TheBanyanTree: Looking Out My Back Door

[Theta Brentnall]

It's emphatically Spring here.  Hot days followed by cold, rainy ones and 
the iris in bloom all over the place.  Ethel has made her nest in the iris 
again, and she lays her egg-a-day there for me to steal (if Bear doesn't 
get there first.)  This make Fred grouchy, and he pecks my ankles.  When I 
feed them, I have to grab him by the beak with one hand while I wash out 
their bowl and refill it, or he nips my arms with just the tip of his beak 
and raises welts.  The brat.  Gerry says it is one of the best shows in 
town, watching me holding that silly duck by the beak and him desperately 
trying to free himself.  It's almost as funny as watching Fred herd the 
dogs around the yard by pecking them on their tails.

We have had strange water birds on the lake these past couple of 
weeks.  There were a dozen or so surf scoters a few days ago.  They 
normally stay in the brackish waters of the Delta, so they got blown a 
hundred miles off course.  Or maybe they came for the frog buffet we are 
offering down at the pond.  I've never seen so many frogs.  They make so 
much noise at night that we can't sit outside and hold a quiet conversation.

"What did you say?  The frogs are too loud and I can't hear you."  Then 
when something flies overhead or a motorcycle roars along the road down the 
hill, the frogs go silent and there is blessed quiet for a few 
minutes.  Then one intrepid soul gives a tentative croak, a few others 
answer him and then they all start talking at "caps lock" volume 
again.  The old dog, Sam, loves to go down to the pond and chase all the 
frogs into the water.  It's just about the only thing that gets him moving 
at speed.  It is fun to see him prancing back, proud of doing his job of 
frog herding so well.  But his excursions are shorter than they used to be 
and he is ready to come back up to the house and collapse on his bed again 
for a well-earned rest.

We are none of us getting any younger.

But Spring makes us feel younger than we are.

Theta



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