And a Cedar Waxwing in the Maple tree!

This weekend was just fabulous. The weather was freakishly warm, and I spent Saturday afternoon in the company of Jerrypants and Marianne and her Sprog. We started out on the deck, where I tried mightily to not get distracted by birds, and failed. I even put my back to the yard so I couldn't look, but Jerry spied the Cedar Waxwing* of this post's title. And then all bets were off. The binoculars were slung around the neck and didn't come down much from the eyes.

Until the next-door-neighbor's contracted pressure washer came by and told us he was going to be spraying the house with bleach, and so if we had allergies or didn't want our things to be bleached, that we might want to modify our behavior. Oh, sorry man. I didn't mean to want to sit on my back deck and enjoy the crazy warm January weather with some brie and crackers without getting a dousing with bleach! You're totally right. It's MY bad that you want to taint the air and my car with your chemicals. ON A WEEKEND. I'm so sorry I didn't have some kind of plan to contain your business's toxic waste.

(I'm such a hypocrite. I didn't give a shit when the realty company pressure-washed my house, and bleach is excellent at getting rid of yucky mold, which is also toxic. It's just that this time they were getting in the way of my fun time! Also, the guy's attitude was annoying: "I'm going to be spraying chemicals while you're outside, so you need to do something about that.")

Wow. That was a rant. Whoops.

The bleach bomb spurred us to take a walk, though, and the crazy good weather combined with good friends brought out my inner zany. I let loose with another camp song, complete with motions. I swished my bushy tail all over Old West Durham.

(No, that's not me in the photo. No, I couldn't find a better one. Yes, you can click on the photo to see it in its larger, yet still grainy, glory.)

*New favorite word? Frugiverous! I also can't let pass this opportunity to mention that my friend Stephanie, who for now is Charlie's roommate, witnessed a flock hundreds and hundreds of these swoop down on their backyard fruit trees this weekend. No fair! I get the same but with Grackles. I'd much rather live in fear of a bird that looks like Robin.