Dr. Dolittle

Since we have been living in our new place, we have been visited by many little creature features.  I already shared with you about the baby bunny.  But lately, I have been noticing little and big toads in our windows the last few weeks.  I have been meaning to go climb in them for awhile, so Molly and I finally went looking for animals to save in the 110 degree weather.  When I went to our bedroom window, not only did I see a few toads, but I also saw a crazed momma robin and her baby.  We have a grate over the top of the window cell, but somehow these animals want to come visit us.  It is kind of a fun surprise for me to get an underground view of the animals.  So, I took off the grate and told Molly to back up.  She was so intrigued by what the momma was doing and just stared probably saying, "Your singin' stinks!"  The baby just sat 6 feet under, all puffy, saying "Peeep, peeep, peeep," and not really caring that her mother was going crazy.  And honestly, I really don't know how the two of them got down there, considering they would have had to go through the grate or a slightly wider area of 3-4 inches that was against the house, weird.

After I grabbed some gloves, a fly swatter, and tennis racket, I went back to the window well with Molly in tow (Molly always loves a good adventure).  Since the momma had flown away, I climbed down careful not to step on any toads and tried to get the baby bird, but it kept opening its mouth at me and fluttering away.  During this process, I kept looking up to see if the momma bird was going to dive bomb me and start attacking me.  (I have been attacked by several birds, one instance in Norway with them pecking at my head.  I think my fear for birds attacking me is perfectly warranted).  But, all I saw was the momma squawking in the tree nearby and Molly's fluffy face peering over the ledge.  I safely rescued the two toads and put them far enough away so Molly wouldn't get them.  Then, I tried several times to get the baby bird, but it kept hopping away.  After me dropping it/it flopping off of the fly swatter, I decided to just wedge it between the tennis racket and fly swatter and hope for the best.  The hard part was that I had to lift it above my head and then hope that it went over the edge and not into Molly's mouth.  As it got near the edge, the thing hopped out and safe onto the green grass where Molly proceeded to sniff and chase it.  I yelled at her to "leave" and she stopped chasing it but watched it hop away.  The momma bird somehow missed the bird and kept calling out to it.  Now Molly's attention was directed toward the bird, seriously.  I was sweaty and ready to go inside to the AC, but Molly stayed under the tree staring head cocked at the bird as if to say, "What's your problem?  We just rescued your baby!"  Molly and I are in the rescuing animals business I guess.  This whole scene reminded me of one of my favorite books, Are You My Mother?.

Once I got Molly away from the tree, we went and checked the other window wells.  In another well were 8 toads ranging in size.  I don't know whether they hibernate in the mud because it's soft or what, but there were a lot!  I felt like I just kept throwing them over the ledge.  Right about now, I'm realizing that people might be wondering why I'm making an effort to save toads.  Well I'll ask you a question, could you very well live in a basement knowing that animals were dieing or barely surviving within your reach?  I couldn't.  So, I brave climbing through spider webs and in dark places to save them and hopefully they'll tell their friends not to go near there anymore.   So, the total window count is: 1 rabbit, 2 birds, and 10 toads. 

My view one night.  I'm not sure why, but they like to climb in between the screen and the window and just look inside.  Hello toad.  "Meep, meep."