signs of spring...

It's a quiet Sunday morning here. Kelly is off at a meeting and all the kids are still sleeping. I am looking out my living room window and enjoying the peace. Suddenly a bird flies into the window and rebounds off to fly another day. This is a regular occurrence at this time of year and one of the first signs of spring. And before you go thinking my windows are that clean, let me be honest and say, the only birds that mistake my windows for empty air space are the nearsighted ones!

So birds are on the brain this morning and I thought I'd share some humorous stories I have had with them over the years. In our house in West Jordan, we had a mailbox that didn't shut all the way. (I probably backed my van into it or something) For a couple weeks, we would go to get the mail and find it on the ground and the mailbox full of twigs, grass and who knows what else. We thought we were being pranked by a neighborhood child, and were a bit frustrated because of the safety of our mail.

I was a bit curious and stumped one day, when a ward member a couple blocks away called me with the news that he had a utility bill of ours on his front lawn. I had just put the bills in the mailbox to go out a day or so before and couldn't figure out how in the world it got over there. I went out to find our mailbox once again full of twigs.

I told Kelly it was time to get serious and we started surveillance on the mailbox. One morning a few days later Kelly called me to the front window with a tone of disbelief in his voice. I watched in amazement as two big birds took turns landing on the door of the mailbox and hopping until it opened. Then in a coordinated effort, they flew twigs and weeds into it. In less than ten minutes the box was full and we had caught our culprits red footed!

We quickly purchased a new mailbox that shut firmly and I had to call the power company when our bill didn't arrive on time, explaining that the late payment had been hijacked by fowls.

I do have other stories of these same birds but I will reserve them for later! Stay tuned for the next installment of Birds on the Brain, or maybe I should just shorten it and call it Birdbrained! :)