Nurturing Nature

Last month, out of the blue Mitch comes home with baby birds in a shoebox.  A co-workers dog got to the mom and she didn’t know what to do, so she brought them to work.

Not the ideal option, please read what the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife says to when you find a baby bird.

Not knowing what to do ourselves we put them in a birdhouse to see if our local birds would adopt them while we did some research.

One curious bird almost went inside the house, but opted not to and it just didn’t happen.  I was able to find a wildlife rehabilitation organization called Kiwani Wambli that evening after making a couple calls. It is illegal to have baby birds in your possession if  you are not a wildlife rehabilitator, so we did our best to get them where they needed to be. I first spoke with Dotty and then to Tony about where we would be meeting the next day. I was so grateful to find them and that they were willing to meet us in Spokane, especially since they’re located more than an hour away in Cusick, WA.  Check out their website, see all the different types of animals they help!

Two weeks later, Avista was cutting our tree branches away from  power lines when they accidentally disrupted a squirrels nest and asked us if we wanted to try and save them.  We said, “of course!”

We read up on what to do with baby squirrels and made sure they were getting hydrated.  After Avista left that day we put the babies out by the tree they had been in, and the Mama squirrel came back and took one! We were so excited and hoped she’d come back for the others.  We left them outside for another hour after she came and got one, but it was getting dark, cooling down and we didn’t want to leave the other two out all night.  Counting on mom to come back for the other two, we followed the care instructions online and put them back outside the following day with everything they needed to stay warm. Of course making sure they ate and pottied (when they’re this small they can’t go by themselves, you have to help them)  throughout the day and did all the care that was needed.

The mom didn’t come back and after the third day we knew it probably wouldn’t happen. We made a call to our faithful Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and set up another meeting in Spokane.

To help Kiwani Wambli in their efforts to rehabilitate wildlife you can donate money, time, blankets, food and even materials to help rebuild their rehabilitation barn!

How peculiar it is that in one months time we were given the opportunity to care for and save all these little critters when for years; nothing. Maybe it’s the universe’s way of saying, I can mother others in this life, even if I’m not a mother myself.

Last week I had a partial hysterectomy (LAVH) to relieve my of years of pain and discomfort, finding along the way I had endometriosis, resulting in the loss of one ovary.  I’m healing well and am excited for a future without the pain!

Mitch took time off from work just to take care of me.  I  soaked up everyday he dotted on me, and the best part was, he was happy to do it! The bliss of life with a good man, I’ll never take that for granted.

It took me years to finally ask for help and learn what my options were.  If you know my pain, don’t wait, make an appointment to talk to your doctor to see what would be best for you.  Don’t forget to do your research when it comes to your surgeon!  Thankfully I found Dr. Hardy and he eased any concerns I had, he was for sure the best doctor for me.