Spring's Nursery

This spring, our backyard has turned into a maternity ward. We first discovered the dove's nest. A dove! Okay, not the pretty white ones, the brown ones, but they are still pretty. Those eyes! My husband stumbled upon the nest while trying to reposition an out of control vine when a bird suddenly sprang from a nest - the sight of which nearly knocked him off his ladder! Now we were curious. We looked in and there were two fairly large eggs. We check on the nest periodically and sure enough mamma (we presume) is on the job warming those eggs. We can see another dove watching from a distant tree which we assume is the papa. My husband says it's our own Decorah Eagles! But that's not all...

As part of our spring cleaning, my husband went to clean out our much neglected shed. He was about to lift off the tarp that was draped over our patio chairs when a small bird darted out and flew to a shelf. Again startled by an unexpected birds nest, he looked in the tarp and sure enough there was a nest with 5 small eggs! We're not sure what the bird is yet but it looks like a chubby finch. We checked on the nest today and the eggs have already hatched! Could the dove eggs be far behind? It got me thinking about spring renewal, nesting, and watching over babies. The backyard is alive with chirping and newborns. Even though my own babies are not babies anymore, I'm feeling protective of my little bird mothers and their offspring. Happy spring!

Olney Library Kiosk -- More Than Expected

The Olney Library's kiosk has finally been set up at the Longwood Recreation Center; maybe now I can cut down on my treks to the Howard County library in Glenwood.

Yesterday on my way home from Glenwood, I passed by Longwood to retrieve a MCPL book on Hold. I didn't know what to expect at the kiosk/MCPL Express @ Olney. At first, the setup was what I predicted: 2 carts of books, a book return dropbox, and a vending machine that dispenses books and media instead of candy and chips.

Then I saw the wall of lockers containing materials on Hold for pickup. Following directions on an electronic keypad, I typed in my MC library card's last 4 digits and heard a low "Click" ... then a door swung open slowly and silently, like a James Bond gadget. I reached in and took out my book, expecting the door to mysteriously close by itself. Well, it didn't; I'm simply closed it myself.

But wait, there's more. A large box beside the vending machine is a DVD dispenser! I could search for any DVD in the MCPL system and if the DVD dispenser had it, I could borrow it. The DVD dispenser is like a public Redbox, but with no rental fee and a borrowing time of more than 1 night (up to 3 weeks)! Then I perused the small selection of books on the carts and found the bestselling hard-to-find-unless-you-order-it-as-an-ebook erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey ... which of course I had to borrow just to see what all the fuss is about.

Enough about my reading tastes: I encourage Olney residents to visit the MCPL Express @ Olney at Longwood. Of course it can't replace our beloved library, but at last Olney has a substitute that offers something for everyone, including children's, young adult and adult fiction and nonfiction, audiobooks, and DVDs. Happy reading, listening and viewing!