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April 18, 2007

Farewell Acorn

Tonight we dropped Acorn off at a wildlife rehabber. The lady was so nice and is a retired OR nurse who rehabs squirrels, raccoons, and foxes. She picked Acorn up and said he (and I was right about that part) was very dehydrated. She put him on a warming pad and was going to give him an IV. I asked if we did the right thing by taking him home in the first place instead of leaving him in case his mother came back and she said definitely. She said our little squirrel friend would not have lived much longer. We were sad to say goodbye and Owen said that Acorn was sad that we were leaving. We assured him that Acorn was happy to be with the squirrel doctor and her 30 other squirrels.
These are some pictures I took today...unbelievably cute.

Posted by amy at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)

Collisions with Nature

Last night was a pretty rough night for us starting at about 6:30 pm. That was when we found a bird's nest on the ground next to my garden and 2 broken eggs. It would've been sad enough had it just naturally occurred, but its even worse because we are partly to blame. The nest was in a tree/bush that we had significantly trimmed so that my garden could get sunlight. We knew the nest was there (although we were unaware there were eggs) and were careful not to cut the branches the nest was on. Unfortunately, the next day there were 40+ mph winds and must've blown the nest out. This wouldn't have happened if we hadn't cut branches that were protecting it from the wind. I was heart-broken and still almost sick to think about a mama bird flying around having lost her babies.
Our night was not over however, and I thought God ordained a way for us to repay nature last night when on our walk we found a baby squirrel. The little thing (about 4-5" long, minus tail) had just finished crossing the street. It did not scurry off when Owen went up to it, and as we were leaving, IT FOLLOWED US, just like a stray dog. I cannot describe how cute it was to see this tiny thing scurrying behind us. We didn't see any other squirrels around, and it was a high-traffic area known to have owls, and it was about dusk (and again, I saw this as our dues to mother earth). So Duffy scooped up little "Acorn" in his shirt and carried him home. Almost immediately he curled up in a little ball and fell asleep as Duff was carrying him. At home, the kids and Duffy watched it in the backyard while I googled "Caring for a baby squirrel." We ended up making a little bed for him in Owen's plastic house and gave it broccoli and water. Tonight we will be bringing Acorn to a wildlife rehabber.
Well, we would've broke even with that, but again, our night was not over. As Duffy was putting the kids to bed, I went to work cleaning the kitchen. I was in there for about 2 seconds, when I heard a noise on top of the cupboard. * Note= last week we put a glueboard trap on top of the cupboard because we were a little suspicious of critter activity* I got Duff and waited in the other room while he checked it out. I heard, "Whew. Okay. Okay." and then a shudder. He came and told me that a BIRD was stuck on the glueboard...really stuck. Apparently the bird got in through our messed up screen door which has a 2 inch gap at the bottom. I went to google again to see how to get an animal off a supposedly-humane gluetrap, as I knew it has something to do with soaking it in oil. Turns out that glueboards are actually the least-humane because if someone actually does get an animal off, the oil can leave irreversible damage. **Note again, this glueboard was left over from when we lived in the duplex and had a critter issue and I didn't want to find squished mouse. ** Duffy made the tough decision that the best of the worst things to do was to suffocate it in a bag. Incredibly sad. I don't think I will quickly shake this instance or the mama bird's eggs. I'm surprised I slept okay last night. It all makes you think about how much harm we do do, and how to make it right. I just can't actually believe this all happened in about 3 hours time.
Here is a picture of Acorn for you.

Posted by amy at 07:37 AM | Comments (3)

April 17, 2007

Something to be Proud Of

I was very excited when Owen learned to cross his eyes a couple of weeks ago. Duffy said most parents would tell their children to not do this as their eyes will get stuck that way, but I think it is a pretty cool trick for a 3 year old. It's also his impression of a Gogan from his favorite movie obsession as of late, "Pete's Dragon."

He has also been expressing his anger lately and has perfected his angry face. This is something we are not very excited about, but hope will pass soon. He calmly comes to us with this face and says, "I'm angry at you," either when we say no tv, no candy, or that it is naptime.

Posted by amy at 04:01 PM | Comments (1)

April 10, 2007

Long Ride Home

We have returned from our camping trip to the beach, and it was awesome except for the last day when Caroline decided to have a meltdown. Here is a little video so you can sample what we went through, be sure to catch the last 3 seconds. As you can see, Owen came through it all unscathed.

Again, good times were had despite the tough ending. We realized later that she is teething pretty heavily. The weather held out for us and the kids both loved the sand and waves.

Posted by amy at 09:48 AM | Comments (1)

April 01, 2007

TWINS!!

We found out that we are having twins!!! And since there is still a half-hour till April 2nd, I will go ahead and add an "April Fools" to that :)
Early tomorrow morn we head to the beach for spring break. No luxury hotel for us, but we did borrow a huge luxury tent! We will be camping, and hopefully, enjoying the warm sunshine of the Florida coast. The weather doesn't look like it is supposed to be as perfect as it was last year, but we are prepared for whatever might come our way. Owen is ready to dig and build in the sand, insisting that he needs both his bulldozer and his dumptruck. Caroline is probably just looking forward to eating sand. That girl is ALL OVER the place these days--such a climber. She has also picked up the walking speed and is just about at a trot. She continues to be our sunshine and we all adore her.
I'm just about to enter the second trimester. Things are very smooth sailing so far, and it is starting to seem more feasible that we will be able to handle three as Caroline becomes more independent. Thank goodness!

Posted by amy at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)