Category: Critters

In the last couple of weeks, any time I would let the dogs out in the backyard, a robin would start yelling at me. Also I saw a broken eggshell where a baby robin had hatched. So I was on the lookout for a nest. This morning I found one in the branches of my maple tree in the back. But the bird sitting on the nest was gray, not a robin. This afternoon I noticed the mother bird was gone so I got the camera and ladder and went up to check out what was there. The babies (3 or 4) opened their mouths when I came up. But before I could snap their pictures, their parents came around yelling at me. Bluejays! The father actually smacked into my head a couple of times. With them yelling the babies crouched down in the nest. I still got a picture:

Here’s another one taken May 23, getting feathers:

By May 29, the nest was empty but the parents were still hanging around and protective. I found a fledgling under the tree hidden in the ivy:

This weekend, Jenny from work asked if she could keep Austin. You might remember that the first time she kept him, he broke her nose. Anyway, that never affected how much she adores Austin. Here’s an e-mail I got from her today . . .

He has been very deprived as you might suspect. After you left, he had homemade mushroom and cheese pizza with some homemade mac and cheese and chicken. You know he hated that! Yesterday, he had sliced chicken mixed with the yucky hard crap [dog food -ed.] for breakfast and a Bruster’s snack after the traumatic experience of seeing other dogs at the park. For dinner he had 3 helpings of roast with potatoes and carrots! Oh and a biscuit and banana pudding for dessert. Today he had roast and chicken with his hard crap and he’s been responding well when I say “uhuh” to the huge water intake so he only urped a little yesterday. He really likes vanilla wafers. We’ve done a fair amount of walking. He’s been his usual angelic self, cute as a bug and responding fairly well to excessive petting. He has turned into a little snore bird; must be the company he keeps. He really likes soft covers and robes. At any rate, that’s the update.

Katie is always very interested in squirrels when we go for walks. But they always run behind trees. Then when Katie runs up to the tree, she looks behind it, like the squirrel might still be there. As if by magic, the squirrel has vanished. But, just like Kahn in Star Trek II, Katie doesn’t think in three dimensions and does not realize the squirrel has scampered up the back side of the tree. (Austin, however, is more like Kirk and fully realizes the squirrels are going up where he keeps an eye on them and will bark at them sometimes).

Today on our walk some signs on yellow 8.5×11 paper had been posted along one street saying “DO NOT PARK STREET TO BE PAVED.” About halfway up the street, Katie saw a squirrel which ran behind a tree just like always. And Katie pulled me along to the tree so she could look behind it for the squirrel. Only today, there was the squirrel! And she almost got it in her mouth before it jumped off of the tree trunk and across the street. On the back of the tree a yellow piece of paper had foiled the squirrel’s plan and it wouldn’t try to get past the sign (which blocked most of the back side of the fairly skinny tree). Also, the microprocessor that is a squirrel’s brain somehow prevented it from giving away the trade secret by going to the front of the tree to get around the sign. So it was just stuck until Katie came along.

Good day for streets and Katie. Bad day for squirrels.

The weekend before last Susan was volunteering for Paws Atlanta helping with adoptions at Petsmart. They had a batch of puppies and Susan wound up adopting a cute black and white female. She is half English setter, which is kind of like an Irish setter but without the sense of humor and doesn’t drink as much. She was told the other half is Australian Shepherd, which is kind of like a German shepherd but <insert gross generalization here>.

After considering hundreds of names, Susan decided to name her Lilli as a short form of Lilliputian, which she certainly is right now: She can walk right under Beacon as if she were walking under a table.

Since Austin doesn’t get along well with cats, the last couple of times I have been out of town (Tybee and Dallas) he has stayed with my friend from work, Jenny, instead of with Katie at Susan’s house. She absolutely adores Austin and pampers him beyond belief while he stays with her. One time when I went to pick him up she told me how much Austin likes ham and eggs with cheese on top. Her two boys help take care of Austin as well, taking him for several walks a day. He gets constant attention all the time, which he just adores.

Jenny likes Austin so much that she asked if he could stay over this weekend just so they could see him again. So I packed up his bag and took him over on Friday. On Sunday Jenny called and said her family had taken a vote and it was 3-0 to keep him for another day (Jenny telecommutes on Monday so she would be home all day with him).

Last night I went to pick him up. I noticed Jenny had a bruise on the bridge of her nose. I asked her what happened. Apparently Austin was on the couch next to her when one of Jenny’s sons slammed a door or something, causing a giant bang. This startled both Austin and Jenny and Austin wound up knocking into Jenny’s face pretty hard, breaking her nose. This was on Saturday and I think the reason she wanted to keep Austin another day was because she had missed out on being with him most of Saturday, what with the trip to the emergency room and everything.

Austin is back with me now, but it will be several weeks before Jenny heals up from his visit.