Meet Milly. My brother's new Weimaraner pup. Isn't she great?
My brother and his girlfriend plus Milly came down to play in the sand with us this weekend. We had a blast. But I'm not sure who's more exhausted: the kids, the adults or Milly. I'll tell you more about it when I catch my breath.
[photo by yours truly]
No, you didn't read the title wrong. I'll get to the seagull in a minute.
In case you didn't know, there's a tropical depression headed our way. So we did what any other beach family would do and headed over to scope out the scene. It was nice to be on the beach and not melt in 100 degree temps. Even the sand felt cool on our feet.
Good waves.
Good vibes.
Love it when the offspring are happy, footloose and fancy free.
That's more than I can say for our l-o-n-g day stuck inside with on again, off again bad weather. They get restless. And I get seriously grumpy. I used to love rainy days....before I had kids. Now I panic a little when I see a bad forecast on its way.
Wide open space: good. Stuck inside: bad.
Just ask this guy.
So here we were playing and having fun and what do we see hobbling along behind us?
A seagull with a broken wing. I kid you not. [remember the baby dove we saw last week?] So husband picks him up and checks it out. I know, I know we could have walked away. But a massive storm was coming! And he couldn't fly.
Whew, this guy was a biter. Not all sweet and innocent like the dove. He's obviously been around the block a few times and can totally hold his own.
So we decided the best place to take him was our nearby state park in hopes they could find an expert to repair his damaged wing. Off we went.
So, "why?" you ask is this post titled, "there's a seagull in my house." Well, here goes: the state park was closed and it was pouring rain outside. We were suckers....and carried him home. We grabbed Pom Pom's kennel and parked the seagull in our living room for the night until we can get him lined up with an animal wildlife rescue person tomorrow.
In the meantime, Pom Pom can't quite figure this guy out. He stared for about an hour an a half, then got bored and went upstairs to bed with the kids. This is is probably quite dull to him compared to his zebra experience.
So I'm off to bed. I'm shocked that this seagull hasn't made a single peep. Hope we can get him back in action tomorrow. I'm beginning to wonder if I should start opening my posts as, "welcome to simply seleta's animal planet." It just doesn't seem to end. {but I love it}
I was saving this for a post at the end of summer, but couldn't resist after my recent wild animal posts.
You remember our animal safari this past spring? Well, I may be able to top it. When we drove to Atlanta for a couple of weeks earlier this summer, we loaded up everyone, including Pom Pom. He loves going on adventures with us. Since we had such a grand time at the animal safari this spring, we decided to hit it again on our way from Florida.
The heat that day was awful and leaving Pom Pom in the car was completely out of the question. So he came along with all of us. On one v-e-r-y wild ride.
First let me explain: before taking any pictures, we made sure the zebras weren't a threat to Pom Pom or the other way around. We took our time and were very cautious.
After formal introductions, they were sort of friends.
Bless his heart. He was such a trooper. The zebras loved him. A little too much. They sniffed and sniffed and nuzzled him to death. Pom Pom was more than tolerant. Here he is licking his face after one zebra sniffed him so much that it cramped his style.
I was laughing so hard I almost lost bladder control a few times.
Pom Pom has always been a sweet cat. And I was dying to know if he'd be nice to the zebras too. Of course, being Mr. Manners, he was super cordial. But it surprised me how he went kind of limp, almost like he was playing dead. Don't worry, I promise the zebras were super friendly. I mean, if I let my children feed them, of course I'm going to let my cat visit them.
Pretty much every time occasionally the zebras got too close for Pom Pom's comfort.
It was blatantly evident what was going through Pom Pom's head. But the whole time I was wondering what the zebras thought. We all know that in the animal kingdom, the lion is the zebra's main predator. But what did they think about this miniature helpless lion-like creature? Certainly they've never met a house cat before. I was impressed with how open-minded they were about it.
It was a most memorable adventure. I can't imagine what Pom Pom would write in his diary after such an experience. I'm pretty sure it would include many expletives.
It was an exciting and most entertaining adventure for our crew. We were sure to keep safety first. Unless......you count our driver.
As we started out on our traditional Friday night beach stroll, we found something along the way. It was a baby dove. Feathers fluffed, huddled right in the middle of the sidewalk, obviously helpless and doomed to be another animal's prey [there are many stray cats and hawks around here].
So we did what we always do. Rescued it. Remember the wild baby bunnies?
After we made sure there wasn't a broken wing or cut, we gently held him and let everyone have their turn giving him a little love. I'm sure this wasn't in the least bit helpful to him, but we had a lot of concerned little ones who wanted to do "their part." They were fretful that he was upset, lost and missing his mommy and daddy.
The chief nurturers imediately took over.
Then facilitated the nurture management of other small hands.
We concluded that he must have fallen out of his nest. I was amazed at how worried our brood was over this. We [the parents] decided to place him on a tree limb just a stone's throw away from where he was perched on the ground, hoping his parents would find him. Incidentally, it was right by Lila the squirrel's home.
Then the coolest thing happened.
Out of nowhere appeared two distressed adult doves on the balcony near the tree. First one, then the other. Then they flew to the limb where the baby was. They cooed. They inspected.
We intently watched as a small family of three was reunited.
This was an experience I really wanted to share with you, even if it was captured on my husband's cell phone. It was really rewarding. And amazing to see.
With happy hearts, we made our way to the beach.
A perfect night for a beach walk. So peaceful, so pretty.
And just in time for a gorgeous sunset.
We caught crabs in the water and crabs in the sand. There's my man wading in the water while his assistant watches.
The only thing better than getting to dig your toes in the sand...
is having a little partner buddy up and share in the fun.
We watched the sun go down.
Hearing the giggles of our little ones as they captured the tiny crabs in their hands was a reminder for me to slow down and embrace the simple joys of life. And I have to tell you, our girls can run circles around our boys when it comes to catching crabs. I've never seen anything like it.
Thought for the day: live in the moment.
Meet our neighborhood beach squirrel. She's quite the beggar and gets fed by the locals daily. I was greeted by her today as I was walking out of the gym. She was standing there patiently waiting for her lunch. I almost accidentally hit her with the door as I opened it, she was so close.
It may look like a lot of sunflower seeds, but she's nursing another batch of babies. So she's STARVING.
Look how close she let me get. It's a little obnoxious, I know, but I was just curious.
Here she is last summer all fat and sassy at the pool. She loves to junk out on things humans eat. Hence her generous waistline. While I grabbed something from our chair, she grabbed a french fry and said hello.
I think I'll name her Lila.
[photos by moi]
