Sunday, March 14, 2010

Don't Cry For Me, Johnson County....

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Yes, the day came.....that dreadful day when I would finally be forced to buy the stuff I need to go with the therapist to the pool tomorrow.....

(Pay no attention to the idgity white cat behind Blaine's shoe....)

And, to make matters worse, I had woken up with the blues this morning, after having spent a dreadful night tossing and turning in bed due to an ongoing nightmare.

After I got out of bed, I dragged mournfully around the house with my cup of coffee, navigating around the cats and Blaine, who were all sitting in the middle of the living room floor with the Sunday paper spread out around them. Finally, I made use of myself and wrote out a shopping list, as we were going shopping for some things we needed later, chief among them the dratted bathing suit, beach towel, and aqua shoes shown above.

To worsen my blues, I heard a familiar sound, a beautiful cooing---a sound I haven't heard since last year---from outside on the front porch---so I went out there with my camera.

And sure enough, when I went to investigate, I found that it was the Mama Dove, returning to her nesting area to build a nest, as she and her husband dove have done for the last 14 years that Blaine and I (or Blaine alone during the years we were apart) have lived in this duplex. She was sitting on the porch railing, looking confused, wondering where it was....

Because....remember the dreadful things which happened last spring? The landlord was going to cut the doves' tree down to make room for "landscaping"? But then after Blaine pleaded with him to wait, the landlord had grudgingly agreed to wait to cut the tree down for the approximate 6 weeks that it would take the two doves, who had already built a nest and had eggs in it, to hatch and raise their baby birdies. Blaine had begged him, knowing that it would break my heart into a zillion pieces if the landlord cut that tree down while it held a precious White-Winged Dove nest with viable baby dove eggs in it.....

So, granted a reprieve for the tree, I spent a joyful spring watching (and photographing) the dove family as the dove eggs hatched. And then I watched as the loving parents helped their baby doves grow up. I was even able to get pictures of the thrilling day when the baby birdies fledged! >

(But remember that damn chipmunk who watched the baby doves fledge while sitting perfectly still close by to the Mama Dove? I still believe that he was the evil one who
snatched the second batch of eggs when Mama Dove built a second nest....)

Anyway, I was lucky enough to watch as the babies floundered around on the porch for awhile, learning to fly, and then fly away to begin their own lives. I know they are now soaring around this neighborhood, their home, creating beauty and cooing bird song wherever they choose to alight....

But today.....true to the landlord's word.....there is now no tree there for Mama Dove to build a nest in. The tree is gone......gone.....cut down and dragged away on a dreadful day. And so, this morning, when I saw Mama Dove looking in vain for her tree, I told her that I was so sorry....

....so very, very sorry....

So, like I said, my blues got worse.

So we went shopping but the shopping trip didn't do much to help my blues, even though Blaine bought me a very nice knitting book, "Norwegian Handknits" by Sue Flanders and Janine Kosel. He knows that I am fascinated with Norwegian ski sweaters, especially the Dale of Norway ones for the Norwegian ski team.

I've always (and desperately, in fact) wanted to knit one of the Lillehammer Olympic sweaters--- from the Dale of Norway booklet with the sweater patterns for the Lillehammer Olympics--- but alas, I doubt the CIA themselves could find that damn booklet. I've searched and searched throughout the USA and Canada---but it is nowhere to be found.

Add that to my blues....

(I want to see how snowflakes and reindeers look with my choice of color interpretation....)

After we returned from the shopping trip, Blaine began making a loaf of bread in the new bread machine Mother gave him for Christmas. It is a fabulous machine and Blaine makes fabulous breads with it---and here he is, kindly (and proudly) showing us his bread dough.

And then Little Baby perched upon her food dish (as usual) in order to demonstrate to us EXACTLY what it is that she is trying to communicate---which is that she wants tuna, as usual.

Laying in your dish? How could we NOT know what you want, Little Baby?! Duh!

And so, as I sit here with the blues, thinking of the baby dove eggs of last spring, and how that damn chipmunk stole the second set of eggs--- I am writing a Post-It note to remind myself to buy Blaine some of those lovely Cadbury Chocolate Creme Easter Eggs this week...

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16 comments:

kg said...

hugs Bo!

Bo... said...

Thank you, kg!

danielle said...

I will be thinking such positive thoughts for you tomorrow that there will be no way anything negative can happen to you or even in your mind!

Bo... said...

Thank you, Danielle---you make me feel better!

Anonymous said...

Try hanging some flowering or fern baskets on the patio, we had doves that nested in boston ivy for year on the front porch.

Bo... said...

That's a good idea! Thank you, Anonymous!

Unknown said...

Positive thoughts coming your way from Montana - we all have things we are afraid of, or at the very least, try to avoid, and each step you take toward those things makes you all that much stronger. Let us know how the day went...

Bo... said...

Thank you, Beth! Guess what? After mustering up my courage, I went....and SHE NEVER SHOWED UP!!! How funny! I called Blaine and he said to go home. So I did, and I just called my case manager and he said to sit tight and he would find out what happened and we would reschedule. How funny! All that tension for nothing.... (I'll let you guys know what her reason was when she calls.)

Cindy/KS said...

LRRH is coming along great, I see!

{{{Hugs}}} on the doves & the tree! We lost a huge cottonwood years ago that had woodpeckers in it & I miss hearing them going after it. Used to find an owl in a cedar tree for a while, but it's long gone as well. My dh is one who likes to take down trees all the time!

Good luck with the swimming excursion! Will be thinking good thoughts on you for it! And congrats on the book!

Mel said...

Don't worry about the second batch. Sometimes birds will make a second nest with a few dud eggs in order to distract predators from the real nest. We have a Jenny Wren who builds in the petunia/geranium baskets on our front porch every year. She builds 2 nests to distract the birds who are looking for someone else to do their hatching and raising for them.

LRR hoodie is coming along nicely!

Mel :o)

susan said...

Amazingly enough my dove family returned to our home on Sunday too! We are on the pacific north coast, in CA just below the OR border. They went right to the feeder and looked around and then flew toward the house...Lady get the food!

Bo... said...

Thanks, you guys! (And you're right, Susan--I should be putting food out!)

Cindy/KS said...

Any word yet on why the gal didn't make it to take you to the pool?

Bo... said...

She says there was another patient there that she thought was me---and that they went to swim class---and that it was during swim class she realized the other lady was NOT ME. Personally, I think it's a weird excuse. But I saw Fred today and he asked about it, and the mobile therapist case manager knows about it--and so I bet something will be said to her. But she and I are going to meet NEXT Monday---so maybe it'll go smoothly then! (Heh. Fred said to get a cardboard sign with my name on it like they hold up in airports!)

Mary said...

Just plain unprofessional. No other explanation. I'm sure it wasn't the first time.

Bo... said...

You know, I thought the same thing, Mary! Her behavior was so strange that I got the feeling that it wasn't the first time she behaved that way. And I've got trust issues because when I was on the phone with the case manager, he said: "She says she's talked to you a bunch of times on the phone..." And I told him I'd only talked to her twice (once to make the plan, and then the morning of the visit when I phoned her to tell her of my jitters). Just the way he talked I got the feeling that she'd told him a whole different story, if you know what I mean. I don't have proof---just a "feeling".

But I know Fred believed me. And when he casually asked her last name, I figured he was going to check into it.

It'll be interesting to see how things turn out....