I consider hummingbirds harbingers of good luck, askye, so I'm sure your karmic account is filled with coming good fortune.

Well done, askye! You are a particularly good human. Poor little lost hummingbird baby.

askye, hero to hummingbirds.

askye is hereby crowned Champion of Small Creatures.

Good for you, askye! And good for the hummingbird.

Still torn about what to do with the cat. I'm leaning towards trying to stay here, but I think I'm going to try taking him to my mom's for half a day and seeing how he does.

I drove appx 234 miles round trip for the hummingbird. It's actually a pretty drive going along the routes instead of the interstate, and when I'm not so tired.

Actually the whole morning is kind of a blur.

Last night I was adding something to the box to try and insulate it a little bit, then I was trying to feed the bird (it kept angling itself where it was hard to get the syringe thing to it's beak) and it crawled in my hand I actually held it in my hand and fed it. There was no way to take a picture. And then I carefully got it back into the box. I tried to touch it/jostle it as little as possible.

Then on the drive down to the rehab place I had to feed it again, I had some Q tips in the box (instead of twigs, I didn't have twigs to put in the box for it to cling to) and again it was angling itself weird, so I got it to perch on the q tip and I held it up and fed it.

Yesterday he flapped his wings, but I think he's too young to get off the ground yet. I took some really bad pictures that are on my phone I'll try to get on Facebook.

And I came home and found out I qualify for the state insurance plan (not the medicaid plan) and I have 2 plans and I'm totally confused and I guess Monday right after work I'll call and try to figure this out. If I'm reading this right I'll either pay $60 or $199 depending on what plan I pick. And just reading the summary of benefits I can't figure out why one is more expensive.

Yay, askye! That was a very sweet thing to do.

TCG and I went to a local craft fair today. I picked up a cupcake apron for $8 and two little girl sized aprons for TCG's cousin's girls for $6 each. They are so cute! Then the market where we somehow needed everything again.

And finally back home to unpack boxes. I have so much unused stuff it's kind of pathetic. Unread books, unused craft supplies, etc. I was thinking of starting a blog about it. Something like putting my stuff to use. Stupid? Done too many times already?

I also had to sort through some old college stuff from my unfinished degree. I kind of hate myself tonight.

Picture of the hummingbird [link]

this should be public so everyone can see it.

Oh no, you guys, I just had the most awful experience. My phoebe nest is (seriously, don't highlight if you're upsettable, this is truly distressing) in the inside corner of my deck, just above our deck speakers. It's well sheltered from the wind and most predators.

Today I heard the male phoebe calling out repeatedly, and I went to see what the deal was. He had a large cicada and I kinda laughed, thinking he was just struggling to eat it. It was unusual for him to have it and not be going straight to the nest, but I didn't see anything else on the deck. So I went to open the door to run the clothesline. (Thank goodness I didn't go out with an armful of clothes, because I never would have seen.)

And there, right by the door, was a small gopher snake. He was underneath a piece of burlap that we'd been using for landscaping. He had his head up, I thought because of me. I took a picture, and he slid away, so I texted the picture to Dave and said I'd better hang the laundry out later. I saw his whole body, so I knew he wasn't a rattler.

I went on to do some other stuff, and heard the phoebes continued distress call. I knew it was different from their normal call, but should have realized I needed to investigate. I finally did, and that fucking snake was up in the nest. Up an eight foot wall!

I rushed out there and grabbed a broom, poking at it. This dislodged the first of the killed baby birds. It was already dead. I was crying and screaming at the snake, but I couldn't get to it.

I managed to poke it loose, but dropped it. This dislodged a second bird, still alive, who fell to the deck. Fortunately for it, it fell in an open garbage can right underneath, a fairly soft landing, and bounced into an open soda bottle (for seedling covers) I grabbed the whole potting supplies can and stuck it inside.

No amount of poking from the ground could convince the snake to leave its buffet. And I was worried because I didn't know how many birds I had to start with. So I had to scramble to get the ladder and climbed up where I could see in. Unfortunately, it was already eating the third and final bird.

From this angle I was able to scoop its body up on my broomstick, and I carried it down. I realized the bird was still alive, so I poked at it some more, trying to get it to release, but it was too late. I finally picked it up again on the broomstick and stuck it in my steel garbage can with the locking lid. I don't know if it'll hold him or not, and he'll be fine for a while, I expect, because he's just eaten. Long enough for the SO to get home and help me figure out what to do with him.

The parent phoebes were frantic all this time, and had been flying at the snake in the nest, but to no avail. I went back in and looked at the second bird, who was ruffled, but still active and peeping and hopping. So I took the soda bottle up the ladder with me and slid her out from it, back into the nest. I never had to touch her. She seemed okay, but I have no way of knowing if the snake had injured her or if the fall had.

The parent phoebes took some time, but checked back in the nest, so I know they know what their loss is at this point. I know they don't know the snake is trapped, so they're super skittish. I left the one body on the deck in case the parents need to see it, but I will probably discard it tomorrow.

I hope the 2nd one survives, but it was just all so awful. You would not believe the adrenaline rush. I feel so bad because I'm pretty sure I could have avoided the whole thing if I'd chased off the snake when I saw it, and I know I could have avoided the third death if I'd just heard and responded a little bit quicker. But I guess I did what I could.

Just so traumatic.

askye - so glad you got the little bird to the rescue.