The Robin Saga

Our robin is back! I am so inordinately happy. And this is SUCH a crappy picture, and my professional photographer is at work. Boo.

I haven't blogged forever, so I'm sure all 2.1 readers I have left (if that) are thrilled to have me come back with pictures of a robin they can't see. I do have some knitting to show! And a semi-good excuse for not blogging. But first,  the robin.

We've had robins nesting on our back porch for several years now -- sometimes they have babies and sometimes they don't. I assume it's the same robins -- they always come back to pretty much the same place: the open ledge under the porch roof. Only this year we got our porch redone, because it was about to fall down, and in the process, the open ledge got closed up. The builders tried to give us a little ledge anyway, but when the robins came back it turned out it wasn't deep enough. There are failed nest attempts in every single alcove of that ledge! and incredible amounts of debris on the floor of our porch. Very distressing!

So of course I had to rush out and buy a nesting box at the bird house store. (Yes, we have a bird house store, it is pretty wonderful.) I must make clear that I did first suggest to my husband that we nail up a piece of plywood to make a ledge, but I was met with a noncommittal, skeptical, "I'm-not-nailing-a-piece-of-plywood-to-my-new-porch" type grunt that did not suggest action, so I had to go buy the nesting box. This robin has eggs to lay! She'll take them somewhere else if she can't make a nest here! The nesting box cost $30, which gave my husband new perspective on the merits of the piece of plywood, but TOO LATE.

I went up on a ladder and screwed in the nesting box and put in some of her nest fixings ... and waited. And the next day, the robin was back to build her nest ... right on top of the $30 nesting box. I could have called that. It's just like the kids who play with the wrapping paper instead of the present. BUT I think the box gives the ledge the tiny extra edge it needs for the nest to stay put, so it's worth it. And maybe her babies will move into the duplex below next year, you never know.

In the below picture (and on either side of the nest in the top picture) you can see one of the many, many failed nests she started along the ledge (apparently she couldn't just measure and see they were all the same), as well as the black streaks that are now on every roof beam of the porch ... maybe from her carrying dirt back and forth and not aiming so well? Or she was just mad and vandalized the place. 



Yesterday morning Auden and I got to watch her pulling up dry grass and flying back to the nest with her mouth stuffed absolutely full, then shimmying to get it in the right place in the nest. Today she seems to be sitting more -- maybe the eggs are on their way? We need a mirror on the roof so we can see what's going on.

Anyway, I have been knitting, mostly on endlessly in-progress things which aren't too exciting to show, but I did whip this off in two nights and I love it:


Auden wore it to her cousin's wedding and was very cute, if I say so myself.



Pattern: Cloud Bolero by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: US 10

I made the XS size in worsted weight yarn ... I probably could have even gone up a size.

And finally, the main reason I haven't been here is I started a web site for Rochester city school parents, and it's been VERY time-consuming, though I love it. I've wanted to do this for years -- set up a place where city parents can support each other and exchange information and experiences. The response has been great -- we were on the tv news and had a meeting with the superintendent -- and even though I panic every time posting slows down, I think it's going very well.  

It's at flowercityparents.org if anyone wants to drop by.  A friend designed us a logo, but my tech guy *cough* hasn't gotten it up yet.  He's too busy vetoing plywood ledge projects.

Oh and I am working on a monster freelance project, so that might be the other reason I haven't been here. And why I shouldn't be here right now!  But I was afraid if I didn't post soon, I might never post again.  And the robin, she just needed to be blogged about.  Spring, and the cycle of time, and all that good stuff. See you next time!