Two Things I Forgot

During the break, when Marc was busy cleaning out the garage, he left the front door open. I was in the kitchen doing something when I heard this weird buzzing noise coming from the living room. I almost ignored it, just figuring it was something Marc was doing, but ended up going to check it out.

Turns out, a hummingbird had flown into the house! It was flying around, hitting the ceiling. I called Marc in, and at that point the bird flew into the family room. It must have seen the sunlight coming through the window blinds, because it made a beeline for the blinds, and ended up behind them.

Marc grabbed a broom (?) and I slowly started to raise the blinds. I pulled them back while I did it, because I didn't want the bird to hurt itself. It fluttered at the top of the window for a while, before it suddenly dropped to the bottom of the window, where it just lay there totally still.

We were both worried that it was dead - that it had broken its neck or had a heart attack or something. It just lay there with its wings spread apart.

Not having anything handy, and not wanting the bird to hurt itself further if it was still alive (can you imagine a hummingbird fluttering around in a pot or something?), I reached down and grabbed it with two fingers. I pretty much did it like how I grab fish - thumb on one side, index finger on the other. Fish tend to freeze still when you do this, so I was hoping the bird would be the same.

The bird didn't move at all, but I could feel its little heart beating like crazy. It was really weird holding this small little hummingbird between my fingers. I wish I had gotten pictures, but there wasn't a camera handy, and I didn't want to prolong this poor thing's trauma.

I walked it out of the house, into the backyard, and the minute I let go, it flew right off into the trees. Whew!

It was a pretty cool experience, if not a bit of a scary one!

Oh, and the other tidbit I wanted to mention was that yesterday while I was at home, I ate some chicken noodle soup for lunch. You know, the kind in those plastic bowls that you pop the lid off and microwave? I found it in our pantry.

It wasn't until much later that I discovered that it had expired.

In February.

Of 2006.