To let ...

The birdhouse is up, awaiting tenants.

This will be its 4th or 5th season. Each year a pair of chickadees has successfully raised a brood. Occasionally I've managed to see a fledgling make that long, scary first flight, from the box to the nearest tree. It's a rare treat to see this happen - more often I'll glimpse a young bird poking its head out of the box, then the next day I'll sudenly realize there is no more chatter from the nest - everyone has gone.

Once a fledgling landed on the deck, on a rainy day. For a few minutes it sat, looking miserable, but soon found its way under the railing and into the air.

Most bird books say chickadees rarely use nesting boxes, preferring holes in trees. However, I've had a birdhouse on my third-floor city deck for at least 10 years, and the chickadees keep returning. This morning one landed briefly, perhaps to check things out. The cat instantly went into "hunting alert" mode, but the door to the deck was closed - all she could do was to look. The house hangs too high for her to disturb, although she will sometimes crouch beneath it, looking up as if to calculate the distance. The adult birds keep flying in and out, calling "big bad cat" alerts to each other.

Back again.

This blog is a little like the sweater I started to knit years ago. After finishing more than half the garment, I put it away in the cedar chest, and didn't look at it again until last week. At that point, I spent an entire evening ripping it back, and rewinding. Result: five balls of somewhat crinkled yarn (and nine more skeins still untouched.)

Now I'm reknitting the yarn, in an entirely new pattern. Perhaps this time a finished garment will emerge.

At least I don't have to rip back this blog - all the posts I might have written have just come and gone in my head. Blogging during an organized tour is a nice idea, but difficult and expensive to put into action. (And you could die from secondhand smoke in most European internet cafes!)

It's still cold in Seattle, but the sun is out. I'm on my way out to the hardware store, to find a couple of toggle bolts to hold up the refurbished chickadee house. A gentleman friend built the birdhouse a few years ago, adding a custom touch - a bird-shaped perch under the opening. Sometimes the chickadees sit on it - at other times they fly straight through the hole, something which seems impossible no matter how many times you actually see it.

Pictures later. First I have to hang the house.