Each Day Already is a Challenge

Oh What a Night

We had plans for this weekend. Plans for Tiff and her dad to spend some fun times together. Sometimes, though, real life happens in ways that we don't plan.

We arrived at church at 5:50 pm for a grill-out that was supposed to start at 6. There were lots of cars in the parking lot, but I guess they were from businesses across the street. Our church lets the businesses use the parking lot when the church isn't meeting.

There was a grill at the back of the church, but it wasn't fired up. Hubby and I wondered if we had the wrong day, but I had checked the bulletin before leaving the house. It did say Friday night at 6. I wondered if there were so few people signed up that they cancelled and forgot to call us.

Soon, the pastor arrived and behind him the woman who had been in charge of planning. It turned out that she had quite a day - personally. And when her husband went to the Christian book store to pick up the movie we were supposed to see after eating, he discovered that the release date had been pushed back - to August! They consulted over the phone and selected Flicka.

Someone got the grill going and we ate hot dogs and watched Flicka. Everyone cried. Tiff wanted to leave when it got sad. Hubby was ready to take here home, but I said I was staying. (We had two cars.) Thankfully, they did stay so Tiff was able to see the happy ending. If you haven't seen Flicka, I would recommend it. Especially if you need your tear ducts cleaned out.

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We arrived home about 9 pm and it wasn't dark yet. Tiff was spending time with her neighbor friend. Hubby and I sat on the porch. It was a nice night. Cooler now that the sun was going down, with a slight breeze. Quite pleasant.

Then I noticed Tiff's friend (Taylor)'s cat attack a bird. The bird was jumping all over the yard and I went to see what I could do. The kids realized that something was going on. They saw the bird under Taylor's dad's truck. Now we realized that it was not a grown bird, but a baby. And everyone's "awwwwwwwwww" instinct kicked in.

We got the bird into a box. I looked for advice about saving baby birds while hubby tried reaching the SPCA. The SPCA was supposed to call back last night but never did. I think they would have if we had been able to tell them it was an endangered bird. But we really didn't know what kind it was.

Tiff and the neighbor girls went to work looking for worms. They weren't going to chew them up like a mommy bird might, but the did figure they could smash them up to feed him/her. They played in the dirt/water/mud for quite a while, then admitted that they had almost forgotten about the bird. They were having fun making mud pies and getting filthy at ten o'clock at night. Tiff told her friends that I was a really cool step mom. She squirted me accidently and I didn't get mad and scream and yell. Why would I? It was water, and I wouldn't melt. Besides, I chose to sit close to the activities. I had to know that an "accident" could cause me to get wet.

They never did find any worms. We wondered why an adult bird can just reach down into the earth and grab one, but a bunch of kids digging around in the dirt cannot find even one.

Next they chewed up pieces of bread and tried feeding the chirping baby. It did eat some of that. They put grass and mud in the bottom of the box and we put the baby in the garage, so our cats couldn't get to it.

The baby, from what I read on the internet, is a fledgling. That's why it was hopping around in the yard. Supposedly, if you put a fledgling back near where you found it, it will hop to a nest - maybe in low bushes - and everything will be fine. But the neighbor's cat went prowling for more birds once she found one. Putting the small bird back would have been a death sentence.

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This morning hubby had to work for a few hours. The plan was for him to come back here to pick up Tiff and go to Michael's (craft store) so he and Tiff could make a craft together. That was the plan...

But...

1)The last craft time was 11:30 and he would not have made it.

2)We had a bird that needed help. I talked with the SPCA this morning and they said to bring it in.

So now Tiff and her dad are off taking the bird - which really does need some food and water at this point, plus I think the cat broke the bird's leg - to the SPCA. I gave Tiff some money to treat her dad to lunch and whatever else they want after that. Movies, bowling.
She has her bathing suit with her, but hubby doesn't even have one that fits. Maybe she has it in mind to go and buy him some swim trunks. I don't know. But the day is theirs. She said she just wanted some daddy time.

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My son didn't go to work last night. He pulled a muscle in his back and chest and it was just too painful last night for him to go. I told him that since he did pull the muscle at work, he should really have them pay for x-rays and such to see what's going on. But I'm just a mom, not someone who really knows stuff.

Here it is only mid-day on Saturday. And as I wrote, the phone rang. Of course it was Tiff's mom wanting to talk with her. I told her she was having her daddy time. Paula answered, "Well, I'll just call his cell phone." I almost wish he had it turned off. Why does she always have to intrude on their fun?