Steve the Bird

A few days ago, on my way out of the house, I noticed a small song bird perched on my railing. A young thing, too. It still had tufts of baby down peeking through its feathers. When it didn't fly off at my approach, I did a bad thing. I reached out and touched it. As someone who used to be a bird person, I know better, but I couldn't help myself. The bird didn't move. I shrugged, let it be, and went on my way.


Today I moved my car out on the street because my folks were painting the driveway side of the house. A little while ago I remembered this and went out to move it. As I walked up to my car, I noticed a shape on the roof. It was dark by now and I couldn't quite see it clearly. But, it was definitely bird shaped.


Sure enough, there was the bird on my car roof. As best I can tell, it's the exact same bird from the other day. He's still got the one tuft of down, even. I made an attempt to nudge him off, but no budging. So, I broke out my old Raptor Center training. First, I tried to get him to perch on my finger. Usually, this is simple - all you do is push your finger (or, usually, fist) lightly against the part where the bird's legs meet its body and the critter will step up. No dice. So, I had to grab him. I walked him over to my hanging basket, figuring it'd be as safe a place as any, and ducked inside for my camera.


I managed a few shots before Steve flew off. Unfortunately, this was the best one of them. Notice the little down tuft on the side of the head, and the stubby little tail with its not-yet-fully-grown-in tail feathers. Notice, as well, the paint on the porch, which is the first bit of the house to be done. See the blue/gray part? That's my new trim color. The old trim (though not the columns) color was pink. Vast improvement.

It would seem, after all this talk of what my totem is, I now have a flesh-and-blood one. However, much to my surprise, it's a songbird. And here, I was certain it'd be more predator-shaped. Ah well.

Entertainment News: Holy Crap!

Heath Ledger's dead! I'm not much of a celebrity gossip gal, but damn, that's news. Apparently, it looks like an O.D./suicide. I haven't been so surprised by a headline in quite some time. I'm pissed. I am (was?) a Heath fan, and here he's done something incredibly stupid. I mean, seriously, what the hell? Bastard.

People I Know: Lost Voices

Since graduating high school I have lost touch with the vast majority of everybody I knew in high school. This has been a largely purposeful loss as most of the people I knew then I wasn't overly impressed with. Yeah, I'm sure they're all brilliant, delightful, mature folk now that high school is over. Yet, I'm still okay with not talking to most of them.

Thus, I have stayed in touch with approximately three people I used to go to school with. One of them is my brother. Oddly enough, I've received phone calls from both of the other two within the week. Especially odd is that the first gal, who I speak to roughly twice a year, should call within days of the second gal. Go figure.

So, first gal: I've literally known her most of my life. We met in daycare when we were three. She called the other day (I hardly ever call her as she's fairly nomadic and her phone number changes often) to catch me up on the past six months - Her second child, a son, is born and healthy, she just started the culinary arts program at a local college, and her younger sister is doing well. This friend has had a rough life, and I credit the majority of that to her not-so-functional home life as a kid. I'm pretty sure there were times when she was growing up that my parents were more invested in her than her parents were. Now that she's out on her own, she's still working through those issues. No small feat, but she's making progress. It's always good to hear from her, even if my end of the conversation is mostly a string of, "Yeah? Really? No kidding? Uh huh."

Second gal: She and I are very different in most every way. We became friends because we were both in orchestra, but that's pretty much where the similarity stops. She comes from a big family, has a super outgoing personality, and is very athletic. Then you have me: small family, not so outgoing, and far more of a nerd than a jock. But, it works. She goes to school up north and usually staying in touch means shooting each other an e-mail every so often. However, she's back in town to visit her family over Thanksgiving and it looks like we'll meet up together sometime tomorrow.

The best part of hearing from both of these friends I talk to so infrequently is that both called during my fun cold. Today, when my second friend called, is the best part of a bad cold, the part where I essentially lose my voice. It's great. I'm just hoping it clears up a little by tomorrow so I can have better success in actually talking to this friend I rarely get to see.

A Bit of Odd

There's a gal I sometimes see if on campus on Tuesdays/Thursdays. She wears a midnight blue body sock. I've seen her wearing this multiple times. She's just casually walking to class.

I don't get it. Where's the appeal?

Maybe one of these days I'll say something to her, like "What gives?" or "Are you an art major, by chance?" Of course, given my luck with these things, she'd say "Business major, actually."