Sunday, March 13, 2011

Mobbin’ robins & 'the nose knows'


It was a lucky left turn on a walk in the park. Suddenly the greensward to the right of the curving path was filled with robins. Not just a few or even a convention of them. This looked like the robins of Mercer County had called a meeting – and everyone came.

A couple days after heavy rains. A bit of sunshine now and then and pleasantly gusty pre-spring air. And there they were.

If they were out for worms, these ground-feeders kept it a secret. They simply seemed to be out taking the air, as if to say what everyone else, robin or person, is saying: “It finally looks like spring!”

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Can a cat who’s crazy about “cat grass” sniff out two blades of it? in one room? of the entire house?

A couple weeks after Harry’s last pursuit of cat grass, then thriving in a little planter on a sunny windowsill, he got that look of “there’s cat grass here and I’m going to get it” again.

His last adventure ended disastrously for that crop of cat grass after he reached it and knocked it on the floor. These two new blades rose up in another pot, probably the result of a couple seeds landing there during the windowsill caper. They must have been highly aromatic.

Seeing Harry scan the plant stand and wiggle his nose was enough warning that the next event would be an avalanche. The two blades of grass quickly became history. The plant stand still stands. And the next grass Harry gets will be grown outside on the deck.
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