whew!!!

last night, i took a Maya up in the hills for a walk. it was a little after 8 when i started making my way back on the trail. there were only a couple of cars when i got there, so Maya and i were probably the last to be leaving and it was getting near dusk. along the path, i watched my step to avoid any missteps.

i didn't see anything unusual, but Maya lagged behind and startled enough to catch the leash a bit and make me stop. she nosed up to something on the ground in the middle of the path. then appeared to be opening her mouth before i caught her with a stern "NO! LEAVE IT!". it appeared to be a baby...animal. a closer look, and i saw a fuzzy baby squirrel, no bigger than 3" long and with eyes and ears still closed. it was moving around, and appeared to have no wounds. how did it get in the middle of the pathway, and how did i miss it? did it roll down the hillside behind me? did something drop it there?

i hesitated, but then, knowing that it was too far out on the path for it to be able to get back to its nest, i picked it up and brought it back to the car. surely, it would have died overnight of exposure, tho i didn't have a clue what i was going to do with it. on the way home, i called pet club, to ask for any recommendation on nursing the thing and suggestions on who to give the poor little critter too to take care of it. the pet club guy chastised me for not leaving it where i found it, saying that i may have deprived something of it's food source or any chance that the mother might reclaim it. i felt bad, but still believed that it was too far away from even any foliage that could have been a nest for the tiny helpless thing. i asked him how they fed their "pinkies" and he said they had a feeder wet nurse rat. i asked how i cold get one, and he said it would probably be dead by morning, even if i was able to get one, it would be ill advised. pet club dude also pointed out that it could be a rat, which, after looking again at the nearly bald critter with the naked tail, i began to believe that it could be. pet club guy further speculated that it might be contaminated with disease and in no way, should i attempt to nurse the thing or allow it to be in contact with anything or anyone. he said it was very unlikely that the one source he could think of that rescued wildlife, would not take a rodent of any type because of the contamination /overpopulation of the thing.

ok, by this time, i'm starting to freak out and beginning to itch and have wiped down every surface i've touched in my car and in my house with disinfectact; and scrubbed up like a surgical nurse pre-op.

still, this tiny thing is squirmy and healthy looking. the internet is about as bad as pet club dude, with warnings on how it's illegal to capture and hold any wildlife creatures and how it's unwise to try to even feed & nurse squirrels due to a whole list of problems that you could encounter.

now i'm paranoid and feeling like i can't even ask anyone's advise because i'll be reported to the squirrel authorities for breaking all these laws. i'm thinking that i could be the person responsible for the next outbreak of the bubonic plague or the squirrel version of some new disease. still, i kept it warm all night and attempted to let it absorbe some of the pedialyte from a cotton ball and a q-tip (even harder than it sounds). i'm half hoping it will die overnight and relieve me of the whole ordeal.

i dream about someone official knocking on my door about a report on a wild animal violation and a pending quarantine of my neighborhood. morning comes, and the baby squirrel is still moving around in the shredded toilet paper and seems ok.

i still don't know what i'm going to do, and i needed to go to work to take care of some reports that are piling up there. i call an old friend who, i think, like me, would not have been able to leave the poor creature to die of exposure, to ask her advise. she's not awake yet, but i leave a message with her mom. she calls me at work and i tell my story and we commiserate about the situation. she suggests i call a mutual friend who works as a vet tech. i call her husband (who i play softball with) and he puts me thru to his wife who suggests Montclair Vetrinary Clinic as a local place that takes wildlife.

i gather up my stuff from work and go home and yes...baby squirrel is still alive and kicking, so i take him to the clinic. i premeditate just dropping him off, on their doorstep if needed, in the tiny good vibrations shopping bag filled with shredded toilet paper and a mini water bottled with hot water and covered in a sock. the ladies in the office are nice and kind and commend me for keeping it alive. they advise that squirrelly looks healthy and confirm it would have likely died, left overnight outside the nest. they say it will be nursed and then rehabbed to be put back into the wild to do it's squirrelly business.

YAY!!!

i feel so much better! i DID help the little creature. and without endangering my own species. WHEW!!! i so do not want to be notorious for bringing on a new world plague.

Virgo Horoscope for week of May 29, 2008

Verticle Oracle card Virgo (August 23-September 22)
Your role model is Tilly Trotter, a blind, 74-year-old grandmother who lives in the UK. She took up archery two years ago despite her handicap. Recently she pulled off a rare feat, shooting her arrow so precisely that it split another arrow already lodged in the target. Among archers, this is called a Robin Hood. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you now have the power to do something similar, Virgo: overcome a disadvantage in order to accomplish a riveting triumph that would be difficult even for those who don't have to deal with a limitation like yours. You're primed to carry out your personal version of a Robin Hood.

Virgo Horoscope for week of April 17, 2008

Verticle Oracle card Virgo (August 23-September 22)
"The Japanese believe that crying babies grow fast," wrote John Flinn in the San Francisco Chronicle, "and that the louder an infant wails, the more the gods have blessed it." The astrological omens suggest that a similar principle will soon hold true for you: The more you sob and blubber, the smarter you'll get. The louder you howl and moan, the more likely you'll be to attract benevolent influences and unexpected help.

Amazing!!!! Elephant paints self portrait

www.youtube.com/watch

Virgo Horoscope for week of March 6, 2008

Verticle Oracle card Virgo (August 23-September 22)
"The moon asked me to meet her in a field tonight," wrote mystic poet Hafiz (translated by Daniel Ladinsky). "I think she has amorous ideas." You might soon feel a similar suspicion, Virgo. According to my reading of the astrological omens, seductive offers will be coming your way, and not just from the moon. Secret suitors may emerge from the shadows. Temptations could lure you toward the far ends of your imagination. The sheer profusion of invitations you'll receive might make you giddily agitated.