Kickass winter risks

Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that while the keeper and Phyllis, who is newly arrived from Arizona and preparing to endure a Wisconsin winter, were at the breakfast table this morning, a robin crashed into the nearest window in what could only be a desperate move to assume an altered life status.  Unfortunately it was also life ending.

The keeper tries not to read a lot of symbolism into natural events, but felt it necessary to ask Phyllis not to conclude that the robin killed itself because it had somehow missed the migration train and was destined to winter in Wisconsin.

In the meantime, a pair of nuthatches displayed energetic acrobatics at the bird feeder, and, while he didn’t say anything, the keeper hoped that Phyllis would not interpret his admiration for the nuthatches as the possibility that he might somehow be related to them, perhaps in name at least. (There was a brief memorial ceremony for the robin followed by internment in the remains of the last snow storm on the north side of the keeper’s house. Phyllis attended.)