - not so much as in conversation but more just a stray comment followed by comforting. 

Later that day, on our evening walk, we came upon another one. This one, like the other, all pick skin, all beak and feet. As with the one in the morning, I again found a stick and managed to dig a small hole and bury in a shallow grave, topped with a small stone.

We continued on our walk - with a little trepidation, hoping that would be the end of it.

Sam and I look forward to our evening walks but this experience, twice in one day, gave us pause - at least for a little while. We were hoping this would be the end of it. 

We pushed through and so far at least, no more dead baby birds lay in our paths. 

From time to time though, the subject of these poor little things has come up - but briefly and less and less so with the distance of time. 

Sometimes, maybe all the time, that's all you can do. Just keep pushing forward- push forward and hopefully get some distance. But still think of those baby birds from time to time, and know it's ok.