5/20/2012

Birds of All Kinds

We've had a theme this week and it been all about birds.

Bird 1:  This pigeon showed up early last week and hung around for five days.  At first I thought he was sick, then when I drove over him (straddled him) I thought he was just a little slow upstairs.  Then we took a closer look and he was banded and we realized he was tame??? I could pick him up (which of course is when the neighbors comes over and I am walking around with a pigeon, chalk one up for the new weirdos in the hood).   The kids named him Lulu and started feeding him cupcakes.  I have a friend from college who is a bird guru and he said that he was probably a "racing pigeon".  What the heck???  So thanks to a Google search of "Lost Pigeon" we found the American Pigeon Racing Association where we could key in his band numbers and let the owner know his where abouts.  He was gone the next day so I am hoping he found his way home and not to the neighbors free-range hunting dogs.   Either way I feel a bit more normal now that I know people race pigeons for a hobby.

2.  Eliza ran in all excited on Thursday talking about a giant black and gray bird that was "as big as she was:".  Eliza is in that lovey story telling age where things tend to get stretched a bit.   We walked around the house and didn't see anything so I told her it was probably a crow.  Ten minutes later we walked outside and she yells "Mom there's my crow!!!!"  Standing 10 feet away was a giant tom.

3.  And lastly.  Erin ran track this spring through the YMCA.  I was one of the coaches and it was a blast!   We had K-5th grade.  It took two weeks to get the little ones running in the right direction and finally by the last meet they learned to stay in their own lanes for the 4x1.

We are finding out that Erin is a distance runner.  She did very well in the 600M and unexpectedly this kid can fly.  Her first meet she long jumped 7'6".  Second meet 8'0" and this Saturday she jumped 9'4"!  The last race of the season the 600M, Eliza decided she wanted to get in on the action and ran the last 300 with Erin, while she didn't keep up she had plenty of cheers from the stand as she crossed the finish line.