10:27 a.m. | 2004-06-15 Wild Kingdom Sometimes Roosts Close To Home. At MyOldWorkPlace there was a hummingbird that made her nest in a tree right outside my office window. I loved it. I watched her build it, lay her eggs and saw her babies go out into the big, cruel, hummingbird world. Of course, I�m presuming it�s cruel for the little ones. I don�t really know. Ironically, there�s a hummingbird nest right outside of NewBoss� window. NB�s not nearly as interested as some of the rest of us. �Us� being the folks who barge into his office to check on Momma Bird and her babies. We barge randomly and obtrusively actually, since we have to cram ourselves into a corner behind his desk to even see the nest. Anyway, UA � another nature lover � told me that she knew about The Coolest bird�s nest around. It�s on my route home and it�s eye-level. And, there are babies in the nest. That�s what she told me. She was right too. I checked it out on the way home. Totally cool. In a bird/nature/life loving kind of nerdy/geeky/dorky way. The babies in The Coolest nest look just like this baby bird I sorta rescued once. See, many years ago, I had what I call a Drama Neighbor (DN). Meaning that her drama � whatever that was � eventually became my drama. You know what I�m talking about. The one who has the Child From Hell who is constantly at your front door. The one who sends that very Child over with a videotape in hand so he can watch his movie at your house. The one that comes over at midnight because a light is on and they want to �talk�. Yeah. That one. So, one day I came home late � around 11:00pm or so � on a Friday of a three-day weekend. DN greeted me at the door with a wild baby bird (WBB) and a plea. DN had found WBB at a strip mall, couldn�t locate its mother and rescued it. Then, she waited for me to come home. She had cats, couldn�t keep a bird, could I please save its life� and so on. Of course I took in WBB. Having raised many animals � mostly abandoned ones � in my youth, I knew that WBB need warmth, a heartbeat and an eyedropper for feeding. In my youth, I had incubator lights, alarm clocks that pounded out a heartbeat noise and an eyedropper. I had none of those things on that day. Nor was I going to obtain any of those things at 11:00pm on a Friday night. I improvised. I donned a stretched-out sports bra, placed WWB strategically within it, threw on a raggedy shirt and slept upright for three nights. Plus, I went to the local pharmacy and purchased an eyedropper for feeding. I mean, WWB was wild. He/She totally expected regurgitated food. I wasn�t so cool with that. Um, no. However, we did get into a routine. Odd as it was. I carried WWB in my brassiere for three days, keeping him/her warm, safe and fed. Once WBB got secure, he/she ventured out. So to speak. Fortunately, I was reclined at that moment. Unfortunately, it was 5:00am. WBB climbed out of my bra, onto my chest and cried for food. I immediately woke up, looked down, and I swear to you that his/her mouth was the size of a basketball. Oh, and the crying? I was an instant Bird Momma. Not a good one, of course, but still. It was one of the cutest things I�ve ever seen. It was also short-lived. I made DN drive me to the Wildlife Rescue Place as soon as it opened. Not so much because I wanted to get rid of WBB, but because he/she wasn�t faring well with non-wild bird feed, and well, WBB needed to be in the wild eventually. Trust me, I would�ve kept him/her. Nothing bonds you like a baby with their mouth wide open screaming for food at 5:00am standing on your chest. See, that standing thing� it captures your attention immediately. Hell, anytime something crawls out of my bra, stands on my chest and starts crying, it garners my attention. I'm easy that way. your thoughts? seed flower