Baby Swallow

On Saturday, I was lying on the chair reading while the kids were playing outside. I heard a strange screeching meow noise and thought at first it was one of the kids pretending to be something, then I thought it might be somebody annoying the cat, I went to investigate. The cat looked extremely guilty and I realized there was something in her mouth. Thinking it was a frog I pursued the cat to initiate a rescue, when she dropped it however I saw that it was a baby bird. I picked it up and it was still alive. I knew where the nest was (about 3 meters from the ground) and could not find a ladder anywhere. It was shocky and sick looking with only half the feathers on, puffing and panting and wings and legs in unnatural positions. By this time the kids were involved and we also had to go out. I did not want to put it inside in case it died and we had to deal with it, I also did not want to put it where the cat could find it, I also did not know how to look after it. Since we had to go out we took it across the road to a scrub area and made a little nest in the shade of a tree and left it there.

I was kind of hoping it would die in the hour and a bit we were out, however it didn't so I looked up what and how to feed it and began getting water and food into it. I managed not to kill it and it improved enough composure to poop in my hand at one point. According to the internet baby swallows (that is what it was) leave the nest weighing about 17.5 grams and our baby weighed 16 grams, it had grown its flight feathers but they were still encased. Also according to the internet the parents don't reject them if you return them to the nest. The problem still remained though that I am not 3 meters tall and there was no ladder.

In the end, about 4 hours after the baby had been rescued, we managed to return it to the nest. We put a bar stool on the outside table and I stood on it and posted the baby back into the nest. Then we went inside and watched to see if the parents came back and kicked it out.

I am relieved to say no baby bird has reappeared and the mum and dad are still swooping about industriously, trying to keep the nest a secret in case we steal their baby.

Electrical entertainment

Computer games, tv, portable gaming devices including phones and ipods and DS's are a curse in disguise. This is like a blessing in disguise, only backwards. It seems like fantastic entertainment for kids or yourself, it gets kids out of your hair, it makes  boring times less boring, it is mindless entertainment when you don't feel like thinking at the end of the day. It removes the need to talk to your friends or family when you are tired, bored or not interested, it is an easy way to get children to lay still to rest, or to while away hours spent alone.
It removes the need to think of something creative or interesting to do, to interact with family or friends, to even make friends, to go out and meet up with people.
After playing them for a while alone, when your family forces you to go out and socialize, you either take the device with you or spend the whole time wishing you were playing them.

After a short time, we get so addicted to screens, when we are with a group of friends, we get out our phones, or ipods and play with them. We get so addicted we spend hours each night playing computer games with imaginary friends instead of real games with our real friends. We get so addicted all our children can think of is playing their video games and a request for them to do anything different results in a day of grizzling. Children fight over their games, devices, space whatever. They blame each other when they lose, they yell and scream at each other and they don't even realize. Whoever is having a turn feels like it is only 2 seconds, whoever is waiting feels like it is hours.

In theory Screen devices are a good thing for convenient entertainment but they go a long way to destroying relationships, current and future possibility.

Invite? or not

When you have an insanely busy friend or a distant friend, do you invite them to things? Opinion seems to be divided based on the inviter or the invitee. I am not usually an insanely busy person however I do work for such people and they tell me they would rather be invited and need to decline then be not invited based on the fact they are always busy. When you get invited somewhere it shows you are remembered and thought of and your company is desired. You then say no because you are too busy.
The inviter feels like she is always chasing and asking and being rejected. Understanding that her friend is busy helps a bit but she begins to wonder if she is being a bother to her friend. She stops inviting her and the busy person has lost another friend.
This is a one sided relationship, one is chasing and one is running away. It is tiring and jading for the inviter to always hear no from her friend.
There are times though when I have invited a friend based on the fact that I knew she wouldn't be able to come, not to say I didn't want her to (that would have been great) but because she was a shift worker and I wanted her to feel loved. Saying that, she organized a social life around her unpredictable life, continually inviting people over for dinner and movie nights and similar.
I think that inviting a busy person with the expectation of refusal but happy if they agree is the way to go. This would work best with a group invitation so you are not left in the lurch.
If you are the busy person, say yes or invite people when you have time. It can be a long lonely life without friends.