Where is the mother bird?

At the beginning of June, I found a speckled egg, crushed and on the ground out by the peony bushes. When I looked up into the tree, I saw a female cardinal sitting on a rather shabby-looking nest. Sometime over the weekend, the remaining eggs hatched. I could see little fuzzy chirping things in the nest. But I didn’t see the mother bird. She’s been there pretty much constantly for a month, and now I haven’t seen her at all for about 2 days. I am getting really worried about the baby birds. I just tiptoed out to see if the mother had returned, and one of the babies stretched out its neck and opened its beak. The other baby was just sort of lying there without moving, but it was still breathing. I don’t know what to do for them, other than hope the mother bird returns very soon. I don’t want to be one of those people who messes with wildlife and makes the situation worse. I suppose it could also be that a predator bird ate the real cardinal eggs and laid its own eggs there for the unknowing mother cardinal to raise. I sent a message to Nana and Grampy (bird authorities) and my friend Crissy who is a vet, to see if there is anything I can do for the birds if the mother does not return.



At any rate. Last weekend was the summer solstice. Of all the solstices (okay, there are only 2), this one is my least favorite. I prefer the winter solstice, even though it is the shortest day of the year, and in my past life it was typically wrought with some tragedy of Dunlap Love. At least with the winter solstice, the days will be getting longer and the end of the cold and dark will be coming soon. But with the summer solstice, you are just being hurled back into shorter days and the reminder that winter is just around the corner. I’m not ready for this yet—my blood has not even completely thawed from last winter!

Rob did a triathlon over the solstice weekend, and we went to go stay with Aimee and Dr. Y. They moved away about a month ago, and seriously, life has not been the same without them here. They’re not too far away, but still. Not close enough to see every day, or even once a week. It was really, really good to see them and the kids again.

On Saturday morning, Rob did his triathlon. About 5 years ago, Rob was one of the biggest names in the tri-state area of triathlons. An ensuing knee injury put a halt to his budding triathlon career, but he definitely made his comeback last weekend. He did really well in the swim, bike, and run, and he ended up finishing faster than any of his previous sprint tri’s at that location. All of this was pretty spectacular, especially considering that he’s only swum twice since January (the Tuesday and Thursday before the race). Maybe he’ll blog about it on his website, you never know.

Pre-race



Swim

Cara and John also came over, so we had a bit of a reunion on Saturday after the race. It was so much fun. The guys did whatever it is they do, and Cara and Aimee and I busied ourselves around town. Much to my joy, we went to the Trader Joe’s. I got a bag of wild arugula—only $1.99.

It hasn’t been all fun and games though. I managed to finish a draft of a results chapter on activity patterns and now am about knee-deep (okay, ankle deep) in the results on diet. Speaking of which, I need to get back to work.

Thanks for reading!