House Wrens and Homo Sapiens..Very Similar

  It has been a quiet couple days…It finally quit raining, the sun came out…and my mood lightened considerably.  Yesterday was an exciting day for ME…I am an obsessed bird watcher..We hung up our Hummingbird feeder when we got home in April, but had seen nary a one, …until…TRA DA!! Yesterday morning I just happened to look up and there he was (or she, I’m not sure how you can tell..maybe I don’t want to know..) I was so excited I think my yelling scared him away..But, just like the terminator..he (or she) will be back!  Adding to my delirium was that fact that we had a couple Wrens sneaking in and out of our Wren house that Dennis made last year. I am trying not to get too giddy about them… yet.  We had one Wren last year who began to set up housekeeping but then he abruptly left.  I think he didn’t like the neighborhood..We actually have 2 birdhouses and 3 feeders all hung in close proximity AND in the same tree. I was the one who insisted that we hang them where we could easily see them..Den attempted to explain that it wasn’t about where WE could see them. It is about what is good for the birds,  and it isn’t all about US!..I disagree…it IS all about US! I’m not just putting out food and then running into the living room..oh no, not me..I will sit as close as I dare so I can observe them eating, flying, chirping, fighting, and pooping.  Have I said that I am an OBSESSED bird watcher?? I thought so.  Below is my little Wren…

Mr. Goldfinch was busy at the thistle seed..These photos were taken through our screens, so they basically suck pond water…But every time I step out the door, they fly away going “na na na na na na!”

The way I understand it with Wrens is this.. The male gets about 3-4 locations and starts making a nest in each one of them…Then he sings pretty for the ladies, and when he attracts one,SHE picks out the nest SHE likes best, and then promptly re-arranges it before she will accept it..Not unlike the human world, as Dennis so vividly pointed out. I sure hope she likes the one right outside my window!

This morning we took some old computer monitors to the town of DeKalb, about 25 miles North of us.  DeKalb is known for being the location of Northern Illinois University.  They were having a recycling drive this morning, and we certainly had a few old computers to recycle. Dennis had an embroidery business out of our home for about 10 years.  The design was generated on a computer screen, then embroidered on this machine…..

Meet the Tajima 12 needle commercial embroidery machine ,who for 10 years made it’s home in my dining room .  The computer sat in the corner of the room on a separate table, and they were joined by a cable so they could talk to each other. The embroidery was created and tweaked by Dennis on the computer, and then the computer sent it to this machine to be put on fabric… One Christmas I put lights around it, but usually I tried to pretend it wasn’t there.  Not that I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for my dining room decor. When Den got a really big order, like shirts for the school, they spilled over into our living room and kitchen. It often looked like a “sweatshop” at our house, but Dennis did enjoy it, and it kept him mentally sharp. He was an NC programmer at Caterpillar, so this type of thing was right up his alley.  As for me, except for occasionally bumping into it, I tried to stay completely away and out of the picture..I understood NADA about it. (But I did get some great embroidered sweatshirts in the deal!)  He sold the business, lock, stock and barrel, in August, 2008.  We decided RVing was more fun than embroidery.

Well, now I have succeeded in rambling on yet again. This weekend started out sunny, but is ending up gloom. Illinois…the “armpit” of the nation.