Dove in Dog Land

So I’m hearing a lot of activity on my patio awning, thinking that couldn’t be a million lemons falling… or a lot of squirrels taking shortcuts to the apricot tree… I go outside and there is the sweetest dove on the awning. She looks at me in a most friendly and curious way, like she’s waiting for me to speak. I do.

“That’s really not a good place to build your nest,” I tell her.

She listens intently, but she obviously disagrees and doesn’t budge. She likes it up there in lemon blossom land. She looks right at me, and when I ask where her husband is, she cocks her head gracefully to one side.

“He’s over there?” I ask.

She keeps looking at me, smiling a dainty bird smile if you can imagine such a thing.

“Really, believe me, that’s not a good place. The little ones will be born and when they are ready, they’ll fly down into my yard, dog land.”

She continues her nest building activity anyway. At 6 o’clock, when Rigby the Golden Retriever and Farfel the Lab-mix puppy come over to play, Mrs. Dove may change her mind. It will be the wild hour. Perhaps then, she’ll believe me. Perhaps not.