Beware of brothers bearing gifts!

All was going well today..I had cleaned the house, done the laundry and even baked chocolate chip cookies! Any day with home-baked cookies is a good day! Then the telephone rang. I cheerfully answered the call and was delighted to hear my brother's voice. He told me that he and his granddaughter were at my door..another reason to be happy! His granddaughter brings smiles galore to the Little Bayou House! I raced to the door..flung it open..heard him say.."I brought you a present!" Uh oh..that made me a tad uneasy..brothers bearing gifts?? He usually just leaves the veggies at the door..he never makes a big "to do" about anything he brings. This confused me. This is when the whole mess started. His granddaughter handed me a large, green bowl..covered with paper towels..and chirping. Chirping??? Oh, noooo!!!

Yep..you guessed it. In this large, green bowl, down deep under the paper towels, were two tiny Mockingbirds. Oh, geez..this is just what I needed! I looked at him questioningly.."Why?". He grinned from ear to ear.."Its a present!" I frowned.."Why me??? What are you talking about???" His granddaughter looked at me so innocently and said.."We knew you would know how to take care of them!" She beamed.."They will live now!" Oh geez..just what I needed..but how could I say no to that little face? So..I now have two baby birds in my house. Two very loud..very hungry..baby Mockingbirds. It seems that they were pushed from the nest by the larger siblings and were being attacked by a dog. One of these had already been pounced upon by the dog and did not look too healthy. But I would try.

Hubby was kind enough to make a run to the pet store and get advice. They informed him of the proper food stuffs and feeding methods. He came home with two tiny containers of food stuffs. One..a plastic box of (wiggly) meal worms..the other (not so wiggly) dead snail pieces. I was to smash the meal worms and feed a few to the birds and start with a minimum of snail pieces. "Try tweezers." Good advice..bad advice. The tweezers worked great for picking up the worms but were not so great as feeding devices. The goofy worms stuck to the tweezers and would not stay in the birds' gaping mouths. I had to resort to the fingers. Ooey gooey worms were smashed and fed to hungry birds. This was not so bad! Now for the snail pieces. I opened the can..UGH!!!! Those things stink...horribly!! Nasty! I picked up one..yep..not one of my favorite things in the world to hold. Poke..gobble..I can't believe they like them!

Both little birds seem to be doing ok for now. Even the little weak one has gained strength and is competing for food now. I hope they both make it through the night..that will give me hope that I am doing something right here. We shall see..oops..feeding time again! Again...beware of brothers bearing gifts..and little girls with sweet smiles..both can mean trouble!!! Why me????