May Days

I have had the photos uploaded and ready for this post for weeks, but then I was hit with a respiratory illness and had to abandon it. After about ten days of coughing and wheezing, I am finally able to sleep at night and feeling much better. Nothing serious, but the sort of regular cold that hits me hard, particularly when I’m pregnant. I haven’t been sick like this in years. At any rate, I’m feeling better, and I’m so grateful that I don’t have to sleep upright in a chair anymore.

May has been a month for baby wildlife at our house. First I got a text from Gabe who found a half-dead baby squirrel on the ground at his gardening job. He sent a picture of the little guy at the bottom of a plastic pot, not looking so great. I texted some friends who have raised baby squirrels for advice and then dropped everything and drove downtown to pick up the baby armed with water and a syringe. After rehydrating him and pulling numerous fly eggs off of his body, I tucked him in my shirt (read that it was important to keep him warm) and drove to the store for puppy formula as I’d been instructed. He started to revive inside my bra while I was driving, which wasn’t ideal, but I managed to stay calm while laughing at how ridiculous the situation was. Shortly after returning home, I recalled a business card for a wildlife rehabilitator named Karen that I had tucked in my wallet some months ago. I was thankful when I contacted her and she said that she’d take the little guy. My kids were disappointed, but raising injured or abandoned wildlife is truly a job for the professionals. When Karen gave me her address, one less than five minutes away from ours, I was relieved she lived nearby (I am used to driving a long distance to get to a rehabber), but also a little stunned. I pulled up at her house, one that Jonny and I looked at with my friend Sarah and her family years ago. A house that we selfishly wished they would have bought because we would have lived so close, but that they decided against. I could call it a small coincidence, but it felt like a “Hello,” from Sarah and I like that better.

About a week later I had to call Karen again because Lark’s cat brought us a baby bunny. This time she came to our house to pick up the bunny. I led her to our front door, laughing that she would regret leaving her business card at that donut shop where I picked it up. Lark’s cat actually brought another baby rabbit while she was at our house, so she ended up taking two home with her. I was a little embarrassed. And there was Mabel who talked non-stop the whole time she was at our house. After saying all that she had to say, she informed Karen that she could go home now (to my dismay). Karen just laughed and asked Mabel if she was going to be a drill sergeant when she grew up.

The following week, I got another text from Gabe while he was at work. There was a nest of baby birds fallen from a tree (half of them already dead) and the situation wasn’t safe for the two still living. Beatrix was thrilled at the thought of taking care of babies, and I reluctantly told Gabe to bring what I believed to be inevitable heartbreak home. I had a lot going on and couldn’t focus much attention on the babies, and honestly didn’t expect them to live beyond the first day anyway. Beatrix took it upon herself to be their little mother. The babies were unidentifiable at first, but using our bird’s nest field guide she correctly determined that they were chickadees. Beatrix fed them every 15 minutes from sunrise to late at night as they loudly demanded. It was an exhausting job, but she was so sweet and diligent in her care for “her babies.” To my surprise, they lived and in the five days that we had them, they began to develop feathers and that unmistakeable chickadee call. Of course, all along there was the knowledge that legally we needed to get them to a songbird rehabilitator. Karen found one for us, and at the end of our baby bird week, we took the day off school, and Beatrix and I drove an hour into what felt like the middle of nowhere. Beatrix transferred her babies’ care to a lovely woman who told her that she had done a great job. Bea was a little heartbroken saying goodbye, but she knew it was what was best for her babies. Last we heard, they were doing great and they have probably fledged at this point.

Now that I’ve written so much about the month’s wildlife encounters, I will have to be brief about everything else! We had two big events this month, Gabe’s 18th birthday and Job’s First Holy Communion. (I posted photos from Job’s day in a separate post.) I made Gabe’s always requested cheesecake for his birthday and for the first time ever, it didn’t crack! (Nevermind that it was awfully overcooked. I can’t get anything perfect.) The day after his birthday, Gabe got his long-awaited driver’s license. In our area, the test is currently not a road test, but a parking lot test of sorts with what seemed to be a focus on parking. Gabe and I spent a few days backing into parking spots in preparation. He’s now more of an expert than I will ever be. I can hardly believe that I have three drivers in the house now! Of my three oldest sons, Gabe is the one who is most social, and most interested in getting out and doing things so having his license is a big deal. He actually bought his own car almost a year ago (we had hoped he would get his license sooner, but were held up by lots of things along the way.) He is already enrolled in a trade program at our local community college with the goal of becoming an electrician, and now he can drive himself to class! He is a very self-motivated kid and we are incredibly proud of him. It’s hard to believe that this little guy is pretty grown up now.

Just a quick explanation for the other photos in this post: Mabel insisted that we make pies from the one surviving tan cheese pumpkin that we grew last year and it felt good to use it rather than let it rot. She also got excited when we drove by a yard sale and spotted a purple dollhouse. I bought it for five dollars and we have started the process of redoing it. I’ve never done something like this before! I was super excited at first, but then got sick and I’m not sure when I’ll get my motivation back. But here you have the before photos and maybe someday there will be after. I have primed it inside and out and we got the first coat of paint on the siding. Mabel insisted on pink!

I’m still starting seeds indoors, mainly focusing on biennials and perennials at this point. It went from unseasonably cool, to hot and dry here very quickly. Between the weather and my 32 weeks pregnant state, I am reconsidering planting many vegetables. I may just tend my flowers this year. (My cat Giuseppe tears into bags of soil and makes such messes. I keep forgetting and bringing them in any way.)

Sorry for such a long post! Next up, I hope to share a little about how our homeschool year went (okay, but not great) and what my plans are for next year. Planning for next year has been my top priority in recent weeks. Also, I hope to share the projects I am doing around the house that feel important before our baby is born, none of them being actually directly related to having a baby. It still hasn’t sunk in that he will be here relatively soon!

p.s. There is soap in my shop if you’d like some!