Birdie num nums!

Most family gatherings around this time of the year have a bit of drama and we had ours too. Ours was not human drama but bird drama. Diana's brother Greg, is a young Australian farmer bringing up two young boys, Keith10 years old and Max who is 8. They were staying with Big sister Pru across the valley but would come and join us most days.

Diana is enjoying rearing a couple of egg laying hens and four guinea fowls. One evening she was heart broken to find that the door of the guinea fowl run had not be closed properly and a chick was missing!

After a long search, all hope was lost! However, Grampa Warren, who is hard of hearing, did say he could hear something up in the roof, chirping. Early the next morning as the sun came up, Greg got up and went on the search. Sure enough he found the chick on the roof of the shed! What relief!

Molly was given a beautiful blue/ white budgie for her birthday at the end of November. Over Christmas, when the place was packed out with guests and children, she asked whether she could play with her budgie, Pebbles. Her Mum cautioned her to make sure the doors to the playroom were firmly closed as Pebble's wings needed clipping! Needless to to say, the inevitable happened and Pebbles escaped. Molly let out a blood curdling scream as he flew out of the doors. She chased after it, very distraught but Pebbles was on a mission. I just saw the ball of light blue fluff fly off into the tall Eucalyptus trees, which surround the property. GOODBYE PEBBLES!

Tears and sadness lasted a short while and then the talk changed to wanting to replace Pebbles with a guinea pig!! It is amazing how children bounce from one drama to the next. Pebble's cage was placed strategically and much whistling and calling went on for the first day. Diana rang the pet shop owner where Pebbles had come from and the owner confirmed our deepest fears..."Pebbles was a gonna" ...that beautiful little bird was going to be snapped up by a butcher bird or an eagle or....oh it is too ghastly an end to contemplate! The girls decided he had gone to a Better place to join the angels.

TWO days later Pebbles was all but forgotten! There was much excitement as Aunti Pru had brought six gingerbread houses to build and decorate for the nine children who had gathered here! After a much needed swim, as the temp was once again in the forties the children got to work on their projects!

Suddenly there was a movement in the sky as light colored ball of fluff seemed to fly from one tree to the next. Pru and I looked up simultaneously and thought we were imagining things. We definately saw something ...could it be.....Pebbles, fly from one tree to another....could it be? Pru, not saying much took the cage and placed it out in the open grass.

The men, including Greg, were enjoying beers around the pool which has a clear perspex wall around it. The next thIng, Pebbles is right behind them, in the enclosure. Pru surreptitiously passed the cage to Greg. The door of the cage was opened and everyone was on the alert.The audience had stopped their icing and decorating tasks and were absolutely mesmerized watching Pebbles get closer and closer to his cage. Our Bird Hero, Greg, eased himself onto the grass behind the cage and crawled closer and closer.

Scene of the big catch.

The children were battling to hold their breath any longer...Greg stretched his hand out and grabbed Pebbles. The cheering raised the roof....the folk in the valley would have awakened from their slumbers....poor Pebbles nearly had a heart attack. TWO nights in the wild fighting off his many enemies...and now this. He was hungry and exhausted! After a huge welcome and Molly declaring it a MIRACLE, the children returned to their tasks at hand.

Diana clipped those beautiful wings so that there was very little chance of Pebble escaping! Greg, the Bird hero, had to be toasted and praised and toasted yet again. Molly has forgotten, for the moment, that she wanted to replace the bird with a guinea pig and the Pet Shop owner is in shock!