Empty-nest syndrome

Despite what the Chinese calendar would lead you to believe, this is the Year of the Swallow. My then-little colony returned to the 7MSN in April and moved back in to the three nests they had built last year.

Apparently word got out that I was offering free room and board bugs to all takers. The next thing I knew, I was being swallowed up. I have my very own housing bubble, and there is still no sign of it collapsing. There are nests on the front porch and nests on the back porch. There's even an overflow nest above the garage door filled with swallows on a waiting-list for the roomier nests uptown.

All these swallows allow me to take bug-free afternoon naps on the porch, which seem to occur more frequently these days because the $%#@?! swallows outside my bedroom window wake up around 4 a.m. and make a racket unlike anything I've ever heard! But I won't complain too much because the audiotrack they've provided to my summer has been rather pleasant overall.

Yesterday, the fledglings left their nest on the back porch and ventured down to the hitching rail. Their mom flew in and dropped off a little snack.

She must have told them, "Now you stay right here until I get back and don't you move!" because I was able to walk right up to them.



Before I know it, they'll be off to college or flight school or wherever it is swallows go for their higher education. I'll be left with a bunch of empty nests and I shall miss them. But the messy floors in their rooms? Not so much.