July 15 – “Immigrants”

We have had a few days of rain over the last few weeks.  That’s always a good thing unless of course you are a youngster on a summer baseball team.  Then you want it to be sunny all the time so you won’t have to miss practice or – horror of horrors – an actual game.  Nooooo. 

Whew.  Now that was a blast from the past.  My past, I confess.  I hated rainy summer days with a passion.  I always wondered why my parents just smiled knowingly and nodded at my enthusiasm for drought, never agreeing with me, but always being careful not to dampen my passion.  They knew then what I have come to know now.  If there is not much rain, then you have to water the yard more and more often.  And watering the yard costs more and more money.  But when the rains come, growth occurs.  And growth is what has been happening. 

One of the things I have been carefully preserving in the vacant lot next door (AKA 40 Steps) has been a Brazilian pepper tree.  Ever since Hurricane Ike I have nurtured the silly thing so we could get some shade in our back yard.  Between that tree, a small bush under it, two other trees nearby, and the grass over there, I have almost doubled my workload on yard work days.  It has been worth it, though.  The Brazilian pepper in particular has really taken off.  The shade we wanted is there now, but with it came another problem.  The tree grows right around two of the three cables running from the electrical pole to our house.  The two on bottom bring us telephone and cable TV.  The one on top delivers electricity.  As a result of this rapid tree growth, our telephone and cable lines are completely surrounded.  If another storm should come, they are doomed.  It hasn’t reached the electrical cable yet, but it won’t be long.  It is definitely time for a trim.

So I headed out there yesterday, snips in hand, to release the cables from the impending Brazilian invasion.  The first few branches were easy to access.  I actually began to think that this wouldn’t be nearly as difficult as I expected.  But as I moved around to the other side to get a better view, I heard a loud racket behind me.  No, off to the side.  Then it was on the other side.  What was that?  Finally I glanced above me and saw the noisemaker.  A mockingbird was obviously quite agitated, and she was letting me know all about it. 

Well, that brought to mind something Chris told me about a week or so ago.  She said she had seen several mockingbirds dive bombing our dachshund Heidi.  Of course Heidi was oblivious to their attacks.  One of the blessings of getting old.  But just two days ago I found the reason for those attacks.  Among the lilies growing in the flower bed under the Brazilian pepper was a dead bird.  So … I knew that somewhere up in that tree was a nest.  I went back to the trunk and looked up through the tangled mess of branches.  Sure enough, there was the nest.  Several of them, in fact.  The tree had become an entire neighborhood.  Ah, now I understood why I couldn’t understand the cackling.  It was no doubt in Portuguese.  That settled my plans for rescuing the wires.  Not today.  I walked back out into the open and headed for the shed to put away the tool.  But She was not convinced.  Still cackling wildly she made the short trip over to our deck.  She was on the offensive now, and the evil interloper (that would be me) was on the run.  She began her attack.  First one warning swoop, and back to her perch to taunt me further.  And then she began what was surely a kamikaze flight to impale herself in my head.  Thankfully for both of us I saw her coming, and was able to dodge away at the last moment.  Back up to the high wires this time, babbling incoherently, demanding that I depart from her territory and never return.  I humbly apologized for the inconvenience I had already caused and assured her that I wanted no part of disturbing her children.  I also bravely threw back a threat of my own, waving the clippers into the sky.  “No more dive bombing.”  Reluctantly, she agreed to the terms and returned to her cozy Brazilian neighborhood.  Guess I’ll just have to pray that we don’t have a bad storm this summer.

Psalms 28:8-9 says, “The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.”

Father, watch over those little birds remaining in the nest out back.  Your word says you know and care even for them.  Thank for knowing and caring for my family as well.  Help me to be as watchful over my family as that mockingbird was over hers.  Amen.