BirdMan

It has occurred to me that it has been a couple of years since OIlMan had anything to do with oil of the black stinky kind that used to be the focus of his exertions of work, and perhaps he should have a new Blipname. He was awfully good at being OilMan and often knew the answers to knotty problems before the younger engineers and their computer models could do the calculations. Sometimes good old hands on experience and common sense cannot be replaced by a computer.

He has been giving me ample opportunities for changing his name, though. He was up early this morning, as is his wont, and had repaired to the upper reaches of the homestead with Ozzie and his cup of coffee when he spotted Mr. Parakeet scratching around in the gravel for some food. Fortunately we had some cockateil food which was the only thing Peter could find at the store when Dana sent him for birdseed while they were housesitting. You never know when these things might come in handy. An urgent call at 6:30am outside the bedroom door woke me up to find BirdMan and his new friend.* 

Ozzie was a bit outraged at having his contemplation of the horizon interrupted by a very small bird and, while we were wondering if the little guy could fly or had had his wings clipped, Ozzie barked and Mr. Parakeet took off....

He was awfully cute and it was tempting to succumb to saying, "Mommy can we keep him?". But wait, I am
the mommy....after a particularly fraught incident with a hamster many years ago, I vowed never to keep another animal that needs to live in a cage....

*For some reason even though I chose a thumbnail, it  just reverts back to the automatic one when I publish, so I have put a close up in extras.