Bird eat bird. Also, Uranus.

A few weeks ago, we discovered this sharp-shinned hawk swooping around our neighborhood. He is very handsome, but we were troubled to find his diet consists primarily of small birds. We are just starting to get a wider variety of song birds to our feeders, including a pair of house finches, a pair of cardinals, and a little flock of waxwings. I wish the hawk would instead go hang out down the street in the Kroger parking lot and eat the grackles that keep stealing my suet. Sometimes I sit outside reading my newspaper, and when the grackles come I clap and clamor until they leave. One of our little neighbors was startled by this behavior and wanted to know why I was yelling at those black birds. I tried to explain to her why cardinals are better than grackles. It was an awkward conversation.

We went to the library a couple of weeks ago, and there were four large broods of Muscovy ducklings--probably 50 ducklings in all. They were adorable. We went back a few days later to visit them again, but there were just a few ducklings left, and several Muscovy mothers wandering around looking dazed and confused. We were puzzling over where all the darling babies had gotten off to when SUDDENLY, the biggest red-tailed hawk I've ever seen came swooping a couple of feet over my head and landed in a tree right next to us. The kids admired him for a minute, then I saw Harper realize what exactly was going on here, and she started yelling and chasing him off. He was a little sluggish, and flapped off very slowly, because he was FAT with ducklings. The natural world is brutal.


I finished another book this week. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. It's a fictional story based on the real journey of one of the lost boys of Sudan. It is inspiring and convicting. Read it. Actually, go ahead and read anything by Linda Sue Park. I am also listening to Seven Women by Eric Metaxas. I just finished the chapter on Susannah Wesley. She was a marvel. When she needed a moment or two of escape from her NINETEEN children, she would sit down, pull her apron over her head, and pray. I think I am going to implement that strategy.

I want to remember that Harper asked to sit in my lap at church on Sunday. I love that she still does this. She is almost 5 feet tall, weighs just under 70 pounds, and her string bean legs dangle all the way to the floor. Sunrise, sunset...

Helena did a great job on her solar system presentation last Wednesday. She was well prepared this time, and her teacher told them beforehand in what order they would go. They were each assigned a particular planet to present, and she was Uranus. It never stopped being funny. I did manage to convince her not to start her presentation with, "I am Uranus!"  The Greek god that Uranus is named after is actually Ouranos. Why didn't they go with that spelling? Early astronomers had a scatological sense of humor, no doubt.

I finally started my Couch to 5K again this morning. I had to go all the way back to week 2, but my knee only hurt the tiniest bit, so I feel encouraged. That will have to be it for today. Two posts in a week, though!