calzephyr | Baby robin

Earlier this evening I went out to feed the new composter and surprised a baby robin sitting on the steps of our deck. He went "Peep!", pooped and fluttered down into the tall grass on the side of the house were the rabbits like to hide. As far as hiding places go, it wasn't a bad one, but I could have very well stepped on him!

Half an hour later, he was gone, although given the way an adult robin was chasing starlings around our backyard, he was probably still close by.

I have really had enough encounters with nature as of late. My parents came over on Sunday and helped out with the annual trimming of the wild rose bush. Wild rose bushes are such a great symbol for Alberta - they are extremely hardy and extremely th-ornery :-) I said good bye to one of two bushes under the window last summer, but believe it or, it was still sending out suckers to propagate. Rain,dead mice and a lack of a hoe had made me reluctant to trim the bush earlier and explore it's dank depths, but Mom approached it with gusto, and after an hour there were two huge piles of branches on the lawn. The bush really is denuded now, but it was gross underneath - nothing was growing except an anthill in its shade :\

This morning I was filling the bird feeder when something large, gray and furry ran out from under one of the branch piles. I shook in place until it disappeared from my field of vision - it was really larger than a mouse. Maybe it was a mole. Or a vole. Whatever it was, I wish it had picked someone else's yard this time!