Saturday, July 24, 2021
Over the past day Patrick and I had noticed that a vole had gotten its head stuck between the backyard fence and concrete and was struggling to free itself. Today we attempted to free it without killing it and soon discovered that its skull had gotten wedged in and could not be removed. After nearly an hour, we took a break. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, diced pluot, dried cherries; water. We continued over the next few hours, trying many different things including water-based lube and then water then a rotary tool on the wood then a drill on the wood then a blade and a screwdriver to chip away at the concrete, and this last method finally worked, and finally the vole was free, clearly tired and distraught. We gave it a rinse, towel-dried it, gently blow-dried it, then set it in a towel in a box with some celery root and grasses. Exhausted, long nap with Patrick. Upon waking Patrick told me our efforts were successful, and that the vole seems to be recovering and eating. Paul invited me to Hi Tops to watch the Olympics with Divad, but I declined due to the spread of the delta variant of COVID-19. Dinner at home with Patrick: spaghetti aglio e olio con cavolo nero, chardonnay, water. Dessert: I had a small scoop of Ben and Jerry's Punch Line ice cream. The vole seems to have fully recovered, so we released it further back in the back yard. Afterwards we watched Schmigadoon! s1:e2 on Apple TV+ then The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel s1:e8 on Amazon Prime Video. Patrick went to bed. I joined him after a bit for a while then arose and read news on my iPhone 12 mini. Late meal: leftover basmati rice with a variation on Mark Bittman's flash-cooked kale (lime juice instead of lemon), water. A bit later: tortilla chips. Finished rereading The Ethical Slut, 2nd edition. To bed late.