Monday, February 8, 2010

The Birds Are Back


We have been neglecting our bird feeder all winter and the bird food, in its bin, had grown moldy and nasty, not fit for any creature but fungi and perhaps bugs.
Two days ago Mr. Moon bought fresh seeds and hung up the bag of thistle seeds for the finches and put out the mixed seeds for the other birds and he asked how long I thought it would take for the birds to discover that the food was back.
"Thirty minutes," I said, optimistically.
Well, I was off by about twenty-three hours but by yesterday morning they were back. The gold finches which I saw on my walk in a huge flock last week and also the cardinals.
Right this second there are a dozen birds on that feeder on this sunny cold morning. The tiny finches cling to the bag and work the seeds out with their clever beaks and the cardinals sit sentinel as they eat.

Here's a female cardinal who visited yesterday. Mr. Moon, who does things the RIGHT way, got out the tripod and set up the camera and took pictures while I was at rehearsal yesterday afternoon. While I was gone, he also got that garden into shape!

Ah. The man puts me to shame.

But I have to say it doesn't take a whole lot to do that these days.

Kathleen came over to watch the Super Bowl last night. She sat and knit and she and Mr. Moon exchanged football theories and football player and coach trivia and information and laughed at the commercials (and what was with all the slapping in those commercials? TOO MUCH SLAPPING!) and I got food ready and we ate and then I cleaned up because no matter how much I try, I cannot sit and watch football. My main observation of the entire evening was that although the player's pants are skin-tight, they somehow do not reveal anything which sort of pisses me off, just as the pants that basketball players wear piss me off- all those beautiful long thighs and they're covered up by those baggy britches that flop and wrang around like parachutes as they run and jump and use those thighs to what would be great viewing advantage if we could but see them.

Well. That's me and sports, folks.

But the birds? Whether finches or chickens, I could watch them all day. And I'd try to make up some great metaphorical reason that old people like birds but I won't. I'll just honestly say that when people get old and simple they like to watch cute things.

Football players' butts and basketball players' thighs being among them as are the tiny finches, the sweet hens, the swaggering rooster, the regal cardinal.

23 comments:

  1. goodmorning ms moon...

    i am right there with you when it comes to football uniforms.

    i grew up in a family that leaned heavily toward tennis. short, tight outfits on all. all white. those tiny skirts on the ladies. fodder for all sorts of fantasy...

    why do the finches get different seed? is the thistle seed smaller? different nutritional value?

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  2. Haha, you watch your birds eat seeds, I watch my birds eat small rodents. But we do become somewhat obsessed, don't we?

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  3. Wow, Rachel, what do you have??

    There is such delight to be found in watching the bird feeder, alright. Do you have a bird bath too? That's the best!

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  4. I flinch everytime anyone gets hit on t.v.

    I'm the only person in our home that's not a fan of America's Funniest Home Videos. I hate seeing people get hurt and the WORST is when a baby gets hurt or a toddler gets knocked around and everyone laughs and continues to tape. Someone should bat the guy filming it in the head. see how he likes it.

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  5. good morning ms moon,
    and happy viewing!

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  6. That is a stunning picture of momma cardinal! DAMN!

    Did you know that it is a fact that more woman battering is reported on Super Sunday than any other day of the year. It seems crazy that this is documented and that they would actually have slapping commercials. sigh.

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  7. Maybe as we get older we slow down enough to pay attention to the small things. Which is why grandparents and grandkids make such a good combination.

    Have to agree on that a tight thigh and/or butt are easy on the eye =o) x0 N2

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  8. If you blow up the picture, you can actually see the little round seed in her mouth! I mean, you can see it anyway, but I didn't quite have it in focus till I blew it up.

    Coolness.

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  9. Adrienne - finches have different beaks and can get at seed that way; otherwise you attract starlings and other noxious birds (non-natives that crowd out and kill the native birds) (I'm not anti-immigrant! I just don't like bullies!)

    Ms. Moon - I love finches and cardinals are just so beautifully amazing. And understand that I detest football but last night was something so joyously wonderful in New Orleans that it's hard to speak without all these cliches. It helps that almost all those Saints players have a true love of the city and really do their best to help rebuild (to me that matters significantly; for others, it's the need for a successful symbol after all we've been through).

    The party was not just in the French Quarter - it was in every neighborhood. I drove home right after and such a deluge of joyousness - dancing in the street, hugging, crying. I may not be a fan of football in the least, but I am a fan of widespread ebullient joy.

    But those commercials - what was WITH all the men in ugly underwear? And they were so anti-woman - "she stole your pants" and "you're playing like Betty White." UGH. I couldn't watch those so my friends' kitchen is spotlessly clean.

    And Erin, I too flinched every time somebody was hit, and I hate that video show, too. Find no humor at all in slapstick, which makes me not super popular with the young male crowd.

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  10. I think that was the first Super Bowl I have ever watched for the game. And, it was a great game because the Saints won.

    And, I love your birds! :) When it's warmer, do you get tons of hummingbirds? I remember seeing them a lot when I lived there (I had a feeder), but I rarely see them here in Nebraska.

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  11. Just saying good morning, and I love you.

    Glad your feeder is open for business again.

    SB

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  12. oh, fun. so glad the birds are back and you are watching and sharing. thank Mr Moon for the fab pics.

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  13. I could watch the birds all day too, in fact some days that's all I do! They have been going through a lot of bird seed in my backyard lately. I think I'll be putting up my hummingbird feeders soon too.

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  14. Betty White is funny; I'd like to see her in football tights.

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  15. That's funny. I thought I'd watch five minutes of the Superbowl last night, to see what all the fuss is about. First I saw that I got the sport all wrong. I was expecting bats and bases. Then I was distracted by the beautiful legs running (like you, or any red-blooded woman I suppose) and then I noticed the violence and had to switch it off, because I do not dig a fight.

    (I LOVE birds. Wild ones.)

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  16. We finally got power again last night, so we watched the game to celebrate electricity.

    I'm with you on basketball uniforms. Maybe a return to the short-shorts of the 70s?

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  17. I watched the game. I hate sports, so to make it go quicker I kept getting up and getting something to eat. I had made SNACKS, you see. So there went to better-eating, AND I lost a few brain cells. I would much rather be watching the birds.

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  18. Those are beautiful photos of the birdies.

    And to tell the truth, I think about how awful the men's basketball uniforms are each and every game I go to. You don't know how much I just want to see their long, beautiful legs. We get to see all of the female cheerleaders' and dancers bodies, why not the men? It very upsetting to me.

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  19. lovely photos!! lovely Mr Moon, for thinking of the tripod. he sounds like such a sweetie.

    I just cant get into american football, there's not enough BOOF. I prefer rugby where you can see the teeth fly. I know that sounds a bit bloodthirsty, I'm not really like that...but those Amrican football guys all padded up...on the other hand those tight trouser things show their legs. Ahum!

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  20. Oh you are so right! As usual.

    My sister quit watching basketball when the player's shorts lengthened. For your same reasons.

    We had a good Superbowl time last night with friends. I never used to watch but since a former Dallas Cowboys defensive end introduced himself into my book, I've watched a lot of football to learn about him.

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  21. Adrienne- Yes. The thistles are what the finches would eat in the wild. And do. We just offer them this alternative. And they do love it!

    Rachel- I have to check out that website. I love owls.

    Jo- Yes. I have a birdbath but it is not getting much use these cool days. But in summer, it will. I love watching the birds on Dog Island bathe in the birdbath there. The bold males, the shy females. Such a joy.

    Erin- You are preaching to the choir. Me too!

    Rebecca- Thank-you!

    Ms. Fleur- That's an urban legend. Go to
    http://www.snopes.com/crime/statistics/superbowl.asp
    and check it out.
    It's been repeated so much that it is accepted as true but blessedly, it is not. But still- too much slapping! I will definitely agree with you on the coolness of the bird pictures though.

    N2- I do certainly appreciate the fact that many athletes these days have very interesting hair AND tattoos. I love that shit!

    Nola- As always, your comments are so thoughtful and so informed. I thought about you last night- wondering what it was like from your perspective in the city of the Saints. I'm glad to hear it was a joyful party. And whenever I watch football these days, all I can think of is the suffering these beautiful young men are going to go through in their older age. Is it worth it? I don't know. It wouldn't be for me. Hell, just plain old life has half-crippled me.
    I suppose they are our modern gladiators. Although I don't have the gene to enjoy it.

    Nicol- We do have the hummingbirds! Oh, how I love them. Magical little beings. I'll put my feeder out soon.

    Ms. Bastard- I love you too!

    Bethany- I'll tell him how well-received they were.

    Lois- Me too! On everything you said.

    Magnum- Well, Betty White IS funny. I don't know that I'd want to see her in football tights but each to his own. (You're funny too.)

    Mwa- Honey, you're worse than I am at sports and that's saying a lot.

    Nancy C- I keep suggesting that!

    Kori- Me too but it's hard to see the birds at night. Sometimes I think it would be nice to go sleep with my chickens, though.

    HoneyLuna- Damn right, Daughter!

    Screamish- Yes. We try to make the dangerous safe while preserving the violence of it. We're a strange country.

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  22. Thank you for all of these words.
    I love reading .
    I love watching birds.
    Not football.
    And new pruners ? congratulations. Oh, I can't wait for spring and gardening.

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  23. Generally, I'm a lover not a fighter, so I can't watch football. But I do like soccer. What a thrill to my eyes!

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