i'm like a bird, i'll only fly away

these are not mama and papa birds.  these are 2 of the babies.  the four of them, all grown up it seems, sit in the tiny nest, which must be very cramped by now.  they watch me as i cautiously open the door for visitors.  they watch me as i scurry to shut the door - hoping to not welcome a feathered friend into the house.

secondary to the fear of birds in my home, is the mess they're leaving.  surprisingly, it's a distant second.

i think we have been more than tolerant landlords.  but enough is enough.

i cannot wait until they find a tree or a bush to call home.  cannot. wait.

Perfect for Easter

We no longer have eggs in our nest.

We have baby birds.

Mark got the wreath down to show my parents the eggs and we found this instead. I don't know that they look like birds {yet}, but they are definitely not eggs.  This is crazy.  

Other exciting Easter news:  

1.  The kids colored eggs on Saturday.  We also had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  

2.  On Saturday and Sunday, we watched General Conference.  It was so good.  I especially loved the talks by Julie Beck, Jeffrey Holland, Russell Ballard, Henry Eyring, David Bednar and Neil Anderson.  That might have to be a whole separate post - I'll post links when they are available.  Seriously.  Awesome.

3.  Our parents came over for a casual Easter lunch:  Delicious ham and turkey sandwiches, pasta salad, fresh strawberries, chips and salsa, Martinelli's, pineapple cake, and chocolate/caramel covered apples.   

4.  We looked through the pictures of my parents' trip to see my sister in St. Kitts.  What a beautiful place.

5.  As Mark was out front saying goodbye to them, I looked out back and noticed the water in our pool sloshing around, splashing over the edge.  It was not windy at all.  But the water was moving, bigtime.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  I asked the kids if they had thrown something in.  They hadn't.  Mark came back in and briefly panicked, thinking someone was in there.  Seconds later, the phone rang,  it was Mark's mom who had left earlier and was already home.  She asked if we felt the earthquake.  Earthquake?  She said her house shook for 30 seconds.  I looked up at our chandeliers.  They were swaying.  None of us felt the earth move, but the pool and chandeliers confirmed her report.  

Sure enough, there was a 7.2 earthquake centered in Baja California.  We are 210 miles away from the epicenter. 

WOW.

bird update

When we found a small blue cracked (smashed really) egg on the door mat (sad), Mark decided to check the nest. This time we found 4 blue eggs. This is crazy.  
Did the mama bird toss one out because she knew it was a bad egg? What happened?  How many little baby birds are we going to have here?  


I keep not having my camera out when we check the nest.

think alfred hitchcock

we've had company for about 2 weeks.  

she's cute, but really loud.  

and quite territorial.  

she acts like she owns the place.

she definitely does not like her picture taken.

her presence is thrilling, and at the same time, annoying, and sometimes scary.

she's a bird.

she has built her nest on top of our front door wreath.

and there's a little blue egg inside.

we looked.everytime we open the door, she darts away.  watching from somewhere close because as soon as the door closes, she is right back in the nest.  it's sweet, right?  it's new life.  i do like watching her through the window and wondering when we'll see her baby.  but i'll admit i am a little spooked by the whole thing.

i am very nervous that one day she is going to fly into our house in her haste to get away.  i cannot handle a bird in my house.  last night we got home late from a family birthday party.  as we approached the door, she became agitated and hovered frantically around the doorway.  mark went in quickly and the rest of us entered through the garage.  i get why she's territorial: it's her baby, for heaven's sake.  i get it.  but what happens when her egg hatches?  will the constant opening and closing of the door knock her cute baby out of the nest?  i am slightly paranoid about this situation.  maybe this is why we don't have pets.

on a nature-related tangent:  here are a few shots of the front yard.  i planted these marigolds last weekend.  i have not appreciated marigolds until recent years.  i used to think of them as pretty weeds.  now i really like their simplicity and bright color.  i hope they are hearty.  the purple flowers are called blue marguerite.

beautiful early springs almost make summers bearable here.