Where the Wild Things Are

Last weekend we sent to the farm. A Monarch came back tot the house.  It was found in the grass beside a cornfield being battered by the wind and rain.  It lived in the kitchen for over a day and then went outside. A second one was seen flying around the next day up by the airstrip.

Monday friends from overseas came to supper.  M especially liked the squirrels!

The mornings are colder now.  A bow hunter parked in the lane this morning.  It is deer season.  Jay went out and shot a pheasant with a bow!  A first!

When walking, the crunchy noise emanating from the drifts and layers of leaves  is so delightful it often takes my mind off what was being thought about.

One topic of repeated consideration is how much God has used/ is using Hawthorne to teach me about parenting.  Here are today’s thoughts:

Because of the hunter, this morning Hawthorne was on a leash for most of our time together.  He tends to pull, wanting me to go faster, or the way he wishes.  Not unlike a teen.  What works best?  Each time he pulls, I stop and stand still until he comes toward me, making the line slack.  It takes a long time to actually go anywhere by this method since it has to be repeated every few seconds for the first ten minutes.  But gradually he remembers.  Near the the end of the walk he kept the line taut but never pulled hard and always gave way if I slowed down or changed direction.  Then he went off lead for the last two fields home.  Hurrah!   Our children also have pulled on the lead ropes, wanting their head, wanting their way before we parents thought it was time.  And the best way to train them is to not give in.  And not yell.  Just quietly refuse to do business with their ideas of what is appropriate and slowly walk on.  And let them loose when it is time.

The girl just had a (to her) significant birthday: we will now allow her to wear a modicum of eye and face makeup.  The leash is loosening.  and today i heard her say that this year was going to be “the best: no lying, no deception!”  Straining at the leach.  I’m sure.

Momentary Fur Neckpiece

 

They are both on nuts, corn, antler, fruit, bread and water now.  Hickory nuts!  Chinese horse chestnuts!  peanuts!

Fish and Squirrels

Over six inches of rain have fallen here since Monday.  The county roads are all closed.  The girl’s second day of school cancelled.  But thanks to Jay’s efforts, our basement is drier than it would normally be after this much rain.  He spent a long time working on redirecting roof water into and onto eaves troughs pointing away from the house.

Monday during the downpour he went fishing and brought back: Two bass and a catfish.  We had them for supper last night and will have them again for lunch today.

Monday Angela came to visit.  We played games, napped, watched a documentary on origami and Angela served as comforter for Merle.

He took a long nap on her.

Yes, the squidgjums now have names: Merle for the larger and Earl for the smaller.  Other names I liked were vociferously shot down: Nic and Nac, Zig and Zag, Ric and Rac.   But Jay liked Earl and Merle Squirrel. And Isabelle conceded the point.  I, as little red hen, thought I should be able to name them what I wished.  You understand the allusion, do you not?

Last night Sue and Max came.  They are the ones who brought us Earl and Merle a a week ago Tuesday night.  They were pleased to see how well they were and how much they had grown.

Notice Earl’s nice new splint.  The fourth he has had.  This one is Tygon tubing held in place by duct tape.  The last one, also Tygon, was held by masking tape.  He removed it after two days.  Here he is basking in a typical squirrlkin pose.

It is not only children who get in one’s hair.  Squirrels do so in a more direct fashion:

I am busy feeding Earl.  Merle decided he needed to go hunting for milk and worked his way up through my hair.  And then back down.  Ow!

All the way to where there was actual food.

Both Merle and Earl are now grinding walnut pieces to very small bits in between milk feedings.  I am assuming some bits are being ingested.  Although there are a terrific number of  nut granules to shake out of their bedding.

Squirrelkin, Squidgum, Squidjum, and Soap Foam

The Castile girl and I have been having disagreements about what to call and how to spell different ideations of the babies.

Last night and this morning the little squirrels are up to about 10cc total of their milk replacer which is about half Esbilac and half heavy cream.  A combined total: one takes about 6 cc and the other about 4cc.  Then the next feeding the one which took 6cc takes 4cc and visa versa.

Rather than a syringe, I have found that a glass 1 ml pipette works best for feeding.  Last night and this morning I used a 2ml pipette for the first frantic dose.

 

 

The smaller one with a broken upper front leg one now has a rubber tubing splint  wrapped with masking tape and with the elbow joint also taped so the arm can not slide out.  That baby is not as happy; pain, probably.

They are housed in a tissue box in the large cage the three flying squirrels used this winter.

A stray antler, a 2.5 inch diameter log chunk, a dry washcloth they use as a latrine,  a couple pieces of dog food, a raspberry and a dab of peanut butter on a spoon complete their abode.

They are fed about 6 times per day and have noticeably gained weight, though I did not weigh them upon arrival and have not yet done so: making their food, feeding them and then cleaning them and the tools up is absorbing plenty of time.

This morning at about 3AM I was washing pipettes.

For a few months we have been using a home made soap solution in a Bath and Bodyworks dispenser that makes soap foam: an ounce or less of a mix of Bronner Eucalyptus Castile soap  , a Tea Tree oil soap  ,  and water, sometimes with a little food coloring for fun.  Those soaps were forms of delayed gratification impulse purchases on my part.  But they have been useful and a very little goes a very long way in the soap foam distribution method.   The Castile soap foam solution cleans the milk fat from the inside of the glass much better than dish washing detergent.  It works well for cleaning eye glasses, too. And, it was first made in Spanish Castile from olive oil and plant ashes.

Anyway, as cleaning progressed,  I recalled that much of my adult life has been spent feeding milk or other food to young creatures.  My MS thesis research involved different strategies of milk replacer delivery and weaning to orphan lambs. That was over 25 years ago.  There have been  more lambs, along with kittens, squirrels, birds, and of course children since then.  It is still fulfilling for me as much as for them.

Never a Dull Moment

Well, maybe only a moment.

This evening Sue, my friend down the road who teaches science and with whom I discuss all things nature related, called.  One of her sons and a friend had called from a restaurant where a waitress had found two baby gray squirrels at the base of a tree. Would we take them to raise if the mother did not return by the time they were done with their meal?

Jay has wished for another squirrel since Banner’s presumed demise.  Of course!  They are now ensconced in a tissue box lined with washclothes and tissues and heated with a chemical heating rectangle used to keep one’s hands warm while hunting.

Their eyes are open.  They are about the same size as Banner was when she came to us.  Dehydrated.  Drank 7cc each of a electrolyte solution before coming here.  Full feeding will wait until the morning. Both males.

Squirrel Big:

And squirrel small:

New Looks

So here is the home made muzzle I whipped up Sunday evening modeled by its intended , unhappy wearer:

 

He got it off before we were even off the porch.  But I don’t think he has eaten any more corn–yet.  This morning I purposefully took a tour of the young milkweed plants: found five Monarch larvae from itty-bitty teensy-weensy to fair-sized.  But saw no eggs.

Thanks to Irene, D stayed with us over a too short weekend before returning to NYC and school.  He will not be able to undo so easily his new looks:

This is after the beard was removed.

And this was after the hair was cut:

D did not act nearly as unhappy as Hawthorne, though.  He looks quite handsome!  And will not be looked at funny in NYC.

40 Livers and a Flying Squirrel

And 40 hearts.  We helped slaughter 40 Cornish Rocks today and our friends did not want the hearts or livers.  I did.

So after cleaning and freezing most, I had fresh chicken livers fried in butter with sweet pickles.  Yum.

Last night S and her son T came to supper.  Rocky liked her very much and stayed in the sleeve of her shirt for an hour or so.

And he liked T, too.

Rocky goes home tonight, I think.