Blinky, Inky, Pinky & Clyde

Every morning at approximately 4:30 a.m., we are woken up by chirping.  A lot of chirping.  There's one big chirper, and and a bunch of little chirpers.  And that gets a certain little tiger all revved up, so she starts propelling herself against the window and making machine gun cat sounds: "Ack ack ack ack ack ack..." 

So the symphony goes something like this:

Mama bird: "Chirp chirp chirp..."
Baby birds: "chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp" chirp..." (continuing to infinity)
Tuukka: "Ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack..." Boing boing boing! kaboom! Crash! "Ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack..."
Me: (half asleep) "Tuukka, shut up! Go back to sleep!"
Baby birds: "...chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp..."
Tuukka: "Ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack..." Boing boing boing!
Josh: "CUT THE $#@*!!!"
Baby birds: "...chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp..."
Tuukka: "Ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack ack..."

This continues until one of us gets up to close the window and pull the blind down.





Blinky, Inky, Pinky & Clyde

 I was working out in the yard this weekend and decided to empty the bird bath that is located near our bedroom window. (I put it there for Tuukka, thinking it would kind of be like cat HBO while we're gone.) My movements out there got the babies all riled up, thinking I was their mother and was going to feed them. They calmed down after a bit, so I snuck in to take a peek.  There are four of these little beaks! (Though only two or three are in this photo.) I have named them after the ghosts from Pacman, for no particular reason. And I told Josh that we are Godparents again -- this time, we have Godbirds. He kind of rolled his eyes and told me to stop bothering them.

Fun side story: I went to dinner with a friend the other night, and before we left, I was invited to read two books to her children. The first was about trucks, which her son knows by heart, but the second was her daughter's choice, and it was "You're Not My Mother!" -- a tale about a baby bird that falls out of its nest, searching for its mama.  Very cute book, and so apprapo! I'm going to send her this photo.

This is how Tuukka looks every morning after she has calmed down a bit. Hanging out on my red reading chair next to the window. Monitoring their growth, she claims. She just wants to make sure they are ok and growing up the way they should. Aww. So caring.



She was muttering something about fava beans and a nice Chianti when I left.