Mi-shell, too cute!!
I have two wildlife stories, one is of baby bunnies. The next door neighbor threw an old wrought iron gate on her front lawn, and then let the weeds grow up around it. One day she finally decided to mow that area, so she and her son picked up the gate, and - what a surprise - there was a nest of baby bunnies under it. I saw this happen, went over, we covered the bunnies back up, and put the gate carefully over them - and mama bunny returned at dusk and dawn every day to care for her little ones.
About a week and a half later, I noticed a man walking down the street stop and look at the gate - maybe he thought they were throwing it away?? He left before I could talk to him. Then, the next morning, I saw that the gate had been moved off of the nest - more like picked up and thrown away from it. I ran over, and found one crushed baby bunny. Likely what happened is that the man had come back in the middle of the night to steal the gate. Since it is so heavy, he must have had an accomplice - they didn't know about the bunnies, but I bet when they picked up the gate, they got an earful of loud baby rabbit squeals - hence they dropped the gate and ran off. In the process, a bunny was crushed.
I knew the others had to be there somewhere in this huge patch of tall grass and weeds. I got a box, and my 10 year old niece who was visiting, helped me - and sure enough, hiding in the grass, we found 4 more bunnies. Eyes open, very frisky - old enough to be on their own soon. I didn't want to just leave them and risk someone coming back for the gate again and crushing another one, or one of our stray cats getting them. We took them to the local wildlife shelter, and they told us to find a cemetery or someplace safe to release them....that they were old enough to be on their own.
There is an old charming cemetery in the part of our town called the Village (historical area)
It backs to some woods with a stream, and where the woods meets the graveyard, there is lots of brush and soft green grass. No busy roads nearby. In this same area, separated from the rest of the cemetery, is a lonely, pink, heart-shaped tombstone of a baby girl who died in 1999 at 3 months. I thought this was a perfect place to let them go. I hope they like their new home!
Ok that was the GOOD wildlife story - the bad wildlife story is that last week I had a tiny teeny tick in my shoulder. It had bit in, and was not easy to get out....I had to have my mom help me, because it was just an awkward area to reach. We got it out, cleaned the spot with alcohol, just like a thousand other tick bites I have had - end of story, right? Noooooo. Lyme disease is very prevalent in the northeast. I don't think there are any areas in my state that are not high risk. You don't even have to live in the woods to have ticks on your property. I noticed yesterday that my shoulder felt sore, and this morning took a good look at it in bright light - I have a big red circular rash the size of a baseball around the bite. That is the first sign of a Lyme disease infection. Luckily I noticed the rash and can get early treatment - this disease can be bad as it progresses, and difficult to diagnose and treat. Tonight I go to the doctor, will probably get an antibiotics prescrip - looking at at least $150, maybe more. Grrrrr.....there goes that big set of Durer colored pencils I was planning on buying.....
