No State Troopers In Sight

 This nest was in one of my ferns hanging on the front porch. Long abandoned ..... I think the watering may have had something to do with it. I suppose if the mother bird gets scared away, she can't very well take her eggs with her.

 

This was Hildy's third attempt at a family this spring. Only saw 2 eggs here, which makes a total of 10. That I know of. Are the number of eggs a bird will lay predetermined?

Poor Hildy, all that work and no little ones to show for it. He Who mows actually ran over this nest and totally missed the eggs! The tire tracks were on either side of the eggs and the blade was set high enough to miss them. It probably scared Hildy as much as it did me when I saw him mowing.

He did stop and walk the area before he mowed. After he mowed, he saw me watching him and explained to me that the eggs were gone, he had looked thoroughly. I walked right to the egg that was left. It is a wonder he didn't step on it. He had forbidden (like he could .....) me to drive a post in the ground to mark her nest for him to avoid it. His reasoning was that it would draw attention from the predators ........ Like a snake or a turtle would be out scouting for food and say to one another, "Look, those crazy humans have once again left a marker for us!"

My nest feels empty since Gavin and the girls went home. The girls were only here for two days, but Gavin was here a whole week. Now that I have recovered (almost) from my loss of sleep, I wish they were all back here again.

Today was restock day, so I arose early with my detailed list and went to purchase all I needed to replenish my shelves. I got there so early that the Dollar Tree was not yet open. WalMart was, though, so I was able to shop in peace. Always less crowded in the morning ....... always.

In the midst of filling my cart with charcoal lighter, the number one thing that most campers forget or run out of, my cell rang. He Who tows called to say he had a tow. He was supposed to be me, in my absence. I asked if he absolutely had to take the call, since I was nowhere near the end of my list for WalMart and still had other stops to make. "I am already on my way to pick the vehicle up." he says. Did he put a sign on the door indicatign a return time? No.

I very nearly ran through the store, throwing items into my cart all hither/thither. No time to linger in the clearance section and find true bargains (or buy something I don't need). The pool opens at 11 AM. I managed to aquire everything on my list unless they had none and stop for a iced coffee and drive nearly 50 miles in less that 2 hours. I opened on time and have priced and put away all the merchandise.

No thanks to the self appointed speed regulators on the Interstate. A semi was going 60 and a car pulled into the fast lane and met his speed. Side by side they cruised along for about 5 miles while the traffic behind them piled up. I was right behind the car with the self appointed speed controller at the wheel. I know he could see me, I saw him look into his rear view mirror several times when I got really close. His eyes would widen, then he would scowl.

The traffic behind me was no less impatient that I was. A horn would sound periodically and the driver would look at me, like I was the horn blower. The big truck beside him even slowed down to 55 a couple of times, but the car just slowed down to match the truck's speed. Determined to keep all of us speeders in line behind him.

Where are the troopers when this happens, I ask you?