The Nut House

Well, I've once again been negligent in the upkeep of my blog. It's not that I don't have things to write about. I have plenty of ideas, but not enough time. Add to that a crabby toddler and the preparations all this week (and some last week) for the much-anticipated extended-family vacation to, where else?, Disney World.

Now ordinarily, I would not be brave enough (read: crazy enough) to take a 2.5 year old to Disney, especially in the summer, but Grandma and Grandpa, mom and dad, Emily, two aunts an uncle and an honorary "aunt" are also going, so we have reinforcements. Still, it will likely result in quite a few blog-worthy moments (and pictures) of course.

Oh, did I mention that we will be caravanning in 3 vehicles? I don't know how many hours it will take, but even with the newly purchased and already much beloved mobile DVD player in our van, I have a feeling we'll all be experiencing some bad cases of "Butt-Rot".

In other news, last weekend, the hubby and I attempted to do a little outdoor-around-the-house work. We weeded the huge front flower bed and then decided to do something about the two basically dead shrubs that flank the right side of our front steps. So we cut the first one down in only a few minutes, but while doing so, I noticed that a bird had flown into the one right beside it that was slating for removal next. I mentioned this to Andrew and said that there was probably a nest there. We looked through the shrub as well as we could, but didn't see anything, so we started chopping. Andrew would chop and I would pull out the freed branches. We got three-quarters of the tree out and then I heard it...splat!!PeeepppPEeeeppPEEEEEP!!!!SQWAUCK!

There was indeed a nest, and in it...two newly-hatched baby birds. Well, at least, they used to be in the nest. Now they were lying on the sidewalk, with momma bird screaming at us from a nearby tree. As you can imagine, we were horrified to have done this. As Andrew attempted to provide some shade for the birds, Emily kept saying, "Poor baby birdies just want their momma and daddy" and I tried to find someone to help us save them on Saturday afternoon. The animal control people basically told us to leave them there, which I could not in good conscience do, as it was very hot, sunny and they would have baked on the sidewalk. So we grabbed some cardboard, scooped the birds and nest up, put the nest at the base of the tree we had been cutting down and slid the birds back in the nest. (Oh, I forgot to mention that Emily sort of stepped of the back legs of one of them in her zeal to "help".)

Later that afternoon, we saw the momma bird feeding at least one of the birds and sitting back with them, so we had hoped for the best, but within two days, both birds died. It was a rough weekend here, waiting for the inevitable. Thankfully, Emily seems oblivious to their deaths, so we don't have to explain that quite yet.

So there you have it...life in my house for less than a week! I think we'll just rename it "The Nut House".