Under the Robin’s Nest

A month ago I wrote about a brood of robins on the porch light outside my front door. Two days ago the last of the porch light babies left the nest. The way it happened was unusual. The nest originally had three young birds. Two left over a week ago, and I have not...

I Got the Ducks

Last month Clare put a birthday message to me on her Facebook page. She thanked me for always supporting her in whatever she wanted to do and for being her rock. I don’t use Facebook, so I only found out about the message through a third party. Of course, I was happy...

Cucumber Mysteries

Cucumbers used to be one of the few sure things in my garden. Eggplants wither, tomatoes get blossom-end rot, and carrots produce short stubby taproots. Radishes are full-proof, but I don’t like eating them. The same with zucchinis. For the past two years, however,...

I Was Attacked by a Fish on My Bicycle

I really like it when quirky little things happen to me when I am playing outdoors.  A good example is the time I was fishing and hooked a river monster (flathead catfish?) on the Mississippi River. It dragged me and my canoe across a small bay, swam into a downed...

I Can’t Explain It

Two weeks ago two minor inexplicable events occurred.  The two are totally unrelated, and both probably will interest no one other than me – but as will become apparent in a moment, I needed to replace my original blog entry with something new, so here I go. I...

Robins

Every year for nearly a decade, robins built a nest atop the porch light at my back door.  There is a permanent stain on the clapboards where successive nests touched the house, and every May my family avoided the back door and only entered and exited through the...
Steven Simpson