Defending his territory

Sunday morning I was awakened by a "plink, plink. Plink-plink" noise. It was a little after sunrise, which in my mind qualifies as early but since it's impossible to sleep "in" when off in the woods, I'm not complaining. The plink-plink was such a curious sound. I closed my eyes and tried to discern what it was through superior mental effort (or tried to go back to sleep, one or the other.) When that didn't work, I looked out the window and this is what I saw:




(great photo of the screen, eh?) That small gray streak is the tail of a bird. Hidden behind the branch (I swear I could see it when I took the picture but the branch must have jumped in the way) is a very shiny trash can we use for recyclables. The bird was having a fight with his reflection in the trash can. Actually, there were TWO birds trying to chase off that pesky interloper and I'm guessing the more aggressive defender was male.

I'd never seen these birds before and I'd ask for your help in identifying them except for the obvious handicap you face from my photography skills. (Really, I could see the bird when I took the picture.) One was dark brown above, one was almost black, they each had orange breasts, longish thin tails (like a mockingbird), bigger than a titmouse, smaller & more slender than a robin, flashes of white on their wings and perky, expressive tails. Orioles, maybe? If they eat mean red-and-black ants, I hope they move in to stay.

There was a fireworks display this weekend:

oooh, aaah

But the knitting didn't go so well. I had plans to finish a nice, soft chemo cap before Monday night's guild meeting. It would have happened, too, if I had brought along more than 1/2 a skein of nice soft yarn to do it with.

(Don't panic; I wasn't left knitless. Those of us who work on more than one project at a time frequently drag around more than one project at a time, but neither is worth showing off right now.)