the swallows are back!
Every few days there is another cool thing about my new home. This week it's the swallows.
Last year, when I was driving across the Central Valley to/from Chico I stopped many times to marvel at the swarms of swallows darting out from under the bridges in the spring. Here in Reno, I had noticed the little mud nests with nobody home from the walkway under the Arlington Street Bridge. So the day before yesterday it all came together as all those little nests are suddenly full of 50 or so swallows (barn, cave, ?? who knows what kind of swallows), which are SO much fun to watch. Their thing seems to be to dart out for about 30 yards of broken-field flying, then dart back to their nest for a little chill time, then do it all again, repeat... forever... I assume they are catching bugs, and I would think that they might have little ones back at the mud hut, but those little nests are so small I can't believe there is room for young'uns. They are achingly cute peeking out of their nests. I'll try to get pix when I get back from Mexico! :)
And I saw all this walking home from coffee this morning.
On the friend-front: I have whined to a few folks about it, and they have all been very encouraging (as opposed to say, "you deserve it you asshole!"). But then I've also been noticing that I'm really a bit of a stuck-up snob. There are opportunities to get into some kind of conversation many mornings, but I usually make a subconscious judgment that I'm probably not really interested in what the other person has to say so I just keep my nose in the newspaper, and another friend-making opportunity goes by the boards (although I was probably right about the initial judgment 80-90% of the time :).
Last year, when I was driving across the Central Valley to/from Chico I stopped many times to marvel at the swarms of swallows darting out from under the bridges in the spring. Here in Reno, I had noticed the little mud nests with nobody home from the walkway under the Arlington Street Bridge. So the day before yesterday it all came together as all those little nests are suddenly full of 50 or so swallows (barn, cave, ?? who knows what kind of swallows), which are SO much fun to watch. Their thing seems to be to dart out for about 30 yards of broken-field flying, then dart back to their nest for a little chill time, then do it all again, repeat... forever... I assume they are catching bugs, and I would think that they might have little ones back at the mud hut, but those little nests are so small I can't believe there is room for young'uns. They are achingly cute peeking out of their nests. I'll try to get pix when I get back from Mexico! :)
And I saw all this walking home from coffee this morning.
On the friend-front: I have whined to a few folks about it, and they have all been very encouraging (as opposed to say, "you deserve it you asshole!"). But then I've also been noticing that I'm really a bit of a stuck-up snob. There are opportunities to get into some kind of conversation many mornings, but I usually make a subconscious judgment that I'm probably not really interested in what the other person has to say so I just keep my nose in the newspaper, and another friend-making opportunity goes by the boards (although I was probably right about the initial judgment 80-90% of the time :).