Defenestrating Thoughts from the Bivouac

As you may know, I just got back from a business trip to Boulder. And instead of staying at a hotel, I stayed with my parents. It was really nice being home and, since Sri is in Oregon visiting friends, I had my parents all to myself. No sisters or wife to hog the parents. :-)

Yesterday, we realized that this was the first time that it’s just been me and my parents for more than a day. Like the first time ever. In the past 27 years, if I was with my parents, I had to share with one of my sisters.

When you think about it, that’s really crazy. But a nice side-effect was that the house was really quiet and peaceful. :-)

Except we weren’t alone. Sri got a gerbil that lives in a cage in the study room. The gerbil just runs on the hamster wheel all day long. Since Sri is out of town, Amma is feeding the gerbil and taking care of it. Amma really likes the gerbil and you can often find her talking to gerbil in Telugu, [roughly translated] “Hi little dear. I’m sorry I didn’t come visit you yet today. Did you like your dinner?”

It’s really, really funny. Especially so, since the gerbil doesn’t speak Telugu! Amma astutely pointed out that the gerbil doesn’t speak English either, but still.

Sri gave the gerbil some name I can’t remember, but I think a better name is “Sribil” (Sri + gerbil).

And we have one more guest in the house. A woodpecker has burrowed into the house and is building a nest inside the walls by Akka’s room. My parents didn’t notice since no one was using this room. I noticed, though, because bright and early each morning, Mr. Woodpecker start drilling (or pecking) very loudly.

And during the night, he gets bored and starts running around in the wall right by my head. You know, during the day, it would be cute (in an Animal Planet sort of way). But at night, when I’m trying to sleep, it’s rather annoying.

If Mom and Dad don’t do something soon, they are going to have a wall full of baby birds come spring. :-)