Squirrel Rehab Part 2

I am so excited to announce that little "Buddy" is still alive and doing quite well. Here is an early picture of him, actually taken about 3 or 4 days after he arrived. You will notice his fur is very sparse and his head is incredibly large. Well, this little guy, while his eyes are still stamped shut has grown some lovely fur down his back and its coming in along his tail. His little plump belly is also growing its fine white hair right on schedule.
I switched him from Scalded Milk Formula after his growth and dehydration both seemed stunted. He is currently eating Esbilac, which is a puppy formula~mixed with a dash of heavy cream for fat. I researched and researched, and then researched some more and everyone (as in real rehabbers) points to this particular formula. If it works for them its got to work for me.
Now in the past the squirrels we have rehabbed have been fed a diet of whole milk, egg, and peanut butter....Not my recipe, but that of the person rehabilitating them prior to bringing them to me. These squirrels did turn out fine (for all intents and purposes) so I am not one to say whether she was wrong or right. But when I'm trying to save a little life, I truly aim to do what is right (or at least presumably right).
He's been here two weeks and should have his little eyes open by next week. GOOD THING TOO. Everyone is heading back to school and work this Thursday and there will be no one home to check on him every minute of the day!
I will post more recent pics in Part 3 later on. But for now, enjoy this little guy. I'm so excited he's made it this far!

Entomophthora muscae

http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/features/insects/entomophthora/entomophora.htm
Funny what a little perseverance can help you find. I simply typed in "dead flies on plant" and walllla! I found a fungus that could very well be the root of our dead fly population. Now my one remaining question....Should I expect more dead flies next year?

The Weird Fly Issues Pics Are Here!!!

So I finally have my computer back, phew! Anyway, I wanted to post the pics of the weird dead flies on EVERYTHING...in the backyard. That's what is so strange too, nothing in the front yard has dead bugs on it. If anyone out there has an explanation to this problem (besides crop circles and aliens, neither of which I am bothered by) please, please, please let me know! I have to remind you also, these pictures do not do justice exactly the enormity of this problem! But hopefully double clicking or enlarging the pics will help you get a jist of it.

Squirrel Rehab..it's something natural

Over the years we have rehabilitated and released a number of squirrels successfully back into the wild. We have learned how to feed them, what to feed them, and how to make them go potty without violating them or us! Yesterday my husband came home and told me he brought me a present. I have to admit I was eager to hang up the phone and see what it was he had for me. Now don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting to look outside and find the newest edition Mercedes Benz or anything extravagant... but he does know how much I like junk so I was thinking he had found me something exciting for the deck or front steps perhaps. Honestly, I really couldn't imagine, as John is not one to often "surprise" me with anything.
Before I could hang up I saw the kids scurrying around a glove sitting on the ledge near the stairs to the basement so I take a gander over to see what the fuss is about...there wrapped in the dirty work glove is the smallest pink baby squirrel I have ever seen. My jaw must've dropped.
I am finally off the phone and I turn to my dear dear husband and say "its going to die!". We have never rehabbed a squirrel this small or furless. Even Frankie Boulevard, as small as he was came to me with a considerable amount of fur already covering his tiny body and days later his bulging eyes were open.
This little squirrel is skinny, he's clearly dehydrated, and he is SMALL, with nary a fur covering his tiny pink belly or legs!
After some quick research we are able to estimate his age about 3 weeks...which does make me feel slightly better. Originally I was thinking he could not have been more than 1 week old. We get out our rehab supplies, warm up the heating pad and get our little fella's body temp up.
He'd been out of his nest all day long and tucked safely into john's truck after John's boss swung a tree branch down from one of the tree's they were cutting and flung that poor little boy out of his nest. John could hear his screams from the ground and he was quick to retrieve him...he said to me "i couldn't just leave him here".
I let John know that it would have been better to leave him where he lay and let his momma squirrel come back and get him, but truth be told she may not have returned and he may not have been alive if she had. They were working that land all day long and any number of things could have happened to little "Buddy". But I have to admit, as small as he is I'm not sure he will fare any better here.
With our formula concoction of Scalded Milk and Vitamin E, as well as the initial servings of pedialyte...we will do what we can to save this little guy but for now my outlook does remain bleak.
If he makes it 72 hours I will then post the photo's I have taken, but today I am not up for jinxing him and I feel that by posting photo's I am putting his little life at risk~making him real will make him go away. I'm very superstitious and don't want to compromise him right now.

Life Before the Internet...or the Computer for that Matter

How did we ever survive? I can remember back when computer's were so foreign and some what scarey. Sitting in front of one in 7th grade computer class using the DOS screen. I am not even sure what that is...or if I even said it right. The black very basic screen where we entered commands and kept our fingers crossed that the end result would be the one the teacher was asking for. It wasn't as user friendly as clicking around our precious Windows... thank you Mr. Bill Gates! I also remember the first time I saw a screen saver....the iconic Windows window flashing across the black screen in primary colors. I was 18 and in AWE! No joke. I didn't say a word but I remember being giddy at the mere thought of that computer with the magical screen eventually becoming my own!!!!
Then later came the addiction to the internet, first my discovery of 'searching' and realizing that you could find out utterly ANYTHING your heart ever desired just by entering a simple word or phrase. It was amazing, it was awesome, it was.... unbelievable. Clicking my way around finding things that, I had just days before, didn't even knew existed. Like AIM, if I make a screen name and go into chat rooms strangers will talk to me! Who would've guess? Now I have outgrown this and realize the dangers.....but back then....it was captivating and very alluring.
I have not been without a computer since the early 90's.... And I can say I have not been without the internet since the mid ninety's. Remember dial-up??? Back then it was a miracle, now it seems ridiculous and how impatient we are when we have to wait more than a split second to get something to load--not to mention the idea of having a cord holding us to our connection. Instant gratification is what we are all looking for.
Almost two years ago I received a shiny knew computer...with Windows Vista. Little did I know that Vista was like the dark unloved cousin to XP for a reason. I had no problems with Vista until recently ~ around January, when my computer crashed without warning. That hateful blue screen staring back at me, laughing at all that contents of my computer that had been lost. OHHH say it isn't so. Songs, Pictures, Artwork, Essay's...the list is endless. All LOST.
But alas it was true, it was all gone, gone, gone. And my computer has not been the same since. In the last 8 months we have wiped out and reloaded my computer more times than i dare remember...losing a few pictures and memories with each passing. Today, I will be handing over my best friend to our neighbor Marwin in an attempt to fix this problem once and for all.
Will I be able to survive the few days he has warned we will be without????
Thank freakin god I have a computer at work and Mason has the laptop for those fiendish moments where I can't control it and must know some bit of useless information ~sitting at that keyboard clicking in whatever it is I NEED to know so urgently.
But for now, I would like to tell you this is why my blogs have lacked recently...and I am hoping that when my computer is returned to me it will be as shiny, new, and speedy as it had once been in its more formidable years!!!! Wish me luck through this computerless venture in an utterly computer driven world.

They tried to make me go to rehab...I said NO, NO, NO!
Yes I've been black but when I come back you'll know know know
I ain't got the time and if my daddy thinks I'm fineHe's tried to make me go to rehab but I won't go go
go!!!!

There is this Weird Bug Problem!

I've been absent from this blog for a little while now,off on my GREEN quest. But I decided I was long overdue to just write down a few things of summer~so that's what I am here for.

First of all, I may have mentioned the abundance of rain once or twice maybe? LOL. Of course i have mentioned it, how could i not? But I was watching something on TV the other day on Planet Green and this group was in the rain forest doing some research in Guyana~and after trekking like 800 ft up some ridiculous cliff they reached a never before researched part of the rainforest. The scientist noted that although they were in the rainforest the plant life was rather barren due to the excessive rain in this particular spot. He said that the abundance of rain actually causes the needed minerals and what not to leech away from the plants ever deeper into the ground.

It was particularly an AH HA moment for me. Because with the rain as

heavy and relentless as it has been this year I can't get over how poor my

plants are doing. I have insect infestation on hostas which are the hardiest

of the hardy plants. I mean, I didn't even know that these could get bugs...really. And do I even dare mention the very strange fly problem I am having in the back yard???

I had asked a friend who also keeps chickens in her yard... and typically confines them to the run during the day if she has flies from her chickens she said "NO". Damn it, there goes that theory, can't blame the chickens. Flies are everywhere...and what's weird is the way they are dying. They are covering all of my plants. I'm not talking one or two dead flies on my plants. They are dying in droves (I'll have to get a picture to show...or you might not believe me). They look to be alive, they are on the underside of the leaves of whatever plant they happen to be on and they are STUCK hard to the plant. I almost want to tell you they are sort of melted there. Its weird, its like they are ingesting something toxic from the plants! Which of course makes me wonder what on earth is in all this rain.
Remember the days of "acid rain"...is this a term we should re-introduce to the populations. These flies and their untimely deaths are making me wonder.

Everything is suffering. I usually have tons of sunflowers every year, this year I have ONE. Yes, exactly one. The rest have been eaten down by something of the insect world and the stems have barely reached 3 feet tall.

I took a few shots of what little harvest we have had from our garden. It would seem that the tomatoes are fairing pretty well. Oddly as these were all planted in containers this year giving the rain an escape through the bottom of the pot. I wonder if this is what is saving them. I got a few peas, the curliest peas I have ever seen. In fact they were so odd looking no one dared eat them. I let them sit on the counter for a couple days till the heat got the best of them and they ultimately began to wilt~at which time they became chicken snacks. Oh well, maybe we will have better luck next year with that crop.

I guess in the meantime we can at least shop the farmer's market and eat what they have grown and there are always the eggs~Salt and Pepper continue to lay two lovely eggs almost 6 days a week.
What a strange strange summer in Connecticut it has been.