Mouse rescue, hot, lots of updates

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 00:11:41 GMT

It's a humid 35°C. I know it's been two weeks since the last entry. It's been so hot sitting here for more than half an hour at a time has made me feel pretty uninspired. Finally getting over my heat stroke dilemma and to top it all off, been bogged down with tons of paperwork that has kept me busy for a past couple of weeks, too. Finally, I'm caught up, feeling better and still trying to stay cool.

Early this morning a series of wild storms pummeled our city with strong winds, torrential rain, intense thunder and the most spectacular lightning I’ve ever seen in my life. The storms lasted over 3 hours. I thought for sure that hail would be next, maybe even a funnel or tornado, but thankfully that nastiness bypassed us. We were in the trailer watching the show. Unbelievable lightning! Wish I had pictures to show you all. The scene was better than any fireworks show I’ve ever seen and constantly lit up the sky until about 5 am. While we were oooh-ing and ahhh-ing, the dog shivered and snuggled right in between us. Needless to say, we didn’t get to sleep until after 5 am. Feeling very sluggish today.

There’s another storm warning tonight. Although the show this morning was amazing, it’s humid as hell today and poor Brad is sweating to death in the sweltering heat. The garage is well over 100 degrees today thanks to this morning’s torrential downpour. It’s not often that we get such intense storms that last hours. He’s almost done sorting the piles of parts into buckets and organizing them on shelves. He’s building a small desk in his office area today, then it’s a matter of cleaning up the floor and he’s done. What a job! Who else would insulate a garage in the sweltering heat? Um, you-know-who!

Mid-last week, we captured four baby mice that had made their way into our house, or probably born somewhere in the attic, the basement, walls, wherever. We never did find the nest, but we did catch them by hand over a two hour period. Two in the kitchen and two in the back porch. The poor things were weak, barely had their eyes open and starving. Something must have happened to their mom for the little tykes to go out foraging for food on their own, when their eyes were barely open. The mouse rescue had begun!

We took our 30 gallon empty aquarium and converted it into a mouse hospital with sleeping areas, obstacle course, cardboard tubes and a feeding area. They chowed down on oats, fruit, seeds, bread, mango peels and dried dog food, basically the kind of food they’ve been accustomed to when their mom foraged for them. We estimated they were about 2 weeks old and might not have been weaned yet, so we bought a can of kitten formula and hand fed them with a dropper.

One of the quartet, Mr. Cranky, wasn’t fussy on being held, but the other three have been quite content to be pet, fed and handled once in awhile. We plan on releasing them this week or next week in a forested area away from buildings. So, our role as foster parents has kept us amused for the past week and researching the lifecycle of a mouse, diet, health issues, breeding, etc. They really are remarkable creatures. Problem is that does about 2 months old can get pregnant and have a little of 5 to 12 babies! They can go into heat and breed again about 24 hours after giving birth. Yikes! That’s too many kids to look after. It’s been interesting and fun, but time for them to go.

Besides all of that, Sparky the electric minibike will be completed in August, as we’re still waiting for some parts to come in.

The Gladiator tandem trike will be next, and we’re working on putting together some Evil Genius project kits this fall.

The garden has been growing like crazy and we should have corn on the cob in about 2 weeks or so. We’ve already been enjoying peas, swiss chard, beets and beans. Tomatoes are ripening daily and the carrots and peppers should be ready for picking in about three weeks. The rain this morning was awesome and definitely needed. I’ll bet the lightning didn’t help the forest fire situation any, though.

Well, back to the grind and sit in front of the fan for awhile. It’s going to be another hot, humid week, so we might as well get used to it. I’m not complaining, mind you. In six months, people will be complaining that it’s –30. Summer is short, so get out there and enjoy it!

Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines!: Health and wellness

Mouse rescue, hot, lots of updates