A Long Hiatus

I've lost track of how many days it's been since I first started this funny little peanut experiment! I guess you could say I've lost track of time in general this month. I stopped writing for a while because of how preoccupied I was with my cat's health; thankfully she's gotten a lot better these past weeks - she has a lot of her old pep back, is more cuddly and affectionate, and has been eating so well that her feeding tube was recently removed. She was diagnosed with a chronic inflammatory disease that she'll be dealing with the rest of her life though, which is why I haven't really been around here much - it's hard to muster the energy for things that interest you when you're feeling depressed or stressed about things like this. Sometimes I see crows in the area, though, or little coincidences that pop out at me from time to time, and I'm reminded of how therapeutic it can be to be in and think about nature. So as much as I've been holing myself up lately, I should probably get out a bit more.

As far as crows go, I unfortunately haven't seen many of them lately. A while back, I had a weird epiphany in which I discovered that the noisy birds outside my window were actually blue jays and not crows making different sounds; it was embarrassing to realize that, but I read somewhere that jays and crows are both corvids and part of the same family, which is probably where I got the impression that that throaty squawk was the same bird (I've since gotten better at distinguishing the two). I used to see the crows everyday, but it would seem that the blue jays have gotten very good at figuring out my routine of putting out peanuts everyday - and so, as soon as I walk inside, they descend on my walkway 3-4 at a time, scoop up whole peanuts in their beaks, and fly away to build a cache somewhere unseen. (Rinse and repeat until all peanuts are gone.) I feel bad for the crows, they must be wondering why I never leave them any food; truth be told, the jays get to it first! I don't want to shoo them away though, in case the crows see me doing so and start to harbor mistrust.

This ordeal has been sparking an interest in nature journaling; if I can drag myself out of the house, it would be pretty neat to sketch what I see and write down my impressions and questions as they come. I started to do that with the blue jays the other week; I dragged a lawn chair outside, laid down some peanuts, and sat back near the door to see what would happen. The jays are a lot more brazen than the crows are, and they didn't seem to care that I was sitting there for the most part. I think for starters it would be a lot easier to sketch plants and slow-moving animals than birds, haha...at least, until I get my bearings. For now, it's a little strange but I find myself missing the crows around here! Their deep caws are a welcome reprieve from the jays' shrill calls!