House grouse and the dog days of summer

It's July!  Hurricane Arthur and Independence day are racing each other to the weekend.  Seems like chaos and entropy are about to be afoot. 

Last Sunday we put a chipmunk somewhere downtown. (I know, we've got to branch out a little from our typical dive bar haunts.  It'll happen.) Chipmunks are talkers.  Happy little talkers.

We gave away a grouse/partridge to a very capable gifter.  Surely it found it's place in the world.  We know two things about the grouse: 1. When coyotes pounce on field mice they create little paths for grouse chicks to get around.  Naturally when coyote populations are decimated these little paths cease to exist and those fluffy little grouse chicks get caught in the tall grass and die. 2.  Grouse have wings and can fly but they usually don't.  They prefer to stay close to the ground. 

Whoever got this little bird: you have wings!  Don't die in the grass!  Fly up!  Also, you'd be wise to remember we are all in some giant unfathomable symbiotic relationship.  I bet the grouse never looks at the coyote and thinks: we need each other.  But they do.

Speaking of coyotes, a whole batch of fired canines are about to hit the town for the dog days of summer: foxes, wolves, coyotes.  Keep your eyes peeled, Spirit People!