Fly Away Home

Dang.

It's been over a week since I've made any type of blog post! I've been so busy with work and home improvement projects around the house and yard, that I've been doing good just to make sure I've showered before falling into bed. (Yes, that is gross. But don't worry, I showered every time. Okay, all but one. No one's perfect.)

Anyhow, I've got a couple recipes to share in the coming days - including a great Thai noodle spin-off dish - and some before and after shots of our yard. Which I've been pouring my blood, sweat and tears into. It's nothing elaborate or fancy, but it's a helluva lot better than where it was when we started. After moving into our home in December, we didn't really get to do a whole lot with the landscaping since the weather was cold and everything was dead or dying. But once spring hit, all those overgrown bushes and shrubbery came back to life and in full force! So we've been spreading fresh mulch, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, refilling holes our dogs have dug and even planting a couple flowers. Annnnd we bought a grill - our first grill purchase, like, ever. It's all put together and awaiting it's christening on the back patio. But more on that tomorrow. Annnndddddd I've been preparing for our housewarming party we're hosting tomorrow. Expecting 30+ guests and I'm makin' all the food. Yep, you read that right. I've also done the decorations, cleaned the house and am about to finish off a mountain of laundry that's threatening to topple our bed. You can't say I haven't been busy!

In the midst of all this, however, I've continued to multi-task my little heart out with work, writing stories for various magazines and kicking production into high gear for my next issue of Dallas Brides. Two days ago, while working in my home office, I heard this huge clutter outside. It sounded like something was banging on our drain pipe that ran from the rooftop gutter to the ground. I went out to investigate and sure enough, a little baby bird had wandered out of it's nest on part of our roof (I know, we seriously need to de-bird our house!) and fallen straight down the rain pipe. Problem is that it connects into a large plastic black pipe that runs the water out into the front yard to prevent flooding in the bushes and flower beds. And it probably wasn't clean enough for him to just walk out the other end. I could hear him fluttering around in there, so I took off part of the drain pipe, hoping he'd walk out and fly away. When I finally got a glimpse of the little sucker, I couldn't help but laugh. He looks pretty rough, wildly fluffy tufts of gray hair sticking out on either side of his head, a mangy spindly neck holding it up with a beak the width of his entire face.

See the little yellow beak in there?

For the next few hours, bird watching was the highlight of my day as I would stop every now and then to look out the front door window and watch the mamma bird bring him food. Finally, he came out of the pipe and meandered into the bushes, all the while under the watchful eye of his mom.

The next morning, I went out hoping I didn't see him as a casualty of one of the neighborhood cats. I was beginning to think he was gone, when I heard the familiar chirp and then saw mamma bird fly into one of the bushes with a big worm in her mouth. I came around in time to see the baby swallow it whole, then toddle around the bushes for awhile. He even came up to the front porch and sat in front of me! Brave move, little birdie, brave move.

This morning, however, I have yet to see him. No mama bird in sight and no baby bird chirps are coming from the bushes. Really hoping the lil guy makes it.

I promise the next couple posts won't be about baby birds... I'll show you our improved backyard, the final outcome on our master bedroom and some yummy recipes you'll be dying to make! Happy Friday!