HER KIDS ARE ON THEIR OWN NOW

For what seemed like forever, Mama Robin's kids were being "beak-fed" by their avian mom, who was looking thinner and thinner as she spent most of her time winging in and out of the nest with food.
The nest was on top of a downspout elbow under the eaves not far from our front door, so we had a good view of those selfish bird-kids, growing bigger and bigger, flapping their wings so vigorously it seemed it was time for them to stop mooching on Mama.
They grew so large, it seemed there was no room for Mom in the nest; but she found room.
Yesterday, in the noise and motion brought close to the nest by the tree-cutters, Mama Robin positioned her body firmly atop her chicks, holding them down in the nest so they couldn't move. She seemed to be protecting them even from the noise and the sight of the goings-on. All day she stayed there, never moving.
At dusk, when the tree men had finished their cutting and clean-up and left, she cautiously poked up her head and even more cautiously flew out to the yard. Nervous and jittery, she peered carefully around her as she collected food and, in multiple trips in and out of the nest, fed her ravenous chicks.
How long could she keep this up, we wondered, feeling increasingly sympathatic toward this overworked Mama.
This morning she was gone. So were her chicks.
The nest had not been raided by a predator; it was undisturbed; we could see the Robin family had voluntarily left their home. And their neighborhood.
There was no sign anywhere of Mom and the chicks.
Enough was enough, apparently. This was not a neighborhood for raising kids.

SUMMER-TIME LAZY....

(TO MORE FULLY APPRECIATE THE BEAUTY HERE, CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE--the photo, not the pigs.)

I ran into this duo at a farm over the hill from our valley.

 

I couldn't help wondering if they'll gain any beauty from their leisurely summer mud bath on a hot, humid day.

P.S. My husband Bob says I should show more respect; these pigs probably have an inner beauty. Or personality...

Address comments to R.A.T. (Rose About Town) at randrmoore@gmail.com. I will post your comments unless you prefer that I don't. Profanity will be bleeped.

COMMENTS:

FROM ONE WHO WANTS TO POST HIS COMMENT AS "ANONYMOUS": "Why does this poor pig have a yellow steak in his behind. Is this pig the victim of a bacon-loving vampire? Does this pig know he's obese?"

R.A.T.'S REPLY: That's not a yellow steak; it's not a yellow stake either. It's something attached to the electric fence; which, by the way, I had to be very cautious about while snapping the photo.
As for the pig's obesity, I don't think that pig cares. That pig is not an L.A. pig. He is who he is. (Or she, whichever the case may be).