It seems that my visits to see my brother in Bend, Oregon are cursed. When I first visited in January, the area was experiencing record snowfall. I couldn’t see the house because six to eight feet of snow engulfed it. My current visit coincided with a record heat wave with 100° days, 20° over average highs for this time of year. And, a tap-tap-tapping on the roof that caught my attention revealed yet another unwelcome situation somehow associated with my visits here. A pair of pygmy nuthatches has excavated a hole in the chimney siding. While they’re cute to me, they’re not as cute to my brother.
After writing this blog post Saturday morning we took a drive through the Cascade Lakes area. We stopped to admire the headwaters of the Deschutes River and my brother, as boys are wont to do, tried to push over a dead tree. The tree pushed back so we ended up at Emergency and Art got stitched back together.
I know I am not really responsible for any of these occurrences, but the proximity of my visits to these unfortunate events makes me wonder if I’ll be invited back.
Well Art seems to have survived- but OUCH! Hope he heals fast- and stops pushing trees over! Cute nuthatches!