TheEmpireStrikesDak

I get the joke, but is it really so rare in the US for a woman to keep her own surname after marriage?

Crows are really smart! I’m loving these bird stories!

Ahhh! Robins are great and well known for following gardeners around. Cheeky little things. Mine was also savage and used to chase his mate out the garden sometimes (there was a slight difference in their appearance, so I could distinguish them by looks alone). And he used to chase away his fledgelings once they were old enough to be independent. They had about 4 broods, I think I bought 2 or 3 kg of mealworms that season. His mate sat on my fingers a few times but I usually had to look away. Males are much easier to tame.

The male is on the left, female on the right.

I had a tame great tit for about 2 years who would yell at me as soon as I went outside. He’d sit on the shed or washing line and be like, “Well? My chicks are hungry.” If the shed door was open, he’d hop inside onto the worm tub and tell me to hurry up. He couldn’t open the worm tub himself haha. I’d call him and he’d come flying onto the tree. I even got his fledgelings to sit on my fingers like you do with budgies. I had him 2 or 3 years before some upstart stole his territory and he and his mate abandoned their nest a few days before the chicks were due to fledge. The nest was on my neighbours’ property but I wish I had been brave enough to ask if I could retrieve the nest and try to raise them the last few days (I’m autistic and I think I was mute at the time). Instead I could hear them chirping for food every day until eventually they all went quiet :(

I had a semi tame male blackbird, he’d come for the mealworms when I called him. I’d point to where I’d put the worms that day (I’d move them around) and he’d hop straight over. He and my previous tame blackbird both got killed by a cat :(

Have you heard of green manure and no-dig gardening?

It’s called subsong. I had a handtame robin who used to sit in our rose bushes and sing quietly when I was around. He knew what he was doing. He went to town with the breeding because he knew all it took was a look at me with his big eyes and this mug would give him a free supply of mealworms all summer.

Not necessarily. I’m a millennial. My dad bought our family home when I was a baby and was able to support our family of 6 and pay off the mortgage before I finished my GCSEs. We lived off supermarket budget brands, hand me downs and clearance goods, but we never went hungry or cold. We’re ethnic and religious minority. My dad immigrated to the UK when he married my mum and he worked as a bus conductor for most of his life. My parents’ siblings here were all able to get council flats or houses. So I’m able to remember a time where things were a lot better. Never mind buying a house in London, I can’t even afford to rent and there are no council homes. Especially given that the UK is heading back to the racism levels of the 80s again :(