Re: From Gloria's column

[Guest guest]

Hi Gloria,

I really enjoyed reading this....thanks for sharing it with us.

I hope you will share some more of your columns.

C.

From Gloria's column

Dear Lupie friends,I published this one a couple years back. Thought I would resurrect it for you in honor of spring. Hope you like it. Gloria On Doing What Needs To Be Done The last few summers we've had odd robins in our yard. The first one I noticed had a gimpy leg. Last year it was one with just a stub for a tail and this year I've spotted one with a bump on it's back. I can't tell if it's merely a cowlick of feathers, which would be odd enough, or an actual hump under the feathers. He's certainly not going to hold still while I try to find out which. He reminds me of Quasimodo. The big maple in my yard is his bell-tower. Hopping from one branch to another, then to the ground where he cocks his head to the grass eyeballing unsuspecting nightcrawlers. (Can a bird give an earthworm the "ole fish-eye"? Wouldn't that be a case of zoologically mixing metaphors?) Birds tend to be identical within their species. Cut from the same bolt of fabric, as it were. For example, if you caught two purple finches, put them in a cage and gave them names. Let's say Frick and Frack for lack of something more creative at the moment. Now, let's say you left them alone to go about their business in the cage and you went about your business elsewhere. I would dare to venture that when you returned to the cage you would be hard pressed to tell which was Frack and who was Frick. But not so with these odd birds bent on summering at our house. They could easily be picked out of a whole yard full of other robins. It's inspiring to me that none of the odd robins have allowed their oddness to stop them from doing what needs to be done. They're out there every day with the best of them pulling earthworms, building nests, powdering themselves in drive-way dust, and trilling their evening songs oblivious to the fact that they are tail-less, gimpy or even hump-backed. So, I'm wondering. Does every backyard have its odd robins or is it just mine? Are they drawn here like the neighborhood's old dogs that sleep on my porch; to some silent signal I might be sending out? I rather like the thought that perhaps they have found a kindred spirit here. I have my gimpy days, too.G. Slater © 2001"The LUPIES Store" Come check out our store...http://www.cafepress.com/thelupies"The LUPIES Web Page"http://www.itzarion.com/lupusgroup.html"The LUPIES online photo albums!" Check out what your fellow Lupies look like...http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=lupies