Look at the Birdie

A few weeks ago, on a regular sunny :-) day (regular is being a bit sarcastic b/c where I live, sunny days aren't exactly the norm; but for two months of the year it is a pretty good bet there'll be sunshine during the day), I hurriedly began gathering swimming clothes for my children. I was also brushing my teeth.

We probably had 5-10 minutes to spare before we needed to leave. And, if you've ever loaded three children into a vehicle, you know how easily those minutes are gobbled up by twisted seat belts and car seat wars.

Anyway, as I opened the screen door to grab the swim stuff, I literally felt a swoosh of something go right above my head. That swoosh was a real, living bird.

Just to give you an idea of that day, here are a couple pictures:

So, I stepped outside to this:

This "clothes horse" - that is what my mom always called hers, was my best summer purchase of 2011. You can buy yours from Bed Bath and Beyond. You'll use it all the time, I promise. I mean all the time in the summer.

And was quickly greeted by the inhabitant partaking of seeds from here:

I can't remember when I bought this or from where. I think I bought the seeds from an Ace Hardware store. I actually consider the birds my "pets". I feed them and watch them fly away. I like to try and figure out how they sing. Do birds have vocal chords?

As you can well imagine, with toothpaste in my mouth, I was a bit freaked out. Luckily, my kids - who were playing in the other room, didn't seem to be phased by my telling them there was a bird in our house (I guess with my toothpasted-voice, they couldn't understand me). I raced back to my room to spit out the awesome toothpaste (doesn't that make this story even better?) and then started closing doors, imagining myself swinging a broom around the house trying to get that little bird out.

By this time, the kids caught on to what I was doing, but they couldn't see the bird. It was behind the couch near our big picture windows. I was also imaginging all kinds of bird poop on my furniture and floors. They didn't seem nervous and I promise I tried to be calm.

By all instances of luck, that little bird went from our picture windows, flew a little ways and then went out the same we she came in. Weirdest thing ever.