Three mourning doves and a cowbird

I've mentioned my theory that the covid vaxx impaired my immune systemn. Why else would I suddenly come down with a gluten allergy mere months after my second dose of Pfizer? We're kinda on top of that, but just a few days ago another issue cropped up. All of a sudden everything tasted the same - and not tasty at all. Whether I drank a cup of coffee or a glass of water or a Boxer gluten-free beer, it all tasted like a bitter seltzer, or possibly a selter bitter. Either way, it's the first time I stretched a six-pack out over three days since I was about twelve years old, so in some sense that's a good thing. But it sure ain't much fun. Then along comes the swollen lips, tongue, throat, a heavy wracking cough, and Holy Jesus, I'll be seeing you soon. Happy to report things have calmed down somewhat. I'm not 100%, but it looks like I'm gonna finish off at least three beers tonight, so at least we're headed in the right direction. Still got a bit of a throat thing going, but at this point it doesn't feel it's gonna be terminal. Not that I'm reluctant to meet Jesus; but a little more time would allow me to buff up my application a bit. That's what I'm pondering on the stoop this evening. While I'm watching the birds at the feeders, it occurs to me that we only feed the birds in the summer. That's sorta fucked up, because in the summer is when there's lots of food and they should get their own. Otherwise we're just spoiling them and undermining their self-sufficiency. But it's way too cold to sit on the stoop hours on end in January. Been a lot of action this evening. A lot of starlings, but the mourning doves and the cowbirds hold their own against them. The redwing blackbird comes shreiking in once in awhile. That scares of starlings but not mouning doves or cowbirds. Blue Jays, like starling and outlaw bikers, tend to show up in gangs. The wee birds tend to the ground under the feeders when the bigger birds are fighting over the buffet. The visitor we've only seen once or twice is the orange tanager, a couple of them. At the moment all we got is three mourning doves and a cowbird.