Oh, the plans I had!

I had plans for this evening. Walk, swim, groceries, banana bread...

I was in the middle of the walk when I was called for "emergency child care" of an infant raccoon.

When I say infant, I mean about a week old, maybe?

It is draped over one of my old socks that is stuffed with rice and had been warmed in the microwave. I was alone with him for about 90 minutes and I just didn't know what to do. When I got home, he was cold. They lose heat very quickly; they haven't much hair. It looks hairy, but along the bottom and on the legs, there wasn't hair beyond fuzz. Mostly just skin. This little fellow's eyes are still closed and his ears are still stuck to his head.

He's so new.

Let me introduce you to his "dad" Galen:
Galen works for a company that leases out huge land-moving equipment. They had put a big crane and boom into a locked building three days ago and when it was moved, the mama ran off out of the boom. Today they moved the boom and little Boomer here fell all the way to the ground and survived (he's injured around the mouth and jaw). I thought surely the mama must have been able to come back, but the DNR said it was possible for him to have survived three days alone. I'm just not sure! He's tiny and so helpless. Galen held him all day long to keep him warm and made a special formula just for raccoons because they can't simply have milk replacer.

I couldn't get the little devil to eat more than a few drops and when I tried to put him down he cried so loudly it tugged at my heart really bad. I got a heating pad and put his box half on, half off with some clean shop towels inside. He liked that because he settled down. I ran upstairs and when I came back, he was so quiet I thought he had died.

What an awful babysitter I am.

So I woke him up and he moved around and started crying. I apologized and shut the box again to prevent him and his heat from escaping and ran back upstairs. I got a sock and put rice inside. I heated it up and twisted it shut with a tie. When I put it in the box, he clambered over it like it was his ma or a sibling. It was adorable. Then Galen's wife came up and the crowd grew as people started coming back home and the pressure was off me.

Thank goodness.

As they left, I asked if I could warm the sock again because it had completely cooled. I ran up and threw it in the microwave.

I set it on fire.

I didn't take the twist tie off and a flame shot up as soon as I remembered the twist tie. I tossed it in the empty sink and got the mate, poured in more rice, and did it up properly for his ride home (three houses away, mind you).

As we were all admiring him, the rehabber finally called. Hooray! Hopefully the exchange has been made and baby Boomer is now in the right hands.

And not with a babysitter who sets things on fire.

I made the banana bread after he left and I was so distracted that we'll have to see how the banana bread actually turns out. It smells good. Maybe the recipe is FOOLproof!

Then I put a cup of coffee in the microwave for 33 seconds. I wondered why it was still running and glanced at the appliance just in time to see the boiling coffee explode over the top of the cup. 3:33. Oops. I let that sit awhile.

Everything's all cleaned up now. I think I'll go to bed and start over tomorrow!!