Collared Doves

There was an article in the newspaper the other day about an outbreak of salmonella in the wild bird population, caused, it is suspected, by unclean bird feeders. OilMan took down ours and cleaned them in a bleach solution, an operation which took a good part of the day and almost the entire kitchen.

This morning I was drinking my coffee when I saw a great flurry of activity at the newly filled feeders. A huge flock of collared doves was gathered in the trees and a pitched battle was going on for space on the feeder. The flapping of wings was frenzied and several birds were landing on the backs of their brethren. I took hundreds of pictures, most of which were out of focus, but finally settled on this relatively uncrowded scene because, despite the fact that they are eating us out of house and home, they are rather handsome.

We had a strange incident in the night last night. OilMan and I were sound asleep  at 3am when Ozzie leapt out of his bed with an unearthly barking. OilMan, half asleep, peered out the window and saying "there's someone there" proceeded to put his pants on. Just as he was leaving the room he said, "It's the police".In a minute he was back, asking me if I could come out, so I staggered out in my pajamas.

It seems that the suicide hotline got a call from our address, and had gotten another one two and a half years ago from our address. Having assured themselves that I was not in the back room slitting my wrists and that nobody else lived here, they took their leave, apologizing for waking us up.

It occurred to me later, in a more lucid moment, that the daughter of the people from whom we bought the house must still have a cell phone connected with this house, although I'm not quite sure how. It might explain why they were so unfriendly, disliked by all the neighbors and paranoid. If she did, in fact, call the hotline, I hope she got the help she needs. 

There was no more sleep to be had after that….