I walked into the house with two shopping bags filled with books. “That was an awesome book swap!” I called out to my son Alex as he came out of his room.

“That’s a lot of books.” he said as I put the bags down and took off my coat.

“I know. Don’t you just love it?” I kneeled down on the floor an began taking the books out of the bags and stacking them on the chair. I couldn’t help but giggle as I looked at all the fun adventures I was about to take while reading them.

“You’ve been gone for hours.” he picked up one of the books and began reading the back cover. “Did it take that long for you and Mrs. L. to swap books?”

“Oh, come on! You know Rosanne and I could talk forever!”

Alex laughed. “That’s true.” He placed the book back on the pile. “Who’s idea was the book swap?”

I got up and gathered the stack of books in my arms and began walking to my bedroom. “We’d been talking on the phone one day and realized we liked the same types of books. I thought about all the books I’d been saving and asked if she’d like to get together and swap.”

Alex had followed me to the bedroom and watched as I dropped the books on my bed. I went over to my bedside table and began rearranging my ‘to read’ pile to make room for the new books.

I looked over at Alex and sighed. “There was one sad moment for me while we were exchanging books though.”

“What?”

“Well, Rosanne would hold up one of her books and give me this wonderful detailed book review.” I sighed again. “I, on the other hand, was more like a dementia book reviewer. I’d hold up one of my books and say, ‘I liked this one.’”

Alex started to laugh. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I honestly couldn’t remember what the book was about!”

“Then how would you know you liked the book if you couldn’t remember the story?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Because I’d remember I liked it by the cover.”

Alex sat down on the edge of the bed and handed me the books as I placed them on the shelf of my bedside table.

“Well, didn’t she forget any of the books she’d read?” he asked.

I shook my head again. “Nope, not really. I mean she might look on the inside flap to jog her memory but she could still go into some great detail.” I sat back on my heels and looked at Alex. “You want to hear a really embarrassing moment?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”

I placed one hand on my heart as I raised my other hand in the air. “I swear this actually happened. I picked up a book from her pile and said, I heard this one was good. Then looked over at my pile and saw that I had it.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I’d already read it!”

Alex laughed. “Oh, come on! That’s funny!”

I shook my head again. “Or a little bit scary.”

My son Alex and I were sitting outside trying to get some sun when the quiet we had been enjoying was interrupted by the screech of several blue jays. We looked over at the feeders where a dozen or so house finches and chickadees were eating. One of the blue jays landed on top of the feeder and began screeching until all the birds that had been eating scattered to the nearby trees.

“Look, at him.” I said as I pointed to the blue jay. “He doesn’t even want anything to eat he’s just going to sit on the top of the feeders making sure no one else can get anything.”

Alex looked over at him. “Do you think he knows he’s being a jerk?”

“I’m pretty sure he does.” I pointed to all the other jays screeching at him as if egging him on.

“They’re all kind of acting like jerks.”

It was at that moment a cooper hawk swooped down just missing the blue jay at the top of the feeder.

“Whoa!” I looked over at Alex. “Did you see that?”

Alex looked up in the tree that the cooper hawk landed in. The blue jays weren’t far behind as they followed the hawk up in the tree and surrounded him, screeching the whole time.

“Okay, maybe they weren’t acting like jerks. Maybe they were warning the other birds that there was trouble around.”

We listened as the jays kept it up until finally the hawk lifted off the branch and went further into the neighborhood. The blue jays keeping up their verbal assault as they followed him.

I looked over at the feeders as the smaller birds began slowly coming out of hiding and flocking back, chirping to one another as they began pecking at the bird seed again.

I laughed as I pointed to the feeder. “It’s like watching the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Glinda the good witch tells the Munchkins that it’s safe to come out of hiding.”

A few minutes later the blue jays were back and were quieter now.

“Well, I guess the danger is over.” I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

It was seconds before I heard a blue jay begin screeching again. I opened my eyes and saw the jay on top of the feeder again and all the smaller birds had scattered.

I looked over at the the other jays sitting on the branches close by but this time they were slient. The jay on top of the feeder was hopping back and forth his ear piercing screech beginning to get on my nerves. I looked over at Alex. “What do you think his problem is now?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe he’s looking for a thank you?”

I shook my head. “Okay, fine.” I got up and went to the container on the deck where I kept the bird seed and also a bag of peanuts. I grabbed a handful of peanuts and threw them out in the yard near the blue jays.

All the jays came out of the trees, landed in the grass, grabbing peanuts in their beaks before flying back into the trees.

I went back to my seat next to Alex and sat down and looking over at the feeders where the smaller birds were back and eating. “You’re welcome!” I called to them.

“What?” Alex looked confused.

“I just paid off their debt for the use of the blue jay muscle.” I looked over at the blue jays as they were busy eating their peanuts before I leaned back and closed my eyes again. “Finally, some peace and quiet.”

Even though it was a chilly winter afternoon my son Alex and I decided we still wanted to go for a walk.

Getting in the car we headed to one of our favorite parks. Parking by the rugby field, we thought the tree lined path that surrounded the field would be the perfect wind break. Once I was out of the car I pulled the zipper of my coat high enough so that the collar was now up around my ears and partially covering my mouth. “Okay, I’m ready!”

As we headed for the path I couldn’t help but notice that there was still some green peeking out at the edge of the path. As I bent down I cradled a beautifully scalloped leaf in the palm of my hand. “I didn’t realized there would still be some green now.” I looked up at Alex. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Alex looked down. “I guess so. It looks like a leaf.”

I smiled as I got back up. “You know that book your Dad gave me for Christmas?” I brushed some dirt off my pants. “The one about Emily Dickinson’s gardening life?”

Alex nodded as we started to walk again. “Are you liking it?”

I looked around, noticing things I hadn’t noticed before. “I have to say it’s making me see nature in a whole new way.”

“How?”

“Emily kept a herbarium.”

Alex looked over at me. “A what?”

I had to laugh. “I know, I never heard of it either. She collected local flowers and leaves, pressed them and dried them before mounting them in a book. Then she’d write where she collected it from, it’s scientific name, and some general observation she had. That kind of book is called a herbarium.”

I stopped again at the edge of the path and bent down. “Are those strawberries?” I looked at the tiny red fruit laying on a bed of green leaves. I looked back up at Alex. “I can’t believe they’re still here.” I got up and brushed my hands together. “I guess we haven’t had our first frost yet.”

Alex started to laugh. “Okay, Farmer Miele.”

Now I had to laugh. “I guess her book is inspiring me to see more details in nature.” We began walking again, quietly listening to the geese flying overhead when I got an idea. I turned to Alex. “I think I’m going to start a new hobby this year!”

Alex looked over at me. “Doing what?”

“I’m going to make my own herbarium!” I stopped again and reached down to pick a leaf. I held it up to him. “I’ll start today with this wild violet leaf.”

“Are you sure that’s a wild violet leaf?”

I looked again at it’s delicate scalloped leaf and shrugged my shoulders.. “I’m pretty sure it is.” I held it gently in the palm of my hand. “I’ll look it up later just to make sure, but that’s part of the fun! Investaging all my new finds!” I looked over at Alex and smiled. “I have a new hobby!”

“Congratulations!” Alex laughed as he patted me on the back and we began to walk again. “This hobby sounds like it will be a lot more fun than your last hobby.”

I was confused as I looked over at Alex. “Which hobby was that?”
“The one where you collected big rocks.”

I snorted laugh. “I’m still collecting those! I haven’t finished the path I’m making with them that go through our woods to the shed.”

“Oh.” Alex sounded disappointed.

Now it was my turn to pat him on the back. “I know it can get a little embarrassing when I find a good rock and want to bring it home.”

Alex laughed. “I have to admit it will feel less weird seeing you walk around holding a flower or a leaf then when you’re carrying a huge rock back to the car.”

“That’s the fun when you’re out in nature.” We were back to the car and as I was reaching in my pocket for the keys I looked at Alex across the roof of the car and held up my leaf. “You never know what you’re going to find!”

Merry Christmas everyone! I wrote this one when my son Alex was six years old and thought I’d share it again.

Last week my six year old son, Alex asked the question I’ve been dreading to hear at Christmas.

“Is there really a Santa Claus?

I couldn’t help but think back to the incident that had me asking that same question.

I was seven years old and it was Christmas Eve. My two sisters and I were sent to bed with the order that we needed to be asleep before Santa arrived. It was the ‘or else’ part that had me nervous, because no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get to sleep.

When my older sister, Liz decided to become song leader for a round of Christmas carols, it seemed like a good idea, until the bickering started. We couldn’t agree on what Christmas song to sing. None of us knew an entire carol, so halfway through we’d have to fill in the parts we didn’t know with Fa-La-La’s. We were getting annoyed with one another and the discussion was getting pretty heated.

Suddenly we heard a noise up on the roof. We all got quiet and listened to the scuffling, whispering and crinkling of paper.

Santa was on the roof! Or maybe he was in the attic. It didn’t matter where he was, he was on our property!

We began whispering to each other to get to sleep, and hurry, or we’d find out what the ‘or else’ part really meant.

But then Liz looked out the window and whispered, “I see Rudolph’s nose!”

We raced to her side. But no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t see that red shining nose. Not wanting to argue with my older sister, I pretended to see it too. Rudolph’s nose only emphasized the fact that Santa was at our house and we were still awake!

The banging upstairs was getting louder and then we heard a loud CRASH! It sounded like Santa had fallen.

Oh no! What if he was hurt? What if he needed help?

What we heard next came as a surprise to all of us. Santa was cussing! The three of us looked at one another, our eyes wide with shock.

That’s when we heard our Mom tell Santa to be quiet. Oh, my gosh! Now I was in a panic. Santa would never stay at a house where a Mom was telling him to be quiet!

When we heard Santa answer we noticed he sounded a lot like our older brother. Could this be a coincidence? We were beginning to doubt it.

We raced to our bedroom door, calling out to our Mom, “Is that Santa? Is he here?”

Our Mom wasn’t very quick to answer. It seems she had been busy checking out the damage my brother had done when he’d fallen through the ceiling of our linen closet. But when she did finally answer it was to tell us to get back to bed before Santa found out we were still awake.

That was enough to send us all flying back under the covers closing our eyes and pretending we were asleep.

When I think back to that night I wonder if I really wanted her to tell us the truth?

I don’t think so.

So when I looked at my son who was asking me if there really was a Santa Claus I answered the only way I knew how.

“Well…Santa’s magic still works for me.” I smiled as I saw the look of relief come over his face. “I hope it still does for you too.”

It was first thing in the morning when I sat down at my dining room table, moved my tea cup out of the way, and opened up my laptop.

My son Alex came into the room. “What are you up to today?” he asked.

I took a sip of my tea as I pointed to my screen waiting for it to warm up. “Getting ready to go into my first Google meet.”

Alex looked out the dining room window at the snow that was still coming down hard. “I guess that’s the end of snow days for you this year.”

“Yup.” I began to type in my password. “It’s kind of silly to have a snow day when you’re virtual.”

My school district decided to have everyone on virtual until at least the middle of January.

“How’s the virtual thing going?” he asked as he went into the kitchen to get something to eat.

I’d just gotten into my first class, which happened to be a group of kindergartners. I had my camera off and my microphone on mute as I looked around at the array of faces looking at their screens.

It was hard not to just shake your head in disbelief at the students who were still in their pajamas, some still eating their breakfast. Others were clutching stuff animals or wrapped in their favorite blanket. A few had Santa hats on while one had a pair of light up Christmas tree glasses. They were all busy talking to one another while they waited for all the students to join the meet.

“It’s going about as good as you’d expect with little ones when it’s only a week before Christmas and it’s a snow day.” I watched as one of the students did a back flip on her living room couch. “Well, I have to say, that was impressive.”

I got up to go into the kitchen to get another cup of tea. “I think at this point we’re all just happy they’re coming to class. Nobody is saying anything about dress codes or don’t bring toys to your work space or how about we don’t play with our pets when you’re at virtual school.”

Alex looked down at my pajama pants and slippers. “Maybe you might want to look into the dress code yourself.”

“Hey!” I pointed to my button down shirt and sweater. “I put on make-up! I’ve done my hair!” I looked down at my slippers. “No one sees me from the waist down so as far as they know I got dressed for school.”

Alex laughed as he went into the refrigerator to get the milk. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You know I usually put on pants when we’re virtual.” I looked out the window watching the snow come down ever faster than before and sighed. “But if we were physically in school we’d have today off.” I wiggled my toes in my fur lined slippers. “This makes me feel better about not having a snow day.”

I could hear the teacher telling the students it was time to put themselves on mute. That class was about to start. “It’s time to start school.” I said as I headed back to the dining room table.

“Hey, don’t you usually make hot chocolate on a snow day?” Alex said as he reached into the cabinet and brought out the box of hot chocolate mix.

I smiled as I pointed to the screen. “I was planning on making it when they take their snack break. Do you want one?”

“Sure.” Alex headed back to his room. “Call me when it’s snack time.”

Alex and I were on a walk through the neighborhood when we came across a kindness rock tucked in the split of a tree. “Oh my gosh! Would you look at that!” I pointed to the bright turquoise painted rock with a heart painted on top of it saying “Love”.

“I’ve found kindness rocks before but this is a great spot to put one in.” I looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching us before stepping closer to the tree. “I have to admit I’d really like to take this one home.” I looked over at Alex. “What do you think?”

Alex looked confused. “What would you do with it?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know. Just keep it.”

“Where?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe I’d leave it on the kitchen counter.” I had to smile as an idea popped into my head. “This way every time one of us walked into the kitchen we’d see it and it would remind us of how loved we are.”

“You need a rock to tell you that?” Alex’s eyebrows were raised as he asked the question.

“Come on!” I cried. “I like it!”

“Hey if you like it that much then go ahead…” I started to move toward the tree when Alex finished his sentence. “But wouldn’t more people be able to see it if you just left it right there?”

I sighed. I hated when he was the voice of reason. “I suppose you’re right.” But then I had another thought. “Wait!” I pointed my finger at him. “There was a girl at school who made these all the time!” I was shaking my finger at him now wanting him to understand my thoughts. “I remember she said you could keep them…” I raised my eyebrows as I gave him a knowing look. “Or, you’re suppose to move them to another spot for someone else to find.”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever you want to do.”

“Hey, I didn’t make up the kindness rock rules.” I smiled as I went over and took it down from the tree. Looking at it up close and in my hands I could now feel just how smooth it was. I was still smiling as I tucked it in my pocket. “There you go.” I said before giving the outside of my pocket a little tap. “Now it’s time to find you a new home.”

We continued on our walk as I scanned the neighborhood looking for another spot.

“Having a hard time finding a place to put it?” Alex asked as we got closer to our house.

“I really am.” I said as I patted my pocket again. “That split tree was a really the perfect spot.” I sighed again as I looked at Alex. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to find a better spot than that.”

Alex looked over at me and started to laugh. “You’re keeping it aren’t you?”

I nodded my head slowly not looking at him. “It seems I’ll have to.”

Alex was still laughing. “Why do you go to so much trouble inventing a whole story when you knew you were going to keep it right from the start?”

I shrugged my shoulders “I don’t know why.” I said as I looked back at him and smiled. “But somehow it makes me feel better.”

I reached over and adjusted one of the ornaments on the Christmas tree then stood back to admire my work. “There! It’s perfect!” I said as I turned around to look at my husband Steven. “What do you think?”

“You always do a great job decorating for Christmas.” he said as he looked up from the paper he was reading.

I smiled. “Thanks.” I began scanning the room.

Steven looked confused. “What are you looking for?” He asked as he began looking around the room to see if he could figure out what I was looking for.

“Everyone’s Christmas gifts.” I went into the kitchen and opened up the spice cabinet.

Steven followed me. “If you’re planning on giving us spices I’d like the Italian seasoning.”

“Very funny.” I said as I climbed up on the counter and kneeled in front of the spice cabinet and reached as far back on the top shelf as I could. “Here it is!” I cried as I pulled out a plastic grocery bag filled with treats. “I found some great stuff for everyone’s stockings when I was at the grocery store a few weeks ago.” I held out the bag for Steven to take while I climbed down. “Don’t peek.” I reminded him.

When I was back down on the floor Steven handed me the bag. “Why did you put it up there?” he asked.

“I was unloading groceries when Alex came into the room and I didn’t want him to see.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I just opened the cabinet and tossed it in.”

Steven shook his head as he followed me to the front hallway. I dropped the bag on a chair and opened the front hall closet. Reaching up on the shelf and moving scarfs and hats I pulled out two Amazon packages and tossed them onto the chair with the other bag.

Steven gave me a questioning look.

“Delivery person rang the door bell and Alex was coming.” I shrugged my shoulders again. “So that was the closest place I could think of.”

I headed down the hallway to our bedroom. Laying on the floor I Army crawled halfway under the bed and began pulling packages out. “Could you stack them on the bed for me?” I called. Steven grabbed the packages and began tossing them on the bed.

Backing out from under the bed I sat up and pulled a small dust bunny from my sleeve. “Now that it’s all cleared out from under there it could certainly use a good cleaning.”

I went back into the kitchen and grabbed the keys off the counter.

“Where are you going?” Steven asked as I headed for the front door.

I pointed my key fob at the car and pushed the button that popped the trunk. “I’m pretty sure I have the motherload of hidden treasure in the car.” I looked over at him. “Can you come out and help me bring it all in?”

Steven put on his shoes and headed out to the car with me.

As I began handing him bag after bag he shook his head. “When did you get time to do all this shopping?”

I grabbed the last few bags myself and closed the lid. “Are you kidding? I’ve been online shopping and grabbing different things for months now.”

Steven reached the door first and opened it for me. “It looks like you’ve gotten just about everything.”

I dropped the bags on the chair with the other items. “I sure hope so.” I began scanning the room again. “I just have a feeling I’m forgetting where I’ve hidden a few of them and I won’t find them until after Christmas.”

Steven gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “If that happens just look on the bright side.”

I looked over at him. “What bright side?”

“You won’t have to shop for Valentine’s Day!”

I took my still-alive but fading pots of mums to the curb dumping them into a pile of leaves. “I finally did it!” I called to my son Alex who was on the front porch.

“Did what?”

I walked back to the porch with my empty pots. “I finally made it through a whole mum season without killing them.”

Alex looked confused. “What are you talking about? You buy mums every year.”

“I buy them over and over and over again.” I placed the pots on the porch and grabbed the pumpkin that had been next to the mums and headed back to the curb. “I have to say I was pretty nervous when your Dad brought home those huge pots. But I kept them alive for the whole season!” I called over my shoulder before tossing the pumpkin into the leaf pile. Brushing the dirt off my hands I headed back to the porch. “There’s something very satisfying about making it through the whole season without having to replace them.”

Alex laughed. “I bet.” He looked over at the leaf pile. “You know most of the flowers are still blooming on those plants.”

“I know.” I looked at my fall pillows on the rocking chairs. “But Thanksgiving is over and it’s time for Christmas.” I scooped up the pillows and went into the house.

Alex followed me in. “But we just finished eating turkey.”

“Yup.” The smell of turkey and stuffing still lingered in the air as I tossed the pillows on a dining room chair. I began walking around the house collecting pilgrims and pumpkins and carrying them back to the dining room, dropping them in a pile on the dining room table.

“Want to help me bring down the Christmas bins from the attic?” I asked as I walked toward the hallway where the pull down attic steps were.

As I walked past the front window something caught my eye. I stopped and looked out the window. “Hey, somebody took my mums!”

Alex came over and looked. The pile of leaves were still there but my purple mums were missing.

“They didn’t even have pots!” I looked over at Alex. “Who would have taken them?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “They were still alive. Maybe they had pots at home that they could put them in.”

My husband Steven came into the room. I pointed out the window. “I just threw our mums away and someone’s already taken them.”

Steven looked out the window and shrugged his shoulders. “They probably took them home to plant in their yard.” Steven looked over at me. “They were pretty big plants.”

I stopped and looked out the window then began shaking my head. “Oh my gosh! It never crossed my mind to plant them in the yard.” I slapped my hand against my forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!”

Alex came over and patted me on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. How would you know about planting them in our yard when you usually kill them every year.”

I looked over at Alex and started to laugh. “You know, somehow that just made me feel better.”

My son Alex and I were headed out for a neighborhood walk when we walked past our lilac bush at the end of the driveway.

“Oh, no!” I stopped to look at one of the branches. “This can’t be good.” I was pointing to a tiny purple bloom. “This definitely shouldn’t be happening in November.”

Alex looked over at it. “I guess with all the warm weather we had it got confused.”

I began walking around the bush to see if there were any other flowers. “Oh, man. Here’s another one!” I called from the other side of the bush.

Alex walked over to me. “It’s just those two and they’re both tiny.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.”

I looked over at him and shook my head. “It’s like you’ve never met me.”

Alex looked confused. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

“Of course I’m going to worry about it.” We got back on the sidewalk and started our walk as I began ticking off all the potential problems this could mean. “What if it’s really bad for the plant? What if it means less blooms in the spring? What if there’s nothing I can do to stop it? What if this means I’m going to lose the bush?” I looked over at Alex. “You know how much I love that lilac bush!”

Alex started to laugh. “I know you do and you’re right. I don’t know what was I thinking? You’re going to worry about that lilac bush until next spring aren’t you?”

I nodded my head. “Of course I am. That’s what I do. I worry.”

“About everything.” Alex added.

“Exactly.”

Alex shook his head. “You know worrying about everything isn’t good for you.”

I sighed. “I know. But I really can’t help it.”

After we’d walked in silence for a while Alex looked over at me. “What are you thinking about now?”

“Remember last spring we kept seeing the hummingbirds flying in and out of it?”

“In and out of what?”

“The lilac bush!”

“Oh. Okay we’re still on that one.” Alex shrugged his shoulders. “I think I remember you saying something about that.”

“I was hoping they were going to build their nest in it.” We were coming around to our street again. “I checked almost every day to see if they started one.”

Alex nodded his head in agreement. “Okay, now I remember. You were giving Dad and I daily updates at dinner.”

“So if this early bloom effects it in the spring where are the hummingbirds going to build their nest?” We were at the end of our driveway again.

Alex looked confused. “Maybe in the exact same place they built it last spring.”

I stopped for a moment and looked at him. “Oh, yeah.” I shook my head. “That sounds reasonable.”

Alex patted me on the shoulder. “I’m telling you you worry too much.”

“You know, you’re right.” I reached over and pulled the branch with the tiny lilac flower closer to me. “Maybe instead of worrying about next spring I’ll just enjoy the sneak peek it’s giving me now.”

I went out in the backyard, looked up at the crystal blue cloudless sky and watched as leaves slowly swirl down from the trees. “Isn’t it beautiful out?” I called to my son Alex who was up on the porch.

“It sure is.” he sat down in his chair. “Are you going to fill the bird feeders?” he asked.

I looked over at the empty feeders. “I just filled them yesterday!”

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “They must be really hungry.”

“It’s not the birds.” I said sounding annoyed. “It’s the deer that clean them out every night.” I went up on the porch to get the bird food. Bringing the can down to the feeders I began to fill them up. Looking over at the bird bath I could see it was filled with pine needles. “I guess this could use a refill too.”

Alex went and got the watering can. Bringing it over he set it down while I tipped the bird bath over and began refilling it.

As I was bringing the food back up on the deck I looked over at my little bird house. “I should clean that out today too. Get it ready for next spring’s guests.”

Alex went and sat back up on the porch while I went and took our bird house off it’s Shepard’s hook. Bringing it up on the porch I took a peek inside the opening. “Housekeeping!” I called as looked over at Alex and smiled. “Just making sure our guests have left for the season.”

Alex just shook his head and laughed. “I’m pretty sure they left last spring.”

We’d had fun watching a family of Black-Capped Chickadees being raised inside around May.

I pulled the nail that was holding the side of the house closed. Then slowly lifted it to peek inside. “Well, this one’s sure different.”

Alex came over. “What do you mean?”

“Last year when I cleaned it out it was filled with six inches of moss, sticks, and even a piece of ribbon.” I turned the bird house around so Alex could see inside. “This one’s only two inches deep.”

“Ewe, what’s that?” he asked pointing to something in the nest.

I reached for a stick and began pulling the nest out of the house. It plopped out on the porch with a little thud. We both looked down at the fuzzy lining at the top of the nest. “I think it’s dog or cat hair.” I poked it with a stick but it was tightly embedded in the nest. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.” I looked over at Alex. “Not that I’ve cleaned out dozens of bird houses.”

Alex took a closer look. “You know it makes sense.”

“It does?” I was still poking it with the stick.

“Sure. That’s why it isn’t a deep as last years. They didn’t have to collect as many sticks because they used the fur as the insulation.”

I nodded in agreement. “That makes sense.” I looked over at Alex. “I guess we had a pretty smart little family living in here.” I brushed the rest of the nest out of the birdhouse before putting the side down and putting the nail back in it’s place. “Hey you know what?”

“What?”

“I just remembered. When I was little I had a friend who used to clean out her hair brush and throw it in the yard saying it was for the birds.”

Alex looked at me, a wary look on his face. “You’re not planning on cleaning out your hairbrush and throwing it in the yard now, are you?”

I shook my head. “Na, I think it would creep me out if I went to clean it out next fall and saw my hair in there.” I went back to the shepherd hook and put the birdhouse back in it’s place. “They’ll just have to go find that dog or cat again and wrestle it from them.”