love thursday: whoooo's feeling it?

One day in June, a little girl showed up at our door with a shoebox in hand. Eyes droopy, she said, "Can you take care of him?" and pushed the box toward me. Him was a baby owl.

Now why would this little girl bring a baby owl to our house? Obviously because we have the (well-deserved) reputation for being the local animal rescue station. And, yes, I know you're not supposed to try to raise baby owls, that they're wild animals, blah blah, and I'm not in any way encouraging such behavior, but will you look at this face?*


So we took in this little guy and we fed him and loved him and named him Filippo. And for three weeks, he did silly things like this:


And this:


Then one morning, P rushed into the house asking whether Filippo had flown the coop. Why no, I said. He was safe in his cage.

"Well then whoooo's this?" he asked me (loosely translated).

In his hands, P was cupping a brown spotted owl, smaller and, quite frankly, prettier than Filippo.

Now, mind you, we do not live in the woods, so owls showing up on our doorstep isn't exactly expected. So we were left to wonder whoooo had been talking, because it sure seemed like word got out that our house was *the* place to grow up to be a big owl.

I think it could be because I went to law school at a certain Philadelphia university, but let's not jump to any conclusions. We named the new addition to the parliament Filippa, because clearly she was a girl owl from her petite and pretty status.

A few days later, once she emerged from hiding in Filippo's box, we were able to determine from the looks in their eyes that love had, indeed, bloomed.

And maybe I'm biased, but I think they both bear quite a resemblance to John Chaney--how cute are all of them?

In a personal side "Love Thursday" note, through taking care of Filippo and Filippa, I learned to love winged creatures, which, previously had only served to scare the bejeebers out of me.

The Filippi have since been freed and sighted nearby.

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

*All pictures taken months ago with a webcam and *not* the new digital camera.