For some reason, baby hedgehog isn't as pleased as the rest of us to see Ellie off of bed rest
Oh Ellie!
I don’t know much about hedgehogs but they must not be too bright. Ellie loves to lie on her back like a fallen log and sneak up on them and they fall for it every single time. Ellie has a strict catch-and-release policy so you’d think by now they’d have figured out her strategy.
Oh baby hedgehog, how I've longed for this moment!
One nice thing about how well Ellie is healing is that she can now join me in the backyard like before, minus the running and jumping. That even means the return of baby hedgehog to outside time, as long as she doesn’t get too rambunctious. She had tossed it to me here, wanting to play like in days of old, but we’re not ready for that yet.
We’ve adapted baby hedgehog play since she first got her surgery, matching it to her allowed activity level. We started off with a game where she didn’t need to move anything but her head, to now where she can be more mobile but doesn’t need to run and jump.
I spent many hours in May at Ridgefield watching tree swallows nesting in seemingly every available tree cavity. In the first few weeks, I tried in vain to get shots of them collecting dried grasses to line their nests. Never did get that shot but was even more pleased at the end of the month to catch this male coming back to the nest with a large feather (large to him at least) to provide a soft feather bed for his mate and the coming hatchlings.
Remember the nascent days of the web when we all put an under construction graphic on our web pages as we changed them? That phase passed quickly enough but it’s apropros enough now. I upgraded the blog to the new WordPress 3.0 and they have a new theme I’m playing around with. Not sure if I’ll use it or stick the old tried-and-true default, but if things look out of place for a while you’ll know why.
One aspect of the new theme is you can have your own graphic across the top, I was having fun last night looking through pictures old and new for good subjects to crop for the wide format. At the moment I’m writing this I chose a crop of a swarm of bees I found at Ridgefield last month, but I have a number of other candidates on stand-by.
Ellie went to the surgeon on Thursday for her follow-up x-rays and he was delighted with the progress she’s made in the six weeks since her leg surgery. Everything is healing the way he hoped and she goes back for her final x-rays in another six weeks.
So while she still isn’t allowed to run and play the way she’d like, we’re headed in the right direction and today was the first day I didn’t keep her penned up when I left for work. She is allowed to use the stairs now and so has free reign of the house, finally able to rise up from the basement and join me on the main floor. And the bedroom on the top floor at night, this morning I literally woke up covered by all the pets but Emma!
Her walks have also resumed, slowly increasing in 5 minute intervals as she builds back her stamina and muscle mass. We don’t get too far, she’s eager to get reacquainted with old friends and say hello to you little bush, and you little tree, and you blade of grass, and you little leaf, and …
I’ve been working a lot of long hours for work, including many nights and weekends, so I haven’t been able to play with her and the cats as much as I’d like. Or as often as Ellie would like, given by the number of times I get pelted by hedgehogs as I work. Thankfully things should be slowing down in the next couple of days.
Welcome back, Ellie! All the pets are zonked out around me in my office at the moment, some sleeping more quietly than others. Even the hedgehogs are enjoying a moment of peace.