Surprise Guest

I was outside, adjusting the sprinkler when I saw Milo and Sam looking at something between them.  Now Ellie has been on a rampage lately, killing everything in sight and giving the things to Milo, so he can learn.  So I figured that it was something that she'd killed and left and the two of them were like "Huh!  What'a we do with it now, George?"

Ok, maybe not exactly like that, but they were looking puzzled.  So I looked.  And it was not a mouse or mole or vole, and it was not dead.  It was this:

Wouldjalookatthat!

I have no idea where this little bubba came from, and I have no idea how they got it.  I can't put it back for that reason, or I'd do it immediately.  It seems uninjured, just scared (with two cats eying him/her greedily, I'd be scared, too), and probably cold.

So we put it in a little basket, lined with newspaper, and made it a nest out of shredded bills (which is the best use for them that I can think of), and put the heat lamp on him.  And we'll see.

You wouldn't know this, because I've never told you, but the first job I had as a teenager was as a Veterinary Assistant.  I held that job for a long time, and I loved it.  It meant mostly mopping floors and taking temperatures, but I was so good with the animals, eventually it meant I saw surgeries, assisted in minor procedures, developed x-rays, and so on.  That was the best job I ever had, aside from being a mom and farming.  Truly was. 

In the years that I worked in the hospital, people would bring in birds and squirrels and such all the time.  Our advice would always be to put them back where they found them, because most people, believe it or not, would take the birds out of the nest, because mom "abandoned" them.  But when the people would insist that they didn't know where the bird or squirrel or whatever came from, we would take them, and I would volunteer to care for them.  I didn't keep any squirrels, but I brought home many a bird in my day.  Robins, yup, a few sparrows, a blue jay who came back to my house after he was released for a couple of years to yell for food, and a pigeon.  The pigeon came along just as I was about to go on vacation with my then serious boyfriend (now husband).  So yes, the pigeon went on vacation.

And here I am again.  With no way to put this little one back, I am going to brush off my old skills (rusty as they are) and try to keep this little one alive.  I'll let you know how it goes!