Angry Birds Are From Finland - Drunk Birds Too...

Today was an eventful day - one I will never forget.
I swear I am not pregnant, didn't secretly deliver a baby whale, didn't surprise anyone in Canada with a "I'm here on your door step ringing your bell while calling you from my Finnish phone" and I did not attend a Finnish wedding or a funeral.

Why was it eventful?
Today is the 11th of December and my husband was going to Helsinki then to Istanbul (Turkey) to attend a conference in which he will be presenting a paper that he slaved over for the better part of a week.
It's a 5-day trip due to the once-a-day flights out of Helsinki (direct) to Istanbul.

I was prepared.
I had a back-up plan for the dogs in case one friend couldn't take both - one other friend could take a pooch.
I had bought enough food for the week for my friends who were helping me out with the kids at night so I could cook supper and actually eat 1 decent meal a day...and take the other dog out.
I even had "Don't lose your sh*t/Cheaper than a therapist food" - which helps to keep me calm when hubby is away...you know what I mean.  When you count to 10 because your kids are driving you insane and you sneak off and take a sip of your flask or in my case - a trip to the pantry to nibble on chocolate or a scoop of ice-cream...or chug a glass of Pepsi for that extra kick to keep going.
My oldest would be in day care in the day time so it was just a matter of getting the dog out for a long walk while the little one napped in his stroller...
I was SO prepared.

What I was not prepared for was my husband advising me that his passport was missing and if I could check all his usual spots for putting important documents...and then go into storage and look into the coats and blazers stored away...and then go back and check this spot and that.
I was fuming because our everyday record of being late dropping our son off at day-care was about to be broken by ME!...ah well - tomorrow I'll try and surprise the pants off of them by showing up by 9...

So, I ended up doing my errands (one kid at day care, the other gets their flu vaccine) and asked where Tim was on his return trip...he advised me he'd be back soon.
We ended up all going home together and on our walk back home I noticed a ball of grey on the side of the path - which is all downhill by the way.  PERFECT for sledding, slipping, biking, falling on my butt - you know - perfect for fast transportation.
I walked over to this ball of grey and discovered it was a bird who didn't flinch at all when I went up close to it.
After dropping off the little guy and the husband, I rushed out with a piece of bread and my camera.
(Still have to upgrade my photo storage then I can post photos I took of the little bird.)
I decided to pick up the bird and try to get it to eat food from our yard...no luck.

So I didn't want the poor thing to freeze to death - so I got a shoe box, lined it with an old receiving blanket, plopped the bird in with some bread and a small lid of water...and left it on my balcony.  It wasn't showing any signs of flying or even chirping...so I felt confident I could pick it up without losing an eye.
I posted the photos on my Facebook and discovered from a friend that it was a "Bohemian Waxwing" - related to the Cedar Waxwing but anyway.

After chatting with a friend - he advised me that these birds eat a lot of red berries hanging off of trees.
Okay - well, they have to eat something because they eat insects in the summer...so that Wikipedia link tells me.
And apparently those red berries act as an alcohol when too many are eaten...or they are turned into alcohol somehow in their system.  (I'm not a scientist - just a blogger...)

You getting what I'm trying to say?
I "saved" a drunk bird and let him get over his hang-over on my balcony in a nice little shoe box with bread and water and a towel to block the wind...
He left me a message in the snow too - some foot prints that were definitely NOT in a straight line.
And no bird poop!  I call that success!

(In Finnish they're known as Tilhi - which means "Waxwing").