Apparently the favorite dish on the child's menu around here is caterpillars in a blanket. I've now found three caterpillars on the patio, half torn out of their cocoons. Since I'm not finding them anywhere else I have to assume they're being dropped by swallows in their kid feeding frenzy. Either that or it's the vanguard of some bizarre plague.

No, I didn't post a photo.

Knitting lace--even if it's not terribly complicated--turns out to be one of those activities that takes over your mind, like Tetris or Katamari Damacy. Long after you put it aside, your brain just keeps on with it, to the point where it's hard to focus on anything else or even fall asleep. So much for my nice relaxing hobby.

There may be as many as 5 baby birds crammed in there. Today they learned to scoot their little tail feathers out over the edge of the nest and poop out large white blobs onto the patio.

...and voila! Baby birds.

The third one's hunkered down on the left. You can see his gaping maw there among all the fluff.

Gah! I finished the final three rows on my reversible bag last night... only to find that I'd knitted the last panel on the wrong side. Sigh.

Instead of fixing it I made a ball out of one of the skeins of yarn I bought yesterday while watching Hell's Kitchen from Tuesday. I hate everyone on that show.

What is it with mayonnaise lately? First the guy on Top Chef didn't know it was just egg and oil, then it shows up in the relay race. Top Chef came up at lunch on Mother's Day because we're all watching it, and Paul told us how his friend Richard got all excited about making his own mayo with a hand blender after seeing it done on an infomercial in the middle of the night. Now Michael Ruhlman's blogging about mayo. Must be some kind of trendlet.

I've spent the past few days on press tour for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky (no, I didn't get a say in that annoying, overly-punctuated title) and some other games that aren't getting quite as much love, so I'm a little tired and cranky. Bought new yarn today in hopes of starting this shawl soon.

The baby swallows hatched yesterday evening, and the parents have been flying back and forth tirelessly catching bugs to feed them. These are the shell remnants I found on the patio under the nest. There were apparently three eggs but one was completely shattered. These were in better shape before I accidentally banged the newspaper down on them this morning. Can't hear any peeping yet, but it might be drowned out by the obnoxious racket all the baby ducks make. They're pretty damn cute but really noisy, from early in the morning to well into the night because it's been so hot the past few days. Today is not as bad--only in the high 90's now at 4.30.

When the full force of afternoon sun hits my apartment the only thing to do is close all the blinds, crank up the a/c, and hunker down. I've been knitting obsessively the past few days and managed to complete a pair of black merino handswarmers that Cathy wanted (yes, it's May but the a/c in her office is really cold) and the hat I started making for her mom back in November. I'm also close to finishing the Debbie Bliss reversible bag I've been working on for over a year since I decided I can't start anything new until some of these languishing UFOs have been taken care of.

I caught up on Lost while knitting today. Hurley and Ben sharing a candy bar in the previous week's episode was one of the best scenes ever. I've given up trying to figure out the show otherwise; just going to let it unfold in its own sweet time. I did catch an ad for the new Mole series, which will hopefully be as good as the first.

Tomorrow I go to LA for a press tour. I hear it's cooler there.

Today I got to watch the food chain in action. I arose at 5.45 to release a bunch of ladybugs on my aphid-infested rose bush. A little while later I glanced out the window to find Isis. She was crouched in her kitty cave eyeing the male swallow, who was perched on the porch light eyeing the ladybugs, who were eyeing--or at least creeping toward--the aphids. Just like the Discovery Channel.

On Top Chef this week it was pretty clear who was going home the second that annoying jerk started shooting off his mouth about how he had this challenge in the bag. Lisa's pretty calm over the past few weeks but then her rampant paranoia reared its ugly head. I have nothing to say about Hell's Kitchen because I can't stand any of them.

Isis enjoys looking out the bedroom window.

Under the heading of Well-Intentioned but Misguided: on Saturday I received a customer satisfaction survey from the San Mateo County Coroner's Office.