Spring is here: there are baby birds in the stove vent again.

The sparrows-- or maybe it's house finches?-- are back and nesting comfortably with their new babies in our stove vent. Soon their heads will be covered in a greasy film of cooking oil, like a nest full of downy little hash browns. Because of their proximity to our microwave, we hope there is only one downy head on each of those chicks... When you stand in our kitchen it sounds as if the birds are right in the microwave oven-- a mostly pleasing but occasionally freaky aspect of our kitchen.

Audrey said, "Listen, Mommy! They saying peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep..."

Hooray for warmer weather. Peep!