Empty nesters
I guess today was the day to clean out bird nests. There were two intact robin nests, this one being the most photogenic, the other one had poopy looking stuff in it. The third robin nest was taken over by a house wren (sparrow?) after the robins fledged and they made a mess so not photogenic at all. And the wren/sparrow babies didn’t make it because some other bird attacked them. Then there was the house the chickadees nested in. I KNOW the parents were feeding babies in that house but I didn’t see if or when they fledged because I think we were outta town. The GG did find a small unhatched egg in that house but it didn’t look like a chickadee egg. House wren/sparrow?
My lunchtime read today (sent by a beach urchin). A guy gets tired of being sent out to buy rice every day (by his wife) so he tries to order it in bulk. And gets a TRUCKLOAD of rice. Actually it was a lorry-load, given that this happened in India. I can’t figure out how to link to the actual story (@nameshiv) but let’s just say that it took *hours* and the involvement of many people before it was all over and it sounds like he will not be out buying rice for a while. I have had my own pandemic shopping snafus but 18 cranberry goat cheese logs can’t begin to compare to a lorry-load of rice. I work with a lot of folks on the Indian subcontinent and I love them and they are soooo much fun and I can totally believe this story.
We have had an empty nest ourselves for quite a few years now. “We” (the GG) took over the older beach urchin’s bedroom long ago and I am about to take over the younger’s. Oh not that all of her stuff is still in there, just that I need to sort out what *is* in there. Some of it is my mother’s and grandmother’s stuff…
When we took our first daughter to college… I was okay with leaving her at college, maybe a weeee bit nervous but I sucked it up and she was FINE! I had a YAG (youth theatre guild) audition to manage when I got home that evening. The GG was sitting in her bedroom as I was getting ready to leave for YAG and I made sure he had a ‘hattan before I left.
By the time she came home for the first time a month or so later (I drove over to Kzoo in my loverly Honda Accord and picked her and some friends up), he had completely rearranged her bedroom. Man oh man was she upset. He was at Houghton Lake that weekend and I encouraged her to call him there. Like, I did NOT do this. She gave him some hell but then she went through college and study abroad in Spain and lived in SanFran for six years or so and then moved to Detroit (yes, really) and after several dwellings there, I don’t think she cares much about her childhood bedroom any more.
September 4th, 2020 at 11:20 pm
When I left the nest my parents almost immediately changed my bedroom into my dad’s TV watching room. I was a bit nonplussed because I thought I might have to come back at some point. (but they have a large house with many bedrooms and beds, so it wouldn’t have mattered) At the time, I felt weird about it though, sort of untethered.