New Alarm Clock

Now that the temperature has gotten close to freezing each night we have a new boarder in our house. He sneaks in through the outside vent holes that lead from the outside into the attic above our garage. Then he squeezes himself between the tiny two inch crack that lies between the attic pull down door, that sags (just a bit) from the ceiling. His name? Mr. Mockingbird.

We don't mind housing birds at all. As a matter of fact we have the sweetest pair of wren's that make the eves of our front porch into there fine casa each night. They fly in around dark and place there little beaks into the corner (we think there might be issues because they sleep in separate corners) and sleep til dawn promises to break. When I get up in the morning it is often before the moon has set, yet that sweet couple has already started their day....the early bird you know...

But back to Mr. Mockingbird. This bird is not as quiet as the Wren couple. As a matter of fact, when the mocking bird is outside he mimics the sounds of the other birds in the neighborhood which is beautiful and melodic. But the sound he chooses to mimic in our closed garage at precisely 6:15 each morning is the exact sound of a car alarm...and I am being very serious.

We laughed the first morning. How fun is it that it can mimic the exact sound of a car alarm? But on the weekends we are not amused. Now, not only does it sound off and let us know that it is awake and ready to be let loose, but it perches on the window sill inside the garage and watches the door to see if I am awake and going to come out and open the garage. I know this because I get up and watch him through a window that looks into the garage. This bird is no dummy. He points his beak up into the air, takes in a deep breath, sounds his alarm loud enough for people in Florida to hear and then looks over at the door with a look in his eye that says "I should only have to do this once."

He's got me trained.

But in my defense, I make him wait until I have poured my cup of coffee.