Are you down with the sickness?

I just Googled that song, since I've heard it in so many pop culture references, and let's just say you should never, ever do that. The particular line in the title is all you need to know from that piece of music, trust me.

We have been sick. Sick, I tell you! But, we're all better now, and thankfully the sicknesses weren't serious enough to warrant any types of trips to the doctor's or hospital.

Each member of our family took turns being sick for about a month and a half before we pulled out of it. Luckily, Big J's body decided to become incompetent over the weekends, so he didn't have to miss work. What a considerate immune system he has.

Here's a picture that sums up how we all felt about the situation:

Ugh. Just, ugh.

I adore Little J's face in this picture. His furrowed brows,
his tongue out, trying to figure this whole phone
thing out.

The other weekend we found a tiny baby bird in the lawn (I know, it's Arizona, people shouldn't have lawns here, but they do) in our apartment complex. I watched it for about 10 minutes to see if there were any adults interested in it (partially to see if it needed assistance and partially to see what kind of avian it was) but no one came around. Picking up a baby bird is usually not a good idea, but I'm a bleeding heart, and it was peeping, and the next thing I knew I was at Petco buying some mealworms. The bird was probably hatched that day and still had a transparent abdomen. I could still see remnants of the egg yolk in it before it used that all up. When it swallowed, I could see the food move down the esophagus, and into the stomach. I could also see previous meals moving through the intestines. SO. COOL!

We kept it alive with mealworm slurry until the following Monday when we dropped it off at a wildlife rescue in Scottsdale. The rescue is called Liberty Wildlife, and they do some great work there. They had two women out feeding a Golden Eagle and a Peregrine Falcon when we dropped Little Ugly off, and they were magnificent. The eagle had been rescued from captivity and they were treating it for a calcium deficiency that had caused her to have bowed legs. Luckily, she's still a young bird and they caught it in enough time to prevent a total lack of leg mobility. She's going to be an educational bird, and boy is she gorgeous. The peregrine suffered a wing amputation at the elbow by flying into some kind of turbine, and he's also an educational bird. They do school programs and tours with the birds, and rescue quite a few wild animals in the valley. If you have an extra $10 burning a hole in your pocket, why not donate it to them? They could sure use it. Here's the website: http://www.libertywildlife.org/

They also had a huge property and had Harris' hawks nesting in the cottonwood trees next to the center. There was also a flock of peach faced lovebirds making nests in the Saguaros near the entrance. Such a great place for birdwatching.

A face (and body) only a mother could love.

My dad thinks it might be a corvid (raven-ish), and I'm thinking it's a grackle. Any thoughts?

My friend Whitney and I carefully stuffing mealworms into the bird.

My child is no longer a baby. He's a kid. WHEN ON EARTH DID
THAT HAPPEN??