Rat: Bird Whisperer

I don't think I've ever posted about my father before. He did a lot of not very nice things to my mother and us when they were still married (they divorced when I was 3), and it's only been over the past few years I've really spoken to, or had anything to do with him. When we got back from the hospital yesterday, I don't think he wanted me to leave. But, as well as Sahara having been left for over 6 hours while I waited for him, I didn't feel too comfortable staying. There's only so many topics of conversation we can cover that don't lead to awkwardness.

So we sat out front and fed the baby magpies. I've never seen them so tame - they flew right up and sat on my arm, and took lumps of mangled cow from my hands. They were extremely gentle, and as they were young, their legs were covered in fluffy grey feathers - like little downy trousers.

Then, because I felt bad for leaving Rat as he was meant to have company all day to make sure he came out of anasthetic OK, I admired each individual Jeep in his collection before I left.

I called him before I went to bed to see if he was still alive.
He was.