Wrens, Robins, and Unanswered Questions

A robin has made a nest in the holly bush right outside of our dining room bay window.  I found her there, sitting and waiting patiently for her eggs to hatch.   A week or so later I caught her flying back and forth -- I assume feeding her babies.  Now she is gone, and so are the fledglings.  I'm guessing that they are among the young spotted robins who are splashing and drinking from the falls in the pond.  I know the adult birds in our yard take their fledglings to the feeders and to the pond.  I've watched the juvenile catbirds perch on the viburnum above the falls while an adult splashes below them.  They watch -- "WHAT??  Really?  You want us to go in there?"  And of course, eventually they do.  I wonder if the adults think about them once they are gone.  I wonder if they worry just a little.

The chickadees have already successfully fledged a brood in the little nesting box in the crab apple tree.  They fought a valiant fight over the box in early spring, winning it from the wrens, but now the wrens are back and have taken over the box.  Despite a rather detailed honey-do list, hubby neglected to empty and clean it for the spring, so now it has at least five broods worth of nesting material inside. I can see the sticks and feathers coming out of the vents on the bottom.  The wrens have chickadee feathers to line their nest - a luxury!  The activity at the feeders is frenetic, above and below.  The chipmunks have produced a bumper crop of young this year and the little ones perch on rocks at the falls, watching me closely to see if there's any risk in movement.  Twice we have seen the red fox pop his head through the fir tree by the front feeder, scouting for a greedy squirrel who might be preoccupied with fallen seed. 

There is a plant in my pond that I have never liked.  It grows too tall and the leaves flop over and break. I have brought it in for the winter for three winters now, on hubby's insistence.  This spring, as it sat in the window waiting to be planted, it decided to flower...  twice.  Two large white blossoms atop a tall stem.  I feel a little guilty for all those moments when it nearly went into the weed pile.  I cut it back and planted it in the pond again, and it graced us with another beautiful bloom.  In fact there are other firsts this year..  Since we took out the pussy willow bush (which had grown into a tree) there is more light.  The blue flags in the bog, which are at least 10 years hold, have bloomed for the first time.  

CT scan shows that the aortic dilation has grown 1 mm since the November scan.  It is now 4.6 cm.  The heart is strong, the bicuspid valve is functioning as a normal valve with only a very slight regurgitation.  4 more mm to go before surgery. I saw a video of my surgeon's team.  They were replacing parts on man with the identical thing I have.  They put him on a bypass machine -- a heart and lung machine.  They brought his temperature down to 52 degrees, flat-lining his brain.  When they flat-line you.....   where do you go??  No one has been able to answer this question for me.