I have a large bay window in my front room. I am constantly being startled by loud thumps at the window. It’s usually bad enough that I almost come out of my skin and I do not startle easily. I’m usually laughing at the person who tries so hard to scare me which generally causes them to be irritated at me.

On Saturday I was minding my own business, sitting with my laptop, and trying to finish some school work, when I was again startled by a loud thump on the window. As per usual, I put my laptop down, walked over the window, and looked out at the very odd scene before me.

Below my window are 3 birds. They were just normal sparrows not some fancy colorful birds. These are the ones who hang around my house. I see them flitting about from tree to tree all the time, and yes, they are the cause of the thumps on my window. This time, the perpetrator of the thump had actually stunned himself senseless.

He was sitting upright on the lawn and his buddies were sitting on the ledge to my neglected front garden watching him. I was convinced he had unwittingly committed suicide by plate glass. Then I saw his head move. Just barely. Because I am an avid photographer, I grabbed my camera to take his picture. His buddies did not seem to like the idea of an intruder on their odd little scene, so they flew away.

I proceeded to take his picture and he did not attempt to get up. As you can tell by the photos, I had plenty of time to snap a few and they were fairly close. He never tried to leave. Now because I hate the idea of any living creature being in pain, I told Keith we may need to see if there was anything we could do.

He went out to look at the bird and decided to pick him up. He thought maybe the bird had damaged his wing. As he started to pick the bird up, the bird all of a sudden took off and did not appear to have any problems with a wing. Apparently, he had knocked his identity out of his mind for a brief moment in time.

Boy did I get a surprise on Friday. I was minding my own business, which usually means I’m online trying to get through some school stuff. It never ends. Anyway, I’m off subject. So let’s start over.

Oh yeah, minding my own business. I received a phone call from my brother at noon on Friday. Now my brother doesn’t call me during the day unless there is something wrong with my mom. (She’s had heart issues for years resulting in a quintuple bypass in 2007 and a stroke last year that almost killed her). So, I, of course, think he’s calling because Mom is in the hospital again with something else.

My first question was, “What’s going on?” To which he replied with his own question. “What are you doing for lunch?” Keep in mind they live 460 miles from here. It took about 2 seconds for me to ask him, “Where are you?” He then replies, “We’re in Viroqua.” That’s like 40 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE!!!

Yes, he surprised me. Him and my SIL decided to take a weekend drive and thought they would take the drive to see me (and the kids). Apparently, he swore Mom and his wife to secrecy. They told him he should warn me and give me some time to prepare for the visit. But he insisted on making it a complete surprise. And it was.

I don’t keep a completely spotless house, but when someone is coming to visit, I tend to go a little crazy with the cleaning. I’m sure most of you do. I started freaking out when I started thinking about the house and why it was so bad. Boo had only been off quarantine the day before. He sheds like nobody’s business. I mean he is a one dog shedding machine that never stops running. When someone is coming I will vacuum 3 times a day for 3 days before they get here. It isn’t that it’s horrible other times, but it sure isn’t perfect. So I was in shock.

It was a nice surprise as we haven’t actually laid eyes on each other for almost 2 years. Between their schedule and things going on here, there hasn’t been time for us to go there so it was a great surprise and visit.