Sunday, October 2, 2011

Mystery Under the Vines

by Caren Crane

The scene: a quiet street in working-class neighborhood in the suburbs. A small elementary school sits on this street, where there is little traffic except on weekdays when school begins and ends. Across from the school, a wooded ravine, overgrown with ivy and vines winding over the ground, down the hillside and up the tree trunks.

Within the skeletal fingers of dead vines, buried in heavy mulch from years of fallen leaves, lay half-hidden, half-seen things. Things no one wanted, no one needed. Things that should remain hidden, things with stories unheard and untold.
People drove by every day. Parents picking up their children from the school across the road. Unsuspecting neighbors believing nothing more than trees and undergrowth dwelled in the woods in their midst.

What we discovered shocked us and the wondering neighbors who drove by - some several times - to see what was dragged up the hill from the overgrown depths. When my Girl Scout troop went yesterday to help with a local Litter Sweep, we had no idea what we would find. We had been told this spot needed "a lot of help", but were unprepared, first, for the overgrown state of the ravine and, second, for the sheer volume and disparity of objects we unearthed.

Many of these were not glamorous things: bottles (beer and liquor), cans (beer, soda and cat food), bags, cups, plates, wrappers, lids with straws. Some appeared to be in the ravine by mistake: a basketball, several soccer balls, the casings from roman candles. Some were clearly left for the sake of dumping convenience: a mattress, a space heater,a metal garbage can, a gas can, a futon pad, mini-blinds, a patio umbrella, a PC tower, a typewriter, a couple of car tires.

Still others made us wonder: a pair of pants, a nice pair of Nike tennis shoes, baby socks, adult socks, baby shoes. A crib. A meat cleaver. The sign pointing the way to a church in a nearby town. A pair of panties.

It wasn't just my writer's imagination that was piqued by all this "treasure". The girls in my troop – all high school juniors and seniors – crafted elaborate scenarios of how some things had come to be there. There were stories of young women making bad choices, trusting the wrong men. A young couple setting up a meth lab, trying to raise a baby they couldn't support and shouldn't have had. Until things went south and they had to ditch everything: the lab equipment, the burners, the futon, the crib. The wife. The cleaver. The baby.

By the time the girls got this far into the tale and we were deep in the ravine, we all fully expected to uncover skeletal human remains. It got very CSI down in there yesterday. Suddenly, our two and a half hours was up. There was more to be done, much more, but Starsky – our trusty town employee and clean-up supervisor – reclaimed our orange vests, gloves and trash picker-uppers.

Still, there is much more to be done in the ravine and there are many more stories for it to tell. The volunteer supervisor is sending us information on how to permanently adopt that spot, to come back on a regular basis and unearth more fascinating pieces of other peoples' lives. I feel sure we will. Who could resist all that buried drama waiting to be dragged from the vine-choked depths of the ravine? Not I.

What about you? Have you encountered a place that made your mind race with speculation? A house, an empty lot, an abandoned space, that compelled you to recreate how it came to be in its current state? We would love to hear about your mysterious spot and the story it told to you.

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Be sure to stop by later this month. Beginning on October 14, we will be giving away tricks and treats daily in anticipation of our BIG SURPRISE coming at the end of the month. Don't miss out!

65 comments:

Mozette said...

Oooh... there's a lot of the places around Brisbane that get my imagination going.

One would have to be Hume's House - not far from where I live. It used to be almost a ruin of a house and when I was young, I'd imagine all kinds of ghost stories happening in that place... especially around Halloween...

Ohhh... the GR has come my way by the looks... here he is eating all the budgie seed again!

Anna Campbell said...

Hey, Mozette, one chook for you! Keep him out of the ravine!

Wow, Caren, what a fascinating post. I got all creeped out there for a while. I was sure you were going to find a body too.

When I traveled around Spain with my best friend in 1985, for some reason wherever we went along the road or in a park or a small town, there was one high-heeled left shoe abandoned. Only ever a left one. Only ever a stiletto (mind you, it WAS the 80s!). I kept thinking of all these one-legged female hitchhikers who had to run for their lives and discarded the footwear to go faster! Otherwise couldn't make much sense of it at all.

Jane said...

When I visited my cousin in Michigan we drove by this dark and dreary building and we imagined it was a sanitarium from many years ago.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, one of my favorite topics.

When I lived in Germany, I used to pass by an abandoned asylum on the way to my friend's house. The place was seriously creepy--an imposing brick structure, with broken windows and a ruined chain link fence around it.

One night, a friend of mine and I *had* to walk home because we'd missed the bus. If you cut through the asylum, you shaved about half a mile from the walk. So, because we were brave and cold and it was really late, we (she) decided we'd cut through the asylum rather than going around it.

I was scared spitless. By the time we got next to the building, I'd basically crafted an entire tale about a pack of feral people lurking behind those broken windows just waiting to make me into soup.

Yes, soup.

Mozette said...

Anna: don't worry, there's no ravines around here unless you name the creek nearby where he'd love to get his feet muddy and ticks all over him...

otherwise, I'll keep him in my yard - unless the kids over the fence feed him. :)

Mary Preston said...

There was an old, abandoned house not far from here & whenever I walked past I always felt eyes watching me. I would rush by, not making eye contact too obviously with the house. The house had such a presence. It burned down a while ago. Apparently the eyes I felt were actually squatters. My instincts were pretty spot on.

Helen said...

Well done Mozette have fun with him

Caren
Great post I have to agree with Anna I was sure that you would have found human remains LOL.

I remember when I was very young and on holiday at my grandparents hobby farm we used to go for long walks and one of the adjacent properties had a big tin shed on it used as a house kitchen bedroom bathroom and no one was ever there so we looked in the windows and although a mess it looked like someone had just up and moved out or never came home there was food on the table clothes and childrens toys everywhere and we never found out what happened stil a mystery. The place was so creepy.

Have Fun
Helen

Caren Crane said...

Mozette, congrats on taking home the Mystery Rooster. Okay, he's not that mysterious, he's in it for the budgie seeds! :)

I think once you start looking around your community for places where "things happen", there are loads! Hume's House sounds like a great stage for creepy and tragic tales. My siblings and I used to invent stories about every run-down house we saw!

Have a great time with the GR and please remember to be extra nice to your budgies after he's gone. I'm sure he harasses them!

Caren Crane said...

Anna, that is too funny about tbe single stilettos lying about Barcelona! The one-legged hitchhiker hopping for her life reminds me of the one-legged girl on "My Name Is Earl". When he first met her, she had a prosthetic leg. After that, we never saw the leg again and she hopped everywhere!

When I was in college, I recall seeing single shoes by the road all the time, mostly tennis shoes and boat shoes. One Monday, a friend of mine admitted that he had been out drinking with another friend of ours on Saturday and the (drunken) friend gave him a ride home on the back of his scooter. When they took the corner to turn into the University going home, his shoe flew off. Mystery of one shoe solved!

I think of that whenever I see shoes lying in the road. I have a feeling the Nikes we found in the ravine had been stolen from some proud kid and flung into the ravine as an act of vengeance!

Caren Crane said...

Oooh, Jane, I love the sanitorium story! There is nothing creepier than empty hospitals, warehouses and large residences. Especially when they have chain link and barbed wire fencing. Are they keeping people in or out? What are they hiding behind those boarded-up windows?!

Caren Crane said...

Megan, I love that story. It totally spooked me while sitting in the Sunday morning sunshine drinking coffee!

I would never in a million years have taken the shortcut, even with my best friend. I would have been terrified!!

I'm sure you had a whole scene about the slavering loonies butchering unsuspecting young trespassers and cooking them down into a tasty soup. *shiver* I can see it all!

Caren Crane said...

Mozette, it's most fortunate there are no ravines for the GR to plunge into - he would! I'm not sure if he's fearless or brainless (I suspect the latter), but he does love to explore.

The ravine we were working in yesterday was tremendously steep. The young, fit teens could hardly get down there and back up. We had to make human chains to get the backs of trash and the large (nasty) objects up. Some we could not get out because they were so overgrown with vines.

You could lose a rooster down there in a jiffy!

Caren Crane said...

Marybelle, isn't that creepy? First that you "felt" the eyes on you - which I've totally done before! Second that there actually were eyes on you. Yikes!!

That makes me wonder about Megan's haunted sanitorium in Germany. No telling who was hiding out in there. SPOOKY!!

Caren Crane said...

Helen, we were SURE we would find human remains. They may still be down there, overgrown with vines and waiting to be discovered! If we adopt the spot, I'll have to send you guys updates on what we find as time goes by.

Too creepy about the tin shack! Of course, the family may simply have had to skip town ahead of bill collectors or drug dealers wanting their money and/or stash, but it could have been ALIEN ABDUCTION!

The funniest thing to me was how the girls (my daughter being the first one!) started creating these stories aloud and sharing with each other. I was keeping all mine in my head so as not to freak them out. I should have worried about them freaking me out! :)

Pissenlit said...

I used to live at my uni's bilingual college which was the original uptown teeny tiny campus. Our athletic centre was also open to the public and was situated on the "lower campus" of the college...down about a bazillion uneven stone steps and a bit down a quiet road at the bottom of a valley. It was always quiet and entirely surrounded by trees and And standing right in the corner between the one soccer field, a small path abutting a parking lot and the giant swath of thick tree-covered valley in the city...was a brick wall. It was perhaps 5' across and taller than that. Everyone always wondered what it was and my friends and I always came up with various unlikely explanations whenever we saw it...mine tended to include a door to another timeline or alternate universe. :D It didn't look like it had been part of any structure and the location didn't make any sense whatsoever. I think I even took a picture of it once. It was sort of forlorn and creepy.

Nancy said...

Mozette, coingratulations on the rooster!

Caren, you have beautiful descriptive passages in here. There's a big, rambling farmhouse on NC 49. It looks empty, but there's a mobile home, looking fairly new, next to it. When I drice by there, I wonder what the story is.

Nancy said...

Congrats to Trish Milburn, currently in transit, for winning the Published YA Maggie last night.

And she did it in a killer red dress!

Caren Crane said...

Oooh, Pissenlit, I love the portal to an alternate universe or timeline. I think that would have been my guess, too. Very much 'A Wrinkle In Time' sort of wall!

It reminds me of the movie 'Lost In Austen' which I saw on Netflix recently. The modern-day heroine finds that a wall in her bathroom is the opposite side of a door in Elizabeth Bennett's attic. The Bennett door was one that led nowhere and did not even open. It was part of an outside wall, supposedly. But of course the heroine and Elizabeth use it to swap places (well, the heroine was tricked into it by Lizzie) and she desperately tries to make the events in 'Pride and Prejudice' work out right. It is a GREAT movie for fans of P&P and a really clever use of time travel!

Caren Crane said...

Nancy, you'll have to tell me where on 49 it is. I'm sure I've passed it a million times! I always wonder why people abandon stick-built homes for mobile homes. Then again, it's probably the same reason people closed off entire wings of their enormous homes - it costs too much to keep them in livable condition.

Either that or, you know, there was a horrible blood bath of a murder and the home is now haunted by the tormented souls of the dead. Ha!

Caren Crane said...

Major huge CONGRATULATIONS to Trish Milburn on winning the Maggie award at Moonlight & Magnolias last night!!!

Nancy said...

Caren, I think the house is in Stanly County. It's set way back from the road, and it's about twice as deep as most farmhouses from the period. I figure a big family built it.

Caren Crane said...

Nancy, I think I know which one you mean. It looks like it's in pretty decent repair, if it's the one I'm thinking of. I always wonder they don't live in it. Or if some older relations lived there and then no one bothered with it after they died?

Anna Sugden said...

Ooh what fun, Caren!

There have been lots of spots that have raised questions (hey, I live in England! LOL).

Often though it's items. For example, an unknown painting discovered in a local village that shows a triple wedding, but no-one knows who the couples are.

Or a situation. When in Sydney, in August, we found the safe in our hotel room was still locked. We had to get security to unlock it and remove whatever was inside. You can imagine my writer's mind going to town on that one! Who had left stuff behind? Why? Was it deliberate? ;)

And the immortal writer's question ... what if?!

Anna Sugden said...

YAY Trish!! That's awesome!!

So did you have killer shoes to go with the killer dress?!

Louisa Cornell said...

Good on you, Mozette! Keep an eye on him. You never know what the GR might dig up!

Awesome post, Caren. You really put me there in the ravine. A writer can glean so many stories from places like that.

Ten years ago, a two-year-old little girl was found abandoned in a car on the side of the county road about 100 yards from the dirt road where I live. Her mother was nowhere to be found and has not been seen since. A bit farther back down the road is a huge quarry. It has all the appearances of a lovely lake on a sunny day. I pass it every day on my way to and from work. But at night, it doesn't appear so benign. They tried to drag it in an effort to find the child's mother, but it is apparently too deep and far too dark for divers.

It doesn't bother me most of the time. But there are nights I drive by and see the moonlight on the water and see something moving in the long grass and I wonder.

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Hey Caren! What a great story! And how wonderful too, that the ravine can be "reclaimed" for both storytelling and wildlife. Really, a space heater? A crib? Yikes!

Wow....

Hey Mozette! You got the chookie! And watch him, he'll steal the budgie along with the seed if you're not careful..

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Oooh, forgot to say that there are alllll sorts of places that make my brain engage in storytelling mode.

Old houses. Oh, my, I love an old house for starting a story. Who lived there? Why? Were they happy, or miserable? Why did they stay? Why did they go?

Or those dark and spooky woods that even in winter manage to look impenetrable....

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Anna said: there was one high-heeled left shoe abandoned. Only ever a left one. Only ever a stiletto (mind you, it WAS the 80s!).

One legged hitchhikers. Snork. Love it.

And I could do a lot with this...BOOM!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

MegganConnors said: I'd basically crafted an entire tale about a pack of feral people lurking behind those broken windows just waiting to make me into soup.

Yes, soup.


Okay, I just HAVE to know. Why soup????

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Caren said: was keeping all mine in my head so as not to freak them out. I should have worried about them freaking me out! :)

Bwahahahah! They cannot escape the writer's legacy....bwahahaha!

jo robertson said...

Ooooh, Caren, what an excellent post. I was totally expecting at the very least crime scene tape and a decomposed body!

Isn't it strange what people throw away. A typewriter? Practically an antique!

Sounds like your girls had an awesome time, hope you get to claim that spot for your very own!

Caren Crane said...

Anna S, I know just what you mean about the objects. Too odd about the triple wedding. If there were such a wedding and someone bothered immortalizing it in paint, surely someone knew one of the people? Hm...

And I would have been dying to see what was in that safe! I'll admit to being really excited when we found a couple of enormous plastic sheets yesterday - I just knew there would be a body! No such luck.

Then there was the rolled-up and buried-under-mulch futon mattress. Surely something was rolled inside? Nothing. Still, we may uncover a skeleton yet! Not that I want to. Not really. But think of the story possibilities!!

Cassondra said...

Oooo...I love this post. And perfect for the entre' to the Halloween season. *grin*

One of the places that always captures me is Mammoth Cave. I know I've talked about it here,but walking those trails where so many feet have walked over the centuries--and hearing the stories about how it was used as a tuberculosis hospital and a mine for saltpeter...a fallout shelter, and so much more. And of course, Native Americans lived in those big rooms. It's almost like I can feel their presence when I'm in there. Hmmm...I might have to blog about that sometime.

Caren Crane said...

Louisa, you gave me shivers!! I can totally picture the quarry, too. I grew up on a dead-end street that ended at an abandoned rock quarry. The stream running behind our house ended ran down into the quarry. Naturally, we were strictly forbidden from going to the rock quarry. So, we did that pretty often.

You could descend into it by climbing down the vines - vines much like those in the ravine yesterday. I'm sure people had used the quarry to dump things they didn't want to haul to the dump as well, especially appliances. I had some flashbacks to the quarry yesterday, let me tell you!

Of course, we would also terrorize each other with tales of what lived down there. You couldn't seen the bottom for the trees and vines that had grown in it and it was quite swampy since the creek and probably other creeks ran into it as well. All in all, it was pretty freaky now that I think about it.

I'm sure your quarry piques your writer's imagination on moonlit nights, especially with the abandoned child story. How could it not?!

Caren Crane said...

Jeanne, I really hope I can get the girls to agree to adopt the ravine for regular clean-up. First of all, I think it's incredibly dangerous having all that right across the street from an elementary school!

Mostly, though, I think it would stir all my writer's juices every time we went. The crib really got to me, but so did the baby shoes and socks. I mean, who throws baby shoes and socks in a dump? I could think of five people right now who could use them! A crib, too, for that matter! It gave me a bad feeling about what happened to that baby.

Then again, maybe the landlord kicked the family out and pitched all their stuff. Who knows? Fascinating to think about!

Caren Crane said...

Ooh, Jeanne, I LOVE an abandoned house! I was thinking of the one from 'It's a Wonderful Life' this morning. It killed me that it was smack in the middle of their neighborhood. What?! You don't see that much these days.

Oh, and I forgot we had an abandoned building we called The Jail House in the woods down the creek from us (about halfway down to the rock quarry). We think it might have been where they stored the dynamite and things for blasting when the quarry was active. It was built of concrete blocks, had a metal door and a single window high in the wall with metal bars. No roof, of course, since it was abandoned.

We used to light bonfires in there and tell spooky stories. Oh, and the teenagers drank in there. Ah, my misspent youth!

Caren Crane said...

Jo, the typewriter kind of jarred me. They don't even make typewriters anymore since that place in India closed down. It really is a thing of the past now. What a shame!

Yes, I think I could arrange all sorts of storytelling exercises around our workdays there. Hey, they need practice with creative writing and essay writing and I can always use story fodder. Good for all of us!

Caren Crane said...

Cassondra, Mammoth Cave is one of those incredibly powerful natural sites, isn't it? Ron and I want to go for a nice long trip there one day so we have lots of time to explore.

It was one of those places everyone went to for school field trips in Nashville (the space center at Huntsville, AL was another). I went to the space center, but never to Mammoth Cave. I want to go! Please blog about it!

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Caren said: They don't even make typewriters anymore since that place in India closed down. It really is a thing of the past now. What a shame!

Now see, I learned something new. First, I didn't know there was still a typewriter factory at all, much less that it was in India.

Second, sad to know it shut down.

Caren Crane said...

Jeanne, I remember reading an article about it when I was following rabbit trails on the internet news sites. This factory in India still made some obscure brand of typewriter that was probably originally British.

It was likely a leftover from long ago that was kept alive by third world businesses that did not have computers. These days, it's hard to run a company without an internet site, at the very least! I think that was just this year they shut down. Hard to believe it survived this long!

Oh, I just found an update on the story that refuted that it was the last typewriter manufacturer. Apparently there is still one in NJ! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/26/worlds-last-typewriter-factory-closes_n_853670.html

Pat Cochran said...

In a large city like Houston, you can
not drive through some of the older
areas without seeing no longer used
homes and buildings. In two different areas, the deserted buildings we often
passed were old hospitals. They made us think of all the people who came there seeking assistance. One of the deserted buildings looked so "lonely" as it sat on what passes for a hill side here. I was pleased to see, on the last time we drove by, that the building is now being used again.

Pat Cochran

Amy Valentini said...

Caren, there's nothing better than a chance for our imaginations to go wild and scare the beejeebers out of ourselves - and it's October!
I live in an area of VA where Indians lived (Pocohantas' tribe), Colonials fought, Civil War battles raged and Union troops camped. When I walk the winding roads around here, I pass a historical church, cemetery and remnants of old homes. My imagination goes wild and sometimes, my dog's does too! More than once as we've passed the cemetery, he's stopped, stared, raised his hackles and given a low growl. I took him for a walk through it once, only got him so far before he pulled me back and never got him in there again. I love it!!

http://unwrappingromance.blogspot.com

Jeanne (AKA The Duchesse) said...

Amy said: Caren, there's nothing better than a chance for our imaginations to go wild and scare the beejeebers out of ourselves - and it's October!

Well said, Amy! And totally true.

Woooo, welcome OCTOBER!!

Anna Campbell said...

Caren, you genius! I think after 26 years you solved the mystery and why it was always the left shoe. Lots of girls in high heels on the back of motorbikes and scooters in Spain. And these shoes were always beside the road. Wow, whoda thunk it? All good things come to those who wait! I wouldn't say it's tormented me over the years but it just struck me as strange, you know? And now I have a valid explanation!

Louisa Cornell said...

So now when we take our motorcycle tour of Spain, La Campbell, we know to wear only one shoe!

And CONGRATS TO TRISH on winning the YA Maggie !!

Anna Campbell said...

Or stick it on with masking tape when you're riding on the back of some handsome senor's motorbike!

Kate Carlisle said...

Oooh, Caren, spooky!! I was sure there would be a dead body in there ... but I'm kind of glad there wasn't. It's fun to watch on CSI but in real life? Nightmare time!

In college, a bunch of us would drive out late at night to Vasquez Rocks, a rugged hilly area way beyond the end of the San Fernando Valley. There were lots of big rocks to climb, along with some caves and abandoned shacks. They used to film a lot of westerns out there in the 50's and 60's. We would explore those places and make up all sorts of stories about what went on there.

A year or so later, we found out that the Manson family had been using some abandoned home out there as a hideaway around the same time as we were going out there.

FREAKY!!!

Kate Carlisle said...

Lots of cool stories here! And congrats to Mozette on snagging the bird beast! Now that's scary!

And big CONGRATS to our TRISH on winning the MAGGIE!!! Woo hoo!!!

Suzanne Ferrell said...

Caren,

Fascinating how your mind works, girl!And now I bet at least one of those girls will write their tale, probably for creative writing class in school!!

As for being inspired? Have you ever been to Cade's cove in The Great Smokey Mountains Forest? It was a real town years ago. Walking through the small cabins, the woods and the church, mill, etc. It had my mind filled with what those people had to endure just to live from day-to-day.

Anna Campbell said...

Yeah, YAY, TRISH!!!!!

Caren Crane said...

Pat, what a melancholy thing to have hospitals sitting empty! Houston has had such ups and downs that I'm sure there are areas with lots of empty real estate, both private homes and commercial. We lived there in 1982 and even then, during the "boom" there were empty buildings!

It's wonderful that they are renovating one of the hospitals. I wonder what is moving in? What in the world can you do with a hospital building besides use it as a hospital? It seems like a very specific sort of building!

Caren Crane said...

Amy, how spooky and cool! I have to say, the last time we were in the Williamsburg area, we went to Historic Jamestowne. For those who haven't been, that's the site of the first colonial settlement there. It was way cooler than colonial Williamsburg, but in a completely different way.

It was really interesting to go into the church there and see the excavation they had done under the foundation. The whole area had been inhabited for so long by native Americans when the colonists arrived you have to figure it's just riddled with ghosts!

We also went to visit Bacon's Castle in Surry, which had a slightly spooky feel to it. It was a great trip. We tried to see the less-visited places since we had seen all the most touristy ones on previous trips. How great that you live there and can soak up the vibes of the past all year round!

Caren Crane said...

Jeanne, every time we hit October, it becomes Jeanne Month in my mind. I really want to come up for the Ad(d)ams Family Halloween party one of these years! :)

Caren Crane said...

Anna, you are too funny! I hadn't thought of it, but you're right about all the scooter riding in Italy and Spain. I'll bet those corners are hard on a stiletto! *snork*

Caren Crane said...

Louisa, there is always the more unpopular option of wearing lace-up shoes. I'm just throwing it out there! ;)

Caren Crane said...

Okay, Anna, now I have a picture of you riding on the back of a motor scooter with masking tape criss-crossed up your legs like those disco shoes from the 70s!

Caren Crane said...

Kate, the MANSON FAMILY?! Oh my gosh, that would have freaked me out so bad, even a year later! I'm sure the whole area was a great atmosphere for story inspiration, though. As soon as the sun starts setting, there are all those immense shadows and dark, spooky recesses. I gave myself a shiver just thinking about it!

Anna Campbell said...

Caren, might fit the gladiator sandal look! ;-)

Caren Crane said...

Suz, I haven't been to Cades Cove, but it's definitely on my list. That area is near where my mother's family (both sides) were from.

The Smoky Mtns are my favorite place to be on earth, so I plan to drag the DH there. (So many places I want to see!) I'm sure it's FULL of stories begging to be told, too! I would love to write about the early days of the settlers in the mountains. I'm not sure I could do the period justice, but I'd like to try one day!

Caren Crane said...

Anna, that's it: masking tape gladiator sandals! I can see you sporting that and listing a bit boozily off the seat of a scooter whilst clinging to a sexy Spaniard!

Mozette said...

The GR got into the budgie seed and - while I was out and about seeing my brother and his family home from Thailand at the airport - kept my budgie company.
Not much scares my little bird unless her cage is attacked. The GR would have caused great curiosity for her and not fear with him strutting around the place making a mess... and looking into everything; and her telling him to leave my stuff alone. :P

Caren Crane said...

Mozette, I'm glad to hear your budgie kept a keen eye on the GR. Heaven knows someone needs to! She is obviously a conscientious and observant bird, just what the GR needs in his life. It takes all 19 of us (plus Aunty Cindy's riding crop at times) to keep him in line!

If all it cost was some budgie seed, you were lucky. We have had to replace wood paneling and hardwood floors in the Lair!

Nancy said...

Mozette, so sorry the GR made a mess at your place! He's such an inconsiderate guest. *sigh*

Mozette said...

Oh, don't worry... now he's in somebody else's house causing havoc... hehheee.

And he loved the Finch Seed he munched into! All Australian produced seed too... lucky Rooster he was!
Little Miss Stevie would have made nasty screeching noises at him if he destroyed anything rare until I got home... and she can really be annoyingly loud (and I've seen some other birds actually become quite scared of her when she's territorial of her cage and my home)... good little bird I have :)

Cassondra said...

Posh, I think I will start working on that idea. I've wanted to for a long time, but figured nobody else would be interested. :0/