Okay, it’s as if I were a kid again. I’m watching a black and white science fiction movie on TV. This one was made in 1957 and is called The Night the World Exploded. The hero, a scientist, is flying with some air force types to check out a newly formed volcano. On the plane, they are sitting in regular chairs at a card table. The radio operator is on a folding chair. I hope it was a smooth flight. Our heroine, call me Hutch, froze on a ladder going into a cavern. Our hero talked her down by asking if she wanted her mommy and daddy. I’d have punched him. He is now, of course, in love with her, and yes, they did save the world, but it was a close call.
Baby spawn has much to learn. Late yesterday afternoon I heard Gracie prancing about the deck. The spawn was in a tree near her, and Gracie was trying to figure out how to get to it. I brought Gracie inside. A few hours later, I let her out and then heard all sorts of noises. I went out on the deck to check and saw Gracie in the backyard. She had the spawn cornered and was picking it up in her mouth then putting it back down. I went to save the spawn. I was barefoot and was walking in Gracie’s poop part of the yard carefully picking my way through the mine field. I got to Gracie and she took off away from me. The poor spawn ran only a little bit up a tree. It was soaked and mewing. I didn’t see any bites, just saliva. Gracie came to me finally, and we went into the house. That night I took her out twice but on a leash. This morning I checked before Gracie went out, and the baby was gone. I only hope that three run-ins with Gracie were enough for it to stay out of the yard.
I’ve never seen a baby pigeon. I figure they just arrive full-grown, and it’s the same with mourning doves. Baby squirrels, though, have been around the last couple of years. Before that, I would have assumed they too arrive full-grown though in the pine trees are old squirrel nests, huge nests built between branches. Last year I saw a mother squirrel trying to wean her baby. She kept lying on the branch so the baby had no access. The Gracie targeted baby squirrel is on its own, no mother in sight. I think there should have been one more lesson: how to avoid a dog!
