morning in the garden primeval

 Looks like a scene from a forest primeval does it not?  It's one of those 'pans' that you put under your pot so that if you overwater it the water goes into the pan and not over your floor.  I put it out as a bird bath for the finches and pidges but they never cottoned to it.  I wonder if she can smell or taste the birds that may be frolicking in it when I am not watching it?  Or maybe they are not frolicking in it because they can smell her hot carnivore breath in the water.

I thought birds could not smell because well, they never act as if they are smelling anything, they don't pause to put their noses in the air.  But I double-checked and Mr Google says they can.  It's always a good idea to double-check what you know.  

I wasn't that sure about the noses thing, so I dropped in on Mr G, and sure enough they do not have noses.  They have a couple nose holes, but not a nose to be seen in The House of Birds.

They do have an interesting vision thing.  You know how predators have both eyes pointing forwards so they can use 3d to capture their prey and prey have their eyes on either side of their heads to better detect their predator creeping up on them?  My finches and pidges are frequently looking at me from a perch on the railing and I have often wondered are they really looking at me when they have the side of their heads facing me, or when they are looking at me head on.

Looked that up some time ago, but haven't had a chance to slip it into a post until this morning.  Mr G sez, both.  Even though their eyes are on either side of their head they both can see a little forward and so when they are looking at you like that they are getting a 3d reading, but not so good at fine detail so then they turn sideways to get a richer gander.  That's why they are always bobbing their heads around.

Anyway last night I had to put on my long pants because Sweetie wanted on my lap while I was watching tv.  If I have my shorts on it makes the little jump from the table more precarious for her and more painful for me.  Since it was a hot and humid night to accommodate the long pants I had to turn on the air conditioning which meant I had to close the door to the balcony.  This morning as I was going through my preparations for getting up and going she was meowing in a peevish manner at the door and I had to drop everything and open the door for her so that she could drink her water from the funny round pond in the forest primeval.

When you have a cat you have to know your place. 

And speaking of the forest primeval here are my morning glories bursting out like thunder across The Balcony of Ken.