Brooding

I am taking a break from grading hell to revel in nature. In my girliest girl way, of course, I am not reveling in the nasty, brutish, and short aspects of nature, but rather in the "circle of life continues" maternal and soon-to-be-adorable babies aspect of things.

Which is to say, the nests outside my back door are complete, and I believe eggs must have been laid because what I'm seeing now is two brooding birds. Here's my mourning friend, whose nest I guess is not between the boxes and Gatorade as I had last claimed, but rather on the boxes and just next to the Gatorade. I suddenly feel like Grover in a Sesame Street sketch.

Less visible yesterday afternoon was my as-yet-unidentified tiny brown friend (with whom I feel a distinct affinity, being myself smallish and brown and not easily identified by the casual observer).
How she's brooding with her butt in the air (shaking it like she just don't care?) is beyond me. But hopefully it's working.

Genug with bird observations -- it's time to finish up grading my finals. This exam took up all of my Monday (with the giving and the grading) and all of yesterday (with the first TA arriving at 9:50 in the am and the last TA leaving at 9:02 in the pm) and now a good part of my morning. I am so over this exam I can't even tell you...