Bob-bob-bobbing along

Live, love, laugh, and be happy.
Nice cross-stitch sampler.

The early bird gets the worm.
Good reminder, thanks. From an old German proverb.

Bing sings about the red, red robin.


Guess I'll go eat worms.

Please wash your hands with soap first.
Do you have a fork?

I'm just a kid again, 
doing what I did again, 
singing a song.

Okay, not exactly what I did as a kid, but here are the Osmond Brothers singing and dancing to "Red, Red Robin" on the Andy Williams Show.

Got a teardrop in my eye.

Poor little robin walkin', walkin', walkin' to Missouri;
He can't afford to fly. *


Rockin' Robin 
with the Jackson Five?

Tweedily deedily dee, Tweedily deedily dee

Tweedily deedily dee, Tweedily deedily dee

Tweedily deedily dee, Tweedily deedily dee

Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet




Little Robin Redbreast



Sat upon a tree,
Up went the Pussy-Cat,
And down went he;
Down came Pussy-Cat,
Away Robin ran,
Says little Robin Redbreast--
Catch me if you can.


* 1952 Words and music by Bob Merrill.

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

Odd Duck Lamaze with Pollen Soup

Squinting through green at the metal heavy cloud cover each morning, the sneezing starts quick as the engine. It's pollen soup season in North Texas.

Preschoolers stick like velcro to the slippery slide, the slope coated with a mix of sap and pollen. In the elm tree above a married couple of cardinals share a branch with a hairy woodpecker. Sit stuck on the slide and look up.

Mrs. Mallard is nesting in the tall ornamental landscape grass outside the classroom window. Her head pops up occasionally like a Soviet sub periscope, but usually she's completely hidden. Mr. Mallard waddles over and Mrs. Mallard leaves the eggs to stand with him on the sidewalk. Drake, duck, ducklings! Make way for nomenclature.

Wearing shoes on her wrong webbed feet, my little student walks over like a drunken duckling. She wants to know why I don't have a Band-Aid on my finger any more. But she especially wants to show me the colorful Band-Aid on her own finger. And wouldn't Band-Aid Envy be a good name for a kiddie rock band?

"Oh! Oh! Another baby is popping out of my stomach!" Two kindergartners are playing Lamaze in the wooden doll house while another two are crawling around like baby kittens. It must be spring, because we all don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies.

Each morning I swallow prescription pill with large glass of water, brew coffee, pack lunch, and burn breakfast. I peer through the dark at the swimming pool mallards. The two drakes stand all self-important like old fat guys in Speedos waiting to swim laps. The females used to snooze on the pseudo-waterfall, but now they must be hiding in the tall grass like the preschool mama duck.




What is an "odd duck"? Or who? Maybe or maybe not true, but this is an entertaining answer.

Goldsby, Slosher's a slick duck

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

Tired Mother Robin

Build your house using just your feet and beak? No problem! Balance construction on a twig in the wind? Look at your work with one eye, turn your head, then the other? Get done on time and under budget?

Today's art project was not a total success, but we gained new respect for nest builders. Maybe robin parents rush sometimes, but this art teacher should have made this a two-class project, not one. We didn't even have time for our tinted coffee filter cherry blossoms.

Guess I'll go eat worms.

  

Oh, be sure to look for these gorgeous, informative, and new picture books about birds at your library:

• Nest / Jorey Hurley ; illustrated by Jorey Hurley.
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• Two little birds / by Mary Newell DePalma ; illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma.
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• Have you heard the nesting bird? / by Rita Gray ; illustrated by Kenard Pak.
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• Mama built a little nest / Jennifer Ward ; illustrated by Steve Jenkins.
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• Feathers : not just for flying / Melissa Stewart ; illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen.
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© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder