I’ll post some updates as necessary.

5:48 p.m.  Flash flood watch until 8pm.  Also, if you look at the radar, there’s this tropical storm looking thing forming right over the oil spill area.  According to the National Weather Service, only a 10% chance it will form into something substantial.  Let’s hope not!

Saturday 4:18 p.m.  Add another 1.5 inches to what we had yesterday.  Certain areas of Houston are starting to flood.

Just think, these are just two birds, imagine how many others are being affected by this oil disaster.  I really wish there was something I could do.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Here’s another video if you care to watch.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

“Hundreds of birds nest on the island, and an Associated Press photographer saw that at least some birds and their eggs were stained with the ooze. Nests were perched in mangroves directly above patches of crude.”

This is just terrible.  It’s not only affecting the Brown Pelicans that were just taken off the endangered species list this year, but one of favorite other birds, the Roseate Spoonbill.  The gist I got from reading this article is there’s nothing that they can do, or at least will not cause further damage. Hell, even if someone like me went out there to scoop up the oil it would cause damage just from walking all over the vegetation.

For those have been reading my blog for a while, you know I’m pretty passionate about birds and wildlife.  I’ve even rescued a measly earthworm being stung by ants.  And, lets not forgot I saved our Kitty from being locked in the fridge for a short period of time.  However, that’s minuscule for what’s going to need to be done down in the Gulf (and hopefully not Florida).

I don’t know if I’ve previously mentioned how Leecy is even Volunteering at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center just to feed and clean the baby birds that are brought in to be rescued.  From what little bit I have read about rescuing birds and wildlife who are impacted by this oil spill, you have to have very specialized training and you could impact your own well being while mucking through all that oil sludge.

I’m interested in who others and thinking and feeling about this topic.

Is there any way us common folk can help or do we just have to sit back and let this bureaucracy fumble around until the find something that might work?

I notice I get visitors from all over the world that visit this site, what do you think?  Is this viewed American Greed, a necessary evil?

How do you think we can help?  Leave me your direct and honest comments.  I’d really like to hear from others, especially those located outside of the United States.

We decided to let Delilah out to play, hoping that she is almost over her respiratory infection (she goes back to the vet on Friday).

Surprisingly, our other cat Chloe decided it was time to quit hissing at the kitten and that it would be more fun to play with her.

So the cat and kitten are running around playing with each other then both get tired.  Leecy announces that she is going upstairs (to do what I don’t know).

A couple minutes later I heard this sound coming from the kitchen.  I thought, uh oh, the kitten has gotten into something.

So I dash in the kitchen looking for Delilah.  I open the pantry and she’s not in there.  I could swear it sounded like she was behind the refrigerator.

I yell for Leecy, “Leecy, we’ve got another animal emergency, the kitten has gotten behind the refrigerator!”

As I’m listening to the sounds coming from around the refrigerator I’m thinking to myself, “how the heck did the kitten get behind the refrigerator?”  There was no way she could have jumped up to the top of the refrigerator (a little taller than 6 feet).

I decided (don’t ask me why) to open the refrigerator, and there is Delilah, staring at me, probably asking why she was put in the refrigerator.

I yell back up to Leecy, “Leecy, you closed Delilah in the refrigerator!” (she was only in there maybe a couple of minutes)  Despite the funny story, Leecy felt pretty bad.

Lesson learned for the day.  Always look before you close the refrigerator door to make sure your kitten didn’t jump inside.  As an additional reminder, we now have a note on the refrigerator door to make sure the kitten is safe before closing the door:-).

That’s my animal rescue story for the day.

New Tabby Delilah

Leecy took Delilah to the vet today just to make sure everything is okay.  Now before I tell you the results, I did suspect that something was slightly amiss with the kitty.  As it turns out, Delilah has a respiratory infection, and it is infectious.  Our vet didn’t think it would be a huge ordeal to treat, but we do have to treat her for 2 weeks and keep her away from our other cat Chloe.

Now Delilah has been moved upstairs (just like Madison was).  Leecy and I take turns playing with her and visiting her.  I’ll be the one who has to give her the twice daily medications (I have that role for all of our animals that get sick).  For a sick kitty (she sounds a little hoarse today) you wouldn’t really be able to tell.  She still loves to play and jump around.  She still has absolutely no fear, she walked right in to every room upstairs (which she had never seen before), tail held high, and just went to explore.  She even looked at herself in a full length mirror and just stared at it for a couple of seconds, then kept on walking.

Oh well, another day, another animal rescue:-)

What originally begins as typical scratching post behavior explodes into using the human form as a scratching post and climbing tree.  Less reliable news sources suggest that these kittens are trying to make a new fashion statement.

We have received no photographs of these encounters…er..wait…I’m getting something in my ear piece.  We just may a photograph of this bizarre behavior after all.

My New Kitten Hat

In talking with high-ranking governmental sources about this phenomenon, our sources are stressing that this event is nothing to panic about.

To become a full blown epidemic, these kittens must not only exhibit the behavior above, but must experience the kitten trying to suckle off of a “moob” (man boob).  This has only occurred 1 time to the individual above, and we repeat, this is no cause for alarm.

Despite no pictures, I have some good news to share.  Six out of the seven Mexican Monarchs hatched today.  We had 4 Males and 2 Females.  As soon as I opened the enclosure they flew away.

So all you folks in the North get ready!  I think we’ve seen all the Monarchs we’re going to see until later in the year.  I haven’t seen any at all and certainly no eggs.  I’m hopeful they will be able to build up their numbers as they Journey North.

Here’s the story.  I go to the mall today (I won’t say which one) and there’s a “pet store” in this mall.  Rarely, if ever, have I been to a “pet store” in any mall and had any confidence that those animals didn’t come from puppy mills or some other “interesting” breeder.

However, I’ve never seen what I saw today.  Take a look (the picture is from my iPhone so I apologize about the quality).

Dyed Chicks At Petstore 4

My first question is, what does “professionally colored” mean?  I’d also like to know what kind of “professional” does this!

So there’s all these cute little chicks in this window box at the pet store.  Of course, this is attracting tons of children who are all begging their parents for one of these cute, dyed, Easter Chicks.

Dyed Chicks At Petstore 3

Now for those of you living on a farm or lots of land, maybe, just maybe, I can see you buying one of these things.  But for all the other people that were buying these animals, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? 

Where are you going to raise this chick who will become a full grown chicken?  In your house?  In your apartment?  I’m sure this “pet store” will give you lots of information on how to properly raise a chicken.

But wait, that’s not all.  You can also buy a colored duckling too.

Dyed Chicks At Petstore 2

Did you read that sign?  Bring them back to the store if you need to relocate them so they can go to a country farm?

Seriously?!  Someone is going to bring a full grown duck (or duckling) back into the store?  How are they supposed to do that, put the duck or chicken in a Macy’s bag and walk through the mall?

Dyed Chicks At Petstore

Look at the nice clean water.  What a perfect way to make sure the animal never gets sick.

So stay with me a moment longer to get this image out of my head.  Some knucklehead purchases a dyed chick or duckling for their child and then decides at some point they can’t take care of it.  So the put this animal in some kind of carrier (for humor picture a Macy’s bag), its head is poking out of the bag and people are staring.  Someone make a noise or perhaps the animal gets a little freaked out being carried through the mall and suddenly the bird jumps out of the bag.  Now there’s a flying duck or chicken flapping around the mall.

“Security, we just got a call about a pink duck flying around the mall and it pooped on a new dress in our store.”  Security responds and chases the duck through the mall.

Obviously I think this whole thing is crazy not to mention abusive.  Sure, the “pet store” shouldn’t be allowed to be in business (in my opinion), but what about the parent who bought the bird for their kid?  Is that okay?

Am I crazy for thinking this way?

Tomorrow morning I plan on heading out to Brazos Bend State Park.  A day or two after that I plan on revisiting Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

I’ll also probably visit the Houston Arboretum, but after that I am undecided.  I’d like to try a couple of new places I haven’t been before.

For any birders reading this blog I would welcome any suggestions.

By the way, the weather here in Houston has been absolutely beautiful.  Other than this upcoming Saturday, this area is supposed to be nothing but sunshine.  I love this type of weather!  Most all of my plants in the backyard are starting to bloom, even some plants that I thought were doomed from the cold weather.

I’m still waiting on the Monarchs to show up as well as the Hummingbirds.  I’ve counted a total of 10 Purple Martins, 2 of which seem to be staying in my Martin house.  The other 8 must have found a home relatively close by, just not at my place.

For you long time readers (at least since last Summer) remember Michael J. Frog (American Bullfrog)?  Well he’s still around.  He’s hanging around my pond right now.  I don’t think it’s quite warm enough for him to venture over to my pool area (where he hangs out all Summer).  He’s been around the last 4 years.  The funny thing is, I’ve never heard him calling for a mate, and I’ve never seen another Bullfrog around other than him.

Oh yea, why visit this blog?  Well for one, I plan on taking lots of pictures over the next few days.  I’m assuming many of the photos will be of birds, but I’m also going to try and get some other wildlife shots as well.  I’d also like to try and hook up my birdcam near Coco’s (my African Grey Parrot) cage so y’all can get a taste of her vocabulary.  Her latest phrase is from the McDonald’s commercial:

“Bada-da-da-da, I’m Lovin’ It”

I didn’t mention it before, but Leecy and I took Chloe and Maggie to the vet the same day Madison was put down just to make sure everything was okay.  As it turned out, Maggie had two lumps on her back, one was a fatty deposit, the other was unknown.  So Maggie went in for surgery today.   The big lump was just cut out, whereas the smaller lump has to be sent to pathology.  I’m trying to stay mentally neutral about what this may indicate.

Tonight Maggie is very groggy and has two large holes on the side of her body.  The good news is that she doesn’t seem to be experiencing significant pain.  I’ll try and take some pictures tomorrow of her war wounds.

Not an inexpensive week in terms of pet care.  I think were shooting right 800+ for this week alone.

Although we aren’t actively looking for another cat just yet, we previously talked about a Birman or a Ragdoll.  If anyone knows any reputable breeders in Houston, let us know.

Leecy would like to type her own words about Madison.

Hi. Madison & I were buddies…it only took about a year for her to get use to me being here, but she did finally come around once she realized I was the one feeding her.   I would sit upstairs on my computer & she would come around and stand on her back legs and tap me so daintily with her front paw “meow” wanting to come up on my lap. Once on my lap she would come up, I would hold her paw, which wasn’t any bigger than my fingerprint, and she would bend her toes around my finger–like we were holding hands…  She would come sit on my lap while I would be at my craft table. I could still do alot with a 4lb cat on my lap, poor Chloe won’t be able to do that with me.

In Madison’s ‘bedroom’, my daybed is in there, and she would lay on that to look outside into the backyard rose garden, pool, bird feeders. One time I noticed when I changed the sheets there was a ‘pee-spot’…uh oh…kitty has a bladder problem..getting old… so I put a vinyl table cloth on the mattress to protect it and put her blankets over it so it was still snuggly for her.  On that bed is a mountain of pillows. I threw a blanket over them & she just seemed to love the height & comfy-ness of her ‘mountain’. We’d always find her up there so cozy.

Chloe went upstairs with me today and I showed her the window sill Madison would sit on to soak up the sunshine or watch the neighbor’s dogs. She was instantly spread out & purring on the sill. I noticed her front paw kneading on the sill. I have NEVER seen her do that, so I wonder if she knew this was Madison’s special place.    Chloe has claimed Madison’s tree also, which is coated in her smell & fur still. Maybe its a sense of her mother figure is still around.

love you Madison.