Domestic Oblivion

I have a flock of little chickadee, finch type birds living in one of my large shrubs next to my front porch.  They chose this particular bush because it’s about three feet away from one of my bird feeders.  I recently upgraded this bird feeder to a larger one, as this flock of tiny birds could empty the feeder in a matter of hours.  So I got a bigger feeder that holds exactly one gallon of bird seed, thinking (stupidly) it would last for a number of days.

I could not have been more wrong.  It takes less than one day for those teeny little birds to empty that entire feeder.  I’ve started buying the really cheap bird seed because they eat so damn much.  And I only fill the feeder every third day, as I’d be running through about $40 worth of bird seed per week if I filled it every day.

I’m not filling the feeder because it’s nice for the birds.  I don’t fill it because the kids like to watch the birds.  Nope.  I fill it for purely selfish reason.  I fill that feeder because those little birds are so loud that I can hear them from inside the house.  It’s such a nice sound, hearing all those creatures chirping away outside.  I’ve found that when the kids go off to school, I don’t turn the radio on, so I can hear my little birds chirping away.  And it makes me happy.

*****

I walked through the kitchen the other day and Mason was sitting at the table eating a snack.

Me:  (casually)  Having a snack?

Mason:  Yup.

Me:  What’cha eating?

Mason:  A blank sandwich.

Me: (stopping)  What?

Mason:  A blank sandwich.

Me:  What’s that?

Mason:  It’s two pieces of bread with nothing between them.  Duh.