I Did Something Good Today

The rain has finally come back to Virginia. April had been a month of near constant dryness, of pollen so thick that it left a disgusting yellow patina on all the cars, and of nearly 100º F temperatures.

But this weekend, the skies opened and washed the dust and dry away.

Along with some baby birds from their nests.
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Claire and I were walking to Mancini's, our Misplaced Breakfast location of choice, when I noticed two baby birds on the street. They were new borns, about the size of a chicken's egg. They had no feathers, and their eyes were closed. We were having a collective moment of, 'awww, how tragic' when one of them gasped.

We couldn't just leave it there. Not with it wiggling around like that.
"This is stupid," I said. "I know we can't take care of this thing."
"We're human," Claire said.
"Do you know what it says in the dictionary under 'Human?'"
"Stupid?"
"Exactly."

We quickly spirited the little creature out of the cold rain and into a warm towel. Claire started to feed it some warm milk and honey from a straw, but quickly stopped after I read online that milk isn't good for birdies. The warm fluid seemed to revive him a bit, though. We wrapped him up in towels, and put him in a drawer with a warm water bottle.

Following the advice of the Internet I sought out the bird's nest, which I found 9 feet above where he had fallen in a small tree. Having no ladder of my own, I had the awkward task of wandering around and knocking on people's doors until I found someone willing to lend me one. I eventually found the right door, which I knew was the right door when I noticed that the gentleman owned a tree trimming business.

Within short order, we returned the bird -- whom Claire named Sydney as soon as she knew he could be safely returned to his nest -- and finally met some neighbors. All around, a winning day.
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Beyond all this avian excitement, Claire is working hard to finish her papers. This semester has been, as I've said, very tough on her. We're both looking forward to having it behind us.

I continue to just work; still at the Fort, still workin' for the Army. The big news for me is that I'll be doing one of the events that our team is famous for, showing off Army gear and delivering The Message.

Apparently it's an outdoor event, open to the public. My co-worker brought up the subject of my participation by asking, "have you ever been protested?" Without missing a beat I said, "Yes. Yes I have." GARGOYLE HUMOR MAGAZINE: the perfect preparation for a job in defense contracting!