Late Friday afternoon one of the Paint The Patches Formerly Known As Holes In The Ceilings Guys called to ask if he could come by that evening to paint the patches. I thought "What, didn't the other Paint The Patches Guy tell you to call the day before you wanted to come so I can catch the birds?" Well, obviously not, but that's okay. I arranged for him to come by at 9 am on Saturday, and then I did a little dance, because Bruce was home to help. Bruce is the Best Bird Catcher, Evar! We got up early Saturday morning to catch the Finsters while it was still dark, and everything went well. We also discovered that Oolong has been sleeping in a nest box with a Spice finch, which is good news — I'd been worrying that she was sleeping alone.

The Finsters were closed up in the office, the windows in the living room were open, and the Paint The Patches Guy painted the patches. We left everything that way for most of the day, just to be sure the paint had dried and there weren't any fumes left. And then we set the two cages up, door to door, just like before, and entered a rift in the spacetime continuum that lasted almost exactly three hours.

No, really. A rift. In the spacetime continuum. I am not kidding. Why would I kid?

Because it's the only thing that explains the fact that it took three hours for all the Finsters to leave the dark, cramped, dry hospital cage for the wide open space of the Finsterium, filled with snacks, wheat grass, egg shells, nest boxes and a big, lovely bath. Three hours. Two hours and fifty-nine minutes, to be precise.

Be honest: What were you doing between 5:01 and 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (U.S.) on March 17, 2007?

I'll bet it was nothing.