Sick, yuck...Published, good...Bird, pretty

Don’t you hate being sick? I know I do. It started with a sore throat last Saturday then quickly evolved into a full blown head cold, from there (oh no, it wasn’t done yet) it made its way into my lungs. Now, I’m once again feeling the pain of pleurisy; and yes I do mean pain. It really does hurt, man. Over the last three years or so it seems that I have developed a susceptibility to the problem. I seem to get it now about twice a year. It sucks, it totally wipes me out, and of course I become completely incapable of writing. Heck, I can’t even sit up for long without getting dizzy. Anyway, I’m on antibiotics now and a codeine cough syrup for the pain and cough which helps, but it makes me rather tired. So, while I’m awake and semi coherent I decided I would try to get a little bit of writing in.

Some other news in my life….the three personal profile articles I wrote for Inside Granger are out in publication now, yeah. They’re in the June issue, if you get a chance check it out. I don’t have a link, sorry.

Also, I found a baby Starling today. It apparently had fallen out of its nest. I saw it in the road out in front of my house and rescued it from being road kill. It still had some down on it so it isn’t quite old enough yet, but it was attempting to fly. I put it in the back yard and watched it for a while. I hoped the parents would find it as I have a large congregation of birds, Starlings included, that gather in my back yard to feed. As it turns out, I did see two birds, a male and a female, coming down to feed the young bird. I’m assuming they are the bird’s parents. I don’t know where the nest is so I’ve left him in the yard. Hopefully he’ll pull through. I’m worried about cats and raccoons, of course, but I think he has half a chance of hiding in the tall grass and under the grapevines by the fence line (which is where he hopped off to). He certainly has a better chance of surviving than he would have, had I left him in the street. It was so cool to hold him in my hands, though. I resisted bringing him inside; I think it’s better for him out there. Knowing that he has other birds watching out for him gives me hope. I don’t feel like I could be a good replacement for nature, you know? If he dies that will certainly suck, but I really think his chances of living are going to be stronger with his own.

PS – The picture isn’t of the Starling I found, I don’t have a camera, but it is about the same in the development cycle so you can get a good idea of how old he is.