happy friday to you!

It was Wild Kingdom in our back "yard" this morning! A mated pair of killdeer, whose piercing cry at all hours makes me feel a bit stabby after dark, had one tiny little baby killdeer back there, picking through the boggy mud. I assume that it's the one surviving chick from their clutch (they usually lay four eggs), and it was a perfect miniature of its parents - maybe one-quarter their size. When one of the gophers I haven't shot yet came out, both adult birds swiftly ran it off to a far corner of the adjacent lot, where it simply nibbled grass and watched all three of them. A Hungarian partridge (usually part of a matched set that will often run laps around our house) sat solo on some concrete tailings, nibbling through whatever food it could find out there. Blake and I were almost late to school, watching all the goings on.

After I got Blake dropped off, I hit the grocery store (it's a new month, and we were due). While picking out doughnuts for Rob and I, an older gentleman behind me said, "Excuse me, I'm not trying to hit on you, but you have beautiful hair." I thanked him and assured him that graciously complimenting a pregnant woman on her appearance could hardly go wrong. About five minutes later, as I checked out, another older fellow walked by and said, "I just wanted to tell you that I agree with the gentleman by the doughnuts." I guess men nearly old enough to be my grandfather find long, red, wavy (I curled it yesterday and just brushed it out today) hair lovely. It was a charming start to the day, that's for sure!