Looks like he was slacklining on a bike.
Sheik Yerbouti. As spotted in AC/DC Lane.
Bird (probably a Carolina wren) started building a nest in my bike helmet in the garage. She must have gotten busy when I left the garage door open for a few hours earlier this week while I worked in the yard. It’s that time of year again.
Suddenly, I feel like I’ve saved a lot of time…
I mean, I’m sure it’s nice that she moved to Africa with her husband and let a birb nest in her hair, but it just smacks so much of that vibe that I can’t even.
Take the birb nest from your hair
Shake it loose, let it fall
Lay it soft against my skin
Like the shadow on the wall
(Thanks to Elvis Presley)
Which made me think of Mike Oldfield’s “Shadow On a Wall”:
Treat me like a prisoner,
Treat me like a fool.
Treat me like a loser,
Use me as a tool.
Face me 'til I’m hungry,
Push me in the cold.
Treat me like a criminal,
Just a shadow on the wall!
[Repeat Chorus]
Treat me like I’m evil,
Freeze me 'til I’m cold.
Beat me 'til I’m feeble,
Grab me 'til I’m old.
Fry me 'til I’m tired,
Push me 'til I fall.
Treat me like a criminal,
Just a shadow on the wall!
I had put some pussy-willow twigs in water to force the buds to sprout, which they did. They look pretty.
Anyway, I just noticed that the twigs have grown roots! While I know Willow can reproduce by fragmentation I was surprised at how quickly roots took hold.
Neat! I bet you could make some cool living willow fences or trellises for your garden…
Careful, you’re in danger of giving me ideas!
Gotta save them pussy willows for Dyngus Day!
I grew up in the Buffalo area, but I had only a vague memory of hearing the term “Dyngus Day”, from my dad, who worked in Buffalo…had to look it up! What a sweet story about the kittens…
Dyngus Day Buffalo — Our Story
Pussywillows or Water?
This is a yearly debate among Dyngus Day revelers. The tradition holds true that on Easter Monday boys would sprinkle the girls with water and tap them with pussywillows. On Easter Tuesday, the women would return the favor. At modern Dyngus Day parties it is common practice that both men and women trade water and pussywillow equally.Why Pussywillows?
Pussy willows play a major part in Buffalo’s Dyngus Day celebrations as men and women flirt with playful “taps.” Branches of the plant are used as the pussy willow is one of the first “budding” plants of spring. But how did the pussy willow get its name? According to Polish legend, many springs ago, baby kittens fell into a raging river while chasing butterflies. The mother cat sadly wept at the river’s edge, pleading for help for her drowning kittens. The willows heard her mournful cries and swept their long graceful branches into the water. The kittens grabbed the branches, held on tightly and were safely brought to shore. Every spring, from that day on, the willows sprouted fur-like buds where the tiny kittens once clung.
I grew up in a VERY Polish family in the Buffalo area, so we were very familiar. That being said, it seems to have really grown big in Buffalo the last 5 - 10 years…