Man Versus Nature

I am faced with a peculiar...situation. Yesterday, when I left my apartment, I noticed some moss-like substance growing on the top of my outdoor lamp (which is mounted on the wall right outside my door). So, I nonchalantly removed it, locked the door, and carried on my way. This morning I open my door and I notice, to my dismay, that the moss-like substance has come back and multiplied!! The horror! The horror!! I do nothing to it, hoping to discover the reason for its return and go back inside to watch from an obscured position. Ever watched moss grow? Despite the evidence I faced to the contrary, it is a slow process. But wait! What is this?? A robin red-breast alighting upon my lamp, carrying none other than the moss-like substance in its beak! Ah ha! The culprit! I watch a bit longer to see if I can determine the source of the nest building material. Ah ha...there it is. The robin red-breast is shredding my neighbor's clothesline and tearing off bits of the shredded line to build a nest upon my lamp! What had the makings of an excellent, if somewhat cheesy, horror flick turned out to be nothing more than an innocent devious robin red-breast. This is not even to mention the mess it was making on my doorstep from all the twigs and dirt it was using in addition to it's synthetic material (imagine that...even the birds have gone to plastic!). So, I opened the door, intimidating the creature by my sheer size, eradicating the nest with a few swipes of my hand and brushing the mess neatly off the balcony for the #4 tenant to deal with. I am anxious to see if tomorrow the red-breast will be back. If so, we'll have a repeat performance; I can outlast this foe. Full siege mode! Poison its water supply! Halt its food lines! To arms! To arms!!

-R