Goldfinch

This little fellow sat on a branch of our plum tree for so long that I had to go out and check to make sure it wasn't a stray autumn leaf. It remained unmoving as I got closer and closer, but eventually flew away as I was going back into the house. I didn't notice until I put the pictures up on my computer that it's eyes remained closed. I'm guessing it was either sick or recovering from flying into the window. They aren't much bigger than hummingbirds and their golden color gets brighter and more saturated in the winter. The finches in general have been suffering from some sort of virus for several years. It's not avian flu ,which is carried by waterfowl, and has been responsible for the killing of a couple of million chickens in Sonoma County.  We passed a law a number of years ago saying that chickens cannot be raised in cages, but the success of this is belied by the batteries of chicken sheds that can still be seen around Petaluma. Our friend Tobi, who raises the luckiest chickens in Sonoma County says that the law defines 'free range' as each chicken having a range of six square feet...not necessarily outside.         

Speaking of chickens, Grace and I watched 'Chicken Run', a feature length Claymation film about chickens confined in a take-off on a British prisoner of war camp, plotting to escape and gain their freedom. Lindsay took Sage to bed early because she was fussy and running a fever, and John, who is too literal for chickens who knit while planning protests, kept complaining about it being stupid and finally took himself off to bed. I stayed up with Grace until it ended and was just crawling into bed myself when I realized that the furnace was still going full blast when it should have been in its cool down phase. I managed to fix it, but then woke up a couple of hours later afraid that I had accidentally put it on Cool mode. Getting out of my warm bed took awhile, but when did go check all was normal. Somebody had messed with the thermostat, but nobody was fessing up.

Grace and Spike had a wonderful time together, but Spike who tends to get anxious when overstimulated was driving us crazy with his growling and barking for his Kong even after we put it away. We resorted to putting him in our bedroom in hopes that he would calm down. He didn't so Grace ran to the bedroom door to let him out saying, 'Justice for Spike!' A new rallying cry around here now.

As John was taking them to the train station this afternoon, I gave Grace a hug and said we would miss her, but that she was only an hour away on the train and we hoped that they could come back soon. She replied, 'Yes. Maybe next weekend....'

It's very quiet around here now....