Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I'm like the lady that lived with gorillas, but not really

My Grandma Diane has often been an inspiration for me. She is kind hearted and funny. She is her own person and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. But perhaps it is her love for animals big and small that has really rubbed off on me. And while I was living with my grandparents I saw my Grandma Diane do some interesting things. But one of the strangest has to be the morning I woke up and found a feather duster in the bathtub.

I had been out late with my boyfriend, and now husband, Ryan. I got home probably around 3 am and both of my grandparents were obviously asleep. I was so tired that all I did was change into my pajamas and crawl into bed. I didn’t even go to the bathroom to wash my face or take out my contacts.

So when I woke up about 6:30 to get ready for work, I was still pretty sleep deprived. And as I stumbled into the bathroom and started to brush my teeth, I didn’t immediately notice the old things that were in the bathtub. But I did hear a tiny squeak which caused me to turn around.
I look through the sliding glass door of the tub and saw a small desk lamp, a feather duster, a hand towel, and a small dish that had water in it. I wondered if that was where the noise had come from or what kind of crazy cleaning my Grandma had been doing in the shower. And as I slid the shower door open to get a closer look the feather duster rustled with movement and a tiny baby duck waddled out from underneath. It started peeping in fear and ran to the back of the tub to get away from me. And I, not expecting a duck to be in the tub, was a little startled myself.

After getting ready for work I headed downstairs and asked my Grandma why there was a baby duck in the bathtub and she explained that the day before she had been in the front yard when her neighbor’s dog came by and started sniffing something in the grass. When my Grandma walked over to see what the dog was getting into, she saw the duck. She took it inside and called the Humane Society who directed her to animal control who directed her to some lady in Riverton who has turned her farm into a rescue for all types of waterfowl. And after finally getting through to the lady, it was too late to take the duckling there but she told my Grandma what to do for the little duck over night and that she could take him to the rescue the next day.

And my Grandma, being the kind and loving person she is, did just that. She set the duck up with what he needed in the bathtub and the next day, she took him to the rescue. She said that when she released him, he ran over to a bunch of other ducklings and seemed to be happy and safe. It made her feel good to do something for a poor helpless little duck. And it touched my heart a little too.

So maybe she was my inspiration yesterday because as I was leaving work, I saw an injured bird on our sidewalk. I stopped and looked at it-it appeared to be some sort of hawk. He was bleeding from his beak and his wing was sticking out at a weird angle. I cringed a little because normally, I do NOT like birds. So I got in my car and pulled out of the parking lot but the bird stayed in my mind. He would freeze to death if I didn’t do something. Even if he was going to die from his injuries, he didn’t deserve to suffer in the cold.

So I called Murray Animal Control and they said they would come out but I had to put a box over him so that he would still be there when the officer showed up. So I turned my car around and headed back to work. I called a guy I work with and he brought a box downstairs and was kind enough to put the box over the bird. (I didn’t want to get that close.) And because I had to go pick up Gabe from daycare, another lady I work with said she would stay until animal control showed up. She was there until almost 5 pm when the officer showed up. Her told her it was a Kestrel Hawk and that it had probably flown into one of the windows and got hurt. He put the hawk in a cage and said that he thought it would be okay and they would try to take care of it.
This is not a picture of the hawk I helped save, but it is what he looked like. I feel good that I called and that the bird didn’t just suffer and then die from the cold. I still don’t like birds, but the thought of it suffering broke my heart. And even if they had to euthanize the hawk, at least he didn’t just lie there scarred and cold and alone. I feel like I should one point in my good karma column.

So this post is for my Grandma Diane. I just wanted you to know that I really am a lot like you,especially when it comes to going out of your way for birds…minus the household goods and bathtub.

2 comments:

Janey said...

lol, what a cute story! That is freakin cool that you saved a hawk! I feel so bad for birds when they hit windows. Makes me sad!

BL said...

You are a bird saving saint