Birds and Grapes

1. The grapes in our backyard grow very well each year. This time, we got some grapes again. When I gave Minglun grapes to eat, I told him to take off the skin and seeds before eating the grapes. He was having fun doing that and he even helped to get some grapes ready for Arthur to eat.

Later, we were in the backyard playing. Some birds flew there to eat grapes. Minglun asked me a question, "Mama, do the birds know that our grapes have seeds?"

2. Since many birds come to eat grapes and tomatoes we have, my husband has been looking for ways to protect the plants from the birds. We have a scarecrow which does not work at all. We also have an owl and I put it away last year because it looks a little bit scary.

One evening, I went to the backyard to pick up some tomatoes. My husband didn't tell me that he moved the owl out earlier that day. So I was bending down getting tomatoes. As I stood up and turned around the other way, I saw this big owl with huge eyes looking at me. I screamed and was scared to half death. My husband dashed out from the house and ask me, "What happened? What happened?" It took me a while to be able to talk, "It was the owl. I didn't know it was there. I was so scared."

But later, I thought about the owl. If I was even so scared by the owl, how come the birds were not scared. Are they too smart or too dumb?

3. The next morning, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, Minglun looked through the window and reported, "Mama, some birds came to eat grapes again. They didn't see the owl over there." I started laughing, "I bet they saw the owl. They just don't care."