What the garden in front, sans lawn, will look like in another month's time.

Most of us are aware of the supreme acuity of birds' vision.  That they also have amazing hearing abilities is likely less well known.  From the information we've been able to gather about our neighbourhood problems of crows digging up lawns, it seems that crows are able to distinguish sounds we humans could not even begin to imagine.  For example; hearing the munching sound that grubs make as they eat their way under the lawn thatch, gobbling at grass roots.  And it is those very grubs that the crows, opportunists that they are, omniverous as they are, look for.

And find them they do, pulling up large divots of lawn in their search for those grubs.  It likely isn't too far a stretch to the conclusion that those people who, caring for the health of their environment and the biosphere, eschewing the use of pesticides and herbicides, end up with grub infestations.  And they, who favour nature, also favour nature's cycles.  The grubs and the consequent crow attention is one of those cycles.

Now that it appears the crows might be finished with their lawn demolition work, our neighbours have been raking up their lawns.  Literally; wherever the crows have done their work, whatever is left of the lawns rake up readily enough, leaving little but bare soil behind.  It all looks rather dismal.  My husband was out doing that, raking up our lawn, and I was upstairs looking for online information on reactions to pneumonia inoculations.

That's when I casually also checked my email and discovered there a missive from our older son, who had also copied it to his younger brother with this startling information:

You're not going to believe this, but I just found out that the International Astronomical Union has named an asteroid after me!!!  A main belt asteroid. The page with information on it and why they named it after me is on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory site.  I can't believe this; first the most prestigious astronomical writing award in Canada (the RASC's Simon Newcomb Award), then this. I only found out because someone wrote an email of congratulations.

Now that's the kind of psychological tonic a mother wants to hear!  I ran downstairs and out the front door to breathlessly convey that information to my son's father.

What our oldest son is captivated by, enmeshed with, studies and observes.