A porcupine, two toads, and two new New Yorkers

Lester had his first bad day at Lester's Flat on Saturday: he found himself a porcupine in the side yard. Not being one to pass up a greeting with any critter, large or small, he managed to get himself a snout-full of quills. And, of course he does this on Labor Day weekend when the only vet to be found is the emergency vet who will charge us about $500 to remove them.

So we took matters into our own hands and bullied him into letting us pull 8 or 9 of the nasty things out of his nose and lip, but that was as much as he would allow. With advice from neighbors and the internet, I gave him Benadryl, both to calm him down and help with any reaction he might have. We tried a second time, but he had already managed to push the remaining quills further into his face. Overnight, he broke them off altogether, leaving probably 9 or 10 pieces in him.

Our NJ vet happened to have Sunday office hours, so I called to ask what to do. They said bring him to the emergency vet immediately because of the risk of infection. I was torn between running to the expensive vet in Sidney, and just keeping an eye on him until our local vet comes back. The Husband and I decided that, since he appeared to be fine, and the swelling had actually gone down some, that giving him cephalexin, an antibiotic that I had, would hold him over until Tuesday. I don't know how, but so far today, he seems just fine!

Photo #1: Lester swimming in the creek yesterday, looking almost like a porcupine himself (those are water drops, not quills). Just tell me, Lester, what's the point of shaking off the water when you are still in the water?

Photo #2: The Husband found this big guy and his smaller friend, who have taken up residency in our new garage. Guess when we finally get garage doors, we'll have to leave one open for them...they don't appear to be leaving anytime soon.

Photos #3 and 4: The finished (mostly) house and garage, with 2 cars sporting New York license plates. Too late to back out now, we are official New Yorkers.

The good thing about living here: our combined homeowner's and car insurance for the year is less than our car insurance alone in NJ.

The bad thing about living here: ask Lester!