Google is giving me trouble over  loading pictures

 

Lucky for me

an important one was able to get through

using another method

phew

 

The grouse.

 

 

today was a glorious day

truly one to put in a treasure box

So I ditched the inside work

and went outside to clean up the deck

....the deck that was supposed to be taken down this summer

....there's always next year

I heard some rustling in the fallen leaves of the horsechestnut

I looked over and I was dumbstruck

there was this bird I had never seen before

and it hopped onto the deck stair, then onto the deck and proceeded to walk

right by my feet

I didn't move....I thought it was coming right up to me

like a pet bird...what bird is this?

It was a grouse

We don't have grouse here....

It stopped about a foot away from me then proceeded to walk across the deck and jump off

CAMERA!

I ran inside....'cause nobody is going to believe me

...just like the time in Chicago, in the Brighton Park neighborhood

I walked out the door and there..in my landlord's garden

stood a curlew

.....

....back to my grouse

Of course (?) I found the camera on the kitchen table and ran outside to catch the grouse

NO MEMORY!
son of a b

I ran back inside and found a card

but the doggone bird was gone

I think I heard him in the Autumn joy sedum

but they was absolutely covered in bees

 

We were in Galena this past weekend, near the Mississippi River

Chestnut mountain ski resort to be exact

...my husband said he looked it up and said there are tons of grouse there

one of the few places in Illinois

Could this bird have hitched a ride ?

no way

My husband insists

 

I told my hairstylist about the grouse

and he spun me around in the chair

and asked

Didn't you claim to see a mink too?

I knew he didn't believe me

 

 

The last words out of my mouth last night before lights out were,

How did that bird get here and where will he go?

 

My husband said,

quit grousing and go to sleep