you'll never guess

Ah, how much wonderful news has begun with a knock on the door? We were all cozily still in our pajamas at *ahem* 1:30-ish this afternoon and there was a knock at the door. I thought it was Josh so I told Kaylie to let him in. It wasn't. It was our neighbor Max who came to tell Kaylie that HE'D FOUND BINKY!! They could hardly contain themselves enough to tell me what was going on. I heard "found", "Binky", "Max" and "at his house". I tossed off my dish gloves, threw on my house coat, grabbed some millet and Binky's best friend (his little wooden toy with a bell on the end), told the girls to wait for me and ran across the street. Sure enough, there was Binky perched on my neighbor's shoulder. He came right to me and started chowing down on the millet, making a mess on his rescuer's beautiful pickled birch Pergo floors. Ingrate.


I guess the neighbor had seen Binky in her tree on Thursday afternoon while working from home. She even told her husband that she'd seen a big, gray bird in the backyard and he thought she was maybe a teeny bit crazy. But when they came home from running errands this afternoon, there was my birdie, trying to warm up in a patch of sunlight on their patio. He was very cold, tired, hungry and thirsty but we fixed all that right away. He ate, drank, pooped and settled in for a nap, safe in his cage in the sunlight from the window. After the sun went down we moved a little space heater near the cage to keep him warm. He gradually got less puffy and more active and seems fine. He's at least all in one piece and doesn't look damaged on the outside.


Did I mention that it rained last night? Poor birdie! How did he ever survive? The temperatures were in the low 40's the past few nights. I really thought (and Josh did, too) that if a predator hadn't gotten him, the weather certainly would have.

We're so glad to have him back. The girls swore that they wouldn't complain when it was their turn to change Binky's food and water any more. Josh is just stunned and so grateful that someone found the stupid bird. Yes, I'm taking Binky to get his wings clipped tomorrow and might even get him a bunch of cilantro to celebrate.

It's a Hanukkah miracle, I tell you.