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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