My Mini Aviary

I've written before about my bird feeder I had on my deck that I loved. I could sit on my couch right next to the window and door to my deck and watch all the birds that came every day. I could have spent the entire day just watching them, but I made myself do some housewifey things once in a while. I don't know why since I'm not a wife and I don't have a house - I have a condo. Maybe I'll quit doing those things whatever they were. But the bird feeder didn't have a long life as I had to take it down. I had cats, squirrels, rats and probably other animals I never saw. They would try to get at it or else just wait and eat the seeds the birds threw out. When the huge rat slithered up I couldn't stand it. I threw all sorts of things at it, but nothing worked. So I gave it away and the birds still came and flew around. They'd fly at the windows and I think give me the evil eye. I felt awful, but I couldn't do anything about it. However . . . . . 

I still had Larry. Larry was my pet sparrow. I called him mine because he appeared a couple of years ago during a snowstorm, and I fed him on the ledge of my deck. He's been with me ever since. But sparrows don't eat from feeders - they eat from the ground. So he always hopped around under the feeder. So when that was gone, I put a little seed in a certain place in one of the flower pots, hoping Larry would find it. And he did! There were beautiful impatiens in the pot and he maneuvered around them. Every day he came. But I had to take the impatiens out as bad weather was coming and they'd die, so I took them out. They were beautiful flowers, and every year I had them. I hated to see them go, but I wanted something that would come up every year - I guess that's what you call a perennial. I thought my spell check would correct me, but I guess I got it right. So I went to a nursery and bought two Sedge 'Evergold' plants. They look like old english sheepdogs with all the hair hanging down! I had to put a plastic container in the pot for the food because when I put the food in the dirt in the pot it did something weird! It made a sort of web come out of the ground that was stiff and icky. When I pulled on it, it pulled up the ground with it. So I put the container with food as far in as I could so that no one else would see it. I pulled the plant over the food to hide it. Now Larry comes to eat several times a day, and I can watch. I feel like Larry is part of my family. He makes me happy. I don't have any pets so Larry is my pet. I had a pigeon once that stopped here in front of my condo and stayed for several months! He had a band on his leg but I could never get close enough to read the numbers. I bought special food for him and he stayed in that one place all the time except at night when he'd fly who knows where. But he was always back in the morning. I named him Larry. All of my pets will be named Larry. He brought a bimbo one morning with him and did a little mating dance and then flew away with her. I never saw him again. What is it about men and bimbos?

My daughters have pets. They always had pets when they lived at home so they know how I feel about Larry. I miss my girls a lot. But Larry sort of fills the void. He hops around on my deck with his skinny little legs and makes me laugh. My girls never hopped around the deck with their skinny little legs, but maybe the next time Teri and Cindy visit I'll have them do it. Maybe Larry can watch!

I'm sorry I couldn't get Larry in the picture in his feeding tray, but he doesn't stay very long in it. He probably doesn't feel too safe undercover. And I can't get close enough as it scares him away. So just imagine.