Reason # 873 Why I Never Get Any Work Done

Yesterday I confessed to having frittered away most of my workday watching Google videos.

None of that nonsense today.

No siree!

No more of that guilt trip for me.

Today I frittered away most of my workday listening to Internet bird calls.

Here’s how that happened:

All set for an intense day of no-foolin work, I opened the file of the Christmas book. I actually started editing the Table Of Contents when the phone rang.

Jennifer my eldest daughter said, “Dad, what kind of bird is bright yellow with a pink face?”

No native Florida bird I know of fits that description.

About 6 a.m. as Jennifer and Pat sipped their morning coffee by their pool, they heard a commotion — blue jays squawking and attacking a small bird near the bird feeder. Jennifer ran out, chased the jays off and rescued the small yellow bird with the red face.

The jays had frayed the little bird’s tail feathers. It quivered in fear as Jennifer picked it up. She handled it freely and it appeared comfortable in her hands. Obviously this bird escaped from a cage somewhere.

Jennifer turned it loose inside the screened porch. She checked with neighbors to see if anyone had lost a bird. She called first a pet store, then me. She asked if I wanted this bird. She and Pat already have five dogs, two cats and a ferret so there’s no room for a bird in their life.

Her call to the pet store identified the bird as either an Australian Cinnamon or a Peach-faced Lovebird.

Lacking cash to buy a cage, Jennifer and Pat drove to pick me up. We drove to the pet store where I bought a cage, a packet of caged-bird seed, a 40 pound bag of wild bird seed, and gas for their SUV.

I figured a love bird would make a great For-The-Hell-Of –It gift for Ginny.

I decided to name the new bird Fancy, short for Fancy Feast Cat Food.

Here are two photos I took of Fancy in its new cage:
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Yesterday someone at Ginny’s office gave her the yellow flowers in the background.

After lunch Jennifer and Pat drove me and Fancy back to my house where Pat promptly fell asleep in my chair. Jennifer and I browsed the internet looking for information on lovebirds. Jennifer located a site that plays bird calls at http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/sounds.html#birds .

When Fancy heard these birdcalls, he/she went crazy trying to answer the birds she/he was hearing on the computer.

Fancy chirped and sang and preened and bobbed and bounced around trying to contact these other birds.

Jennifer and I laughed so hard we woke Pat who had to see Fancy’s performance too. The three of us spent close to three hours listen to computer bird calls and laughing at Fancy’s antics.

I never did get back to work.

That table of contents can wait. Who reads it anyhow?

As I write this journal entry, Ginny is not home from work yet. I’m anticipating her pleasure. She loved Matilda the Duck (see my blog archives for May 13^th thru 31^st for the saga of Matilda) so, that I think Fancy will delight her too.

Then I’ll just have to turn the computer back on and go through the bird call sites again. I’m tempted to call her to come home early.

Work, who need it?

So, if I never get my next book finished — it’s all the bird’s fault.