Life of Smith

I haven’t frequented many zoos in the past years of my life, simply because I’ve never lived near a great one and I had no children to take.  Smith’s getting older now and we thought it was time to give it a try!  Going to the zoo always reminds me of one of my favorite books, Life of Pi by Yann Martel about a young boy who is the son of a zookeeper.  So I’ll share a favorite quote from the book:

Just beyond the ticket booth Father had painted on a wall in bright red letters the question: DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO? An arrow pointed to a small curtain. There were so many eager, curious hands that pulled at the curtain that we had to replace it regularly. Behind it was a mirror. (1.8.4)

We were invited by our sweet friends Maile and Addison.  Smith didn’t have much of a reaction to the animals, but definitely watched them like she does our dog, Stanley.  Once she gets a little older, I’m sure we will visit her animal friends more often.

sweaty little girl at lunch!

she's not quite big enough for the "live animal" box.

 

Empty Nest

After I noticed the empty egg, it was at least a week before the Mama Bird let me get a look at her little babies.  By that time they were barely babies!  I’ve taken pictures of them over the last few days, and now they have left the nest!  Best of luck little birdies!

Hmmm….

Before we left for Little Rock last weekend, I found this broken egg on the front bench.  I was so excited the baby birds hatched!

But then Mama Bird would not move…and she still seemed pretty planted on those eggs. I’ve been checking every day since, and she’s been in the same position.  Seems a little too coincidental that the empty egg was right outside her nest…but maybe the babies are still tiny?  I’ll keep you posted.

Another Mama in the House

My mom’s been giving me a hard time about my fake plants on the front porch.  We are not fake plant people – we grow beautiful plants!  But I’ve tried to several different plants in my front hanging planter and they all died.  Thus the fake greenery.  So I was sweeping the front porch when I started thinking about trying again, and I looked up at the plant (which was about ten inches from my face) and saw this….

AHHHHHHH!  It scared me so bad I screamed and the bird just stared at me with those creepy dark eyes.

 

The next day I went out to take some pictures of our little birdy friend.

The clicking of my camera spooked her a bit…maybe it was the twenty or so pictures I took…she squawked and flapped away so loudly I almost jumped off the bench again.  But then I got to see her little babies to be.

Don’t worry little mama, I know just how you feel.  She has since returned to the nest and I quit taking pictures so she’d feel a little better about her home here.