Boy, Bike, Bird

My boy is still sick. I am staying home again today. I don't really do much to help him, but I want to encourage him to get some fluids. And, today, I am not going to cook anything. Yesterday, the smell of lunch and again of dinner, set the poor guy off. He hasn't eaten anything for 2 full days and managed only a little fluid. He mostly sleeps and pulls the covers over his head in even a little light.

A few days ago I was caught up at work and looking for things to do. Not for long, mind you, but it did happen. Now my desk is full and I am not there. Oh, well. I do hope that we don't get any more shut-off notices while I am gone! We have had a rash of them lately. I think the State budget mess and IOUs have made the vendors understandably jumpy. Puts the districts in a panic. You cannot have parks open without water and electricity.

My walking partner has had to beg off this week as she is at work early and late. Yesterday, I decided to give the dog a treat and run her on my bike. It went well. Today, not so well. She started off running and pulling like crazy. When I tried to stop for a stop sign, she didn't. Flipped my bike and me over. Fortunately, I did not go down on my head. But I split the top of my thumb open, I can feel some pretty good bruising in my lower back where the bike hit me (hope it doesn't seize on me! I have a mild history of back trouble), and I suspect a myriad of aches and soreness are going to develop. End of run. Dumb dog still thought I was going to walk/run her. We only got half a block. I don't think she really has a clue what went wrong. Next time I head out that way, I am probably going to get a prong collar like Debi has for her Dane. These big stubborn dogs need more handling and training then I have time for, so a little help is needed.

Benjamin pulled all the weeds in the front "garden" and put down as much wood chips as we had. (We are supposed to go get more on tomorrow's Furlough Friday.) Almost every day, he pulls the new weeds that pop up. Until our trip to SLO and then him getting sick. I need to go pull some weeds before he gets better and sees them all. He will be so discouraged!

Goodness! There is a bird (young scrub jay?) in our family room - flying madly from window to window and trying to get through the blinds. It flew against the screen door once, but now that I have opened it, the bird won't leave the windows on the opposite side of the room. The cat and dog are all excited. Mrs. Cotton, the cockatiel, had a bit to say until closing the drapes and blinds made the room so dark.

Ben got up to help close window blinds so, hopefully, the bird will move away from them and try the door again. Does that mean that he is feeling a little stronger or just that his compassion is great?

Poor bird is determinedly staying by the darkened windows - it saw the tree through them before and is convinced there is a way out. The only window that we might be able to open has a hard to reach and hard to remove screen. This won't work. Even though the blinds are closed now, the bird keeps trying to get through them. Why not try the door again? I think the tarp over the patio, which darkens it is not helping now. Stubborn bird.

Come on, foolish bird! We are afraid it will hurt itself or even just run out of energy and die. How long can a bird go without food and water? Silly thing is hunkered down with intermittent fluttering behind a stack of games and outdated personal 72 hour backpacks in the darkened corner by the window - up on top of a shelving unit away from the cat and dog, at least, but also out of our reach pretty much. At one point, the bird was up on a bag of something, that Ben tried to slowly move toward freedom. It looked like this might work, but the bird panicked and returned to the window. Now we just sit quietly, waiting, watching, and willing the bird to find its way out.

Another good sign. Ben brushed his teeth. Is he better enough that I should go in to work after all? OR had I better get out there and pull weeds?

I will go out and pull weeds while Ben does the bird watch. After a bit of breakfast - but no frying up some potatoes!

I hope your day is going better!