Sweetie's Friday Adventure

"Honey, I was on my way home, and a car hit a hawk, i saw it in the road, and it's still alive, I think its wing is broken, and what do I do?  I don't have a towel or anything with me to try to pick it up, and it would bite or claw me if I try to get that close, and it needs to get to the wildlife hospital!"

Sweetie can't pass an animal in distress, and neither can i.  At that moment, i was at work, so i told him to call 911 and ask them whom to call for animal emergencies.  If anyone would know, they would.

He stood out in the middle of the street in the hottest part of the day, shading the animal and directing traffic around it, and making phone calls.  Emergency services knew to connect him straight to animal control, where the lady said everyone was busy and it would be at least an hour until someone could get there.  He called a friend at Wildlife and Fisheries Department who goes to church with us, and the friend started making calls.  Before the friend could track someone down, along came Ms. G.

My Wednesday client, Ms. G, can do anything, and I mean anything.  She worked for the state for 30+ years, is a realtor, has worked in animal rescue of all kinds and sorts for years and years, and i've never known her to be stumped, nothing is beyond her.  She has all her own tools and knows how to use them, and builds and repairs things.  She recognized Sweetie right away and pulled over, had everything she needed in the back of her vehicle to safely pick the Cooper's hawk up and secure it in the back seat of her car, and she dropped it at the wildlife hospital.

It's too soon to tell, but they think he got to them in time.  He was just starting to become dehydrated and overheated, and his wing is dislocated or broken, we aren't sure which.  Either way, at the wildlife hospital, if he has a chance, they will pull him through, and if he's able to relearn to fly and hunt, they will eventually rehabilitate him to the wild.

Ms. G was told to call them back next week and check up, and she will, and she's going to let us know what happens.

A note to anyone who wants to know where i got the "I Pledge to Not Shop on Thanksgiving" button on the sidebar, it's from Suldog.

Today is:

Abbotsford Berrybeat Festival -- Abbotsford, BC, Canada (enjoy berries at the height of the season, as well as music, clowns, games, a "berried" treasure hunt, and more, through tomorrow)

Art Fair on the Square -- Madison, WI, US (one of the Midwest's largest juried art fairs; through tomorrow)

Bald In - Bald Out Day -- sponsored by Bald Girls Do Lunch; if men can be bald and brazen, then women and children who cannot grow hair should bring bald INto their lives, and never feel on the OUTs!

Bohemian Club Annual Rites begin -- Bohemian Grove, CA US (if you are into conspiracy theories, this is supposedly when and where the male movers and shakers of the world meet for two weeks and decide the fate of the world for the next 12 months; the members of the club, including former presidents and other high level officials, do meet for a couple of weeks this time of year to have, among other things, a Cremation of Care ceremony)

Buxton Wells Dressing -- Buxton, Derbyshire, England (preserving the 650+ years of traditional "dressing" wells in foliage to thank the patron saint of that well for blessings, now with parades and carnivals; through the 13th)

Call of the Horizon Day -- can't find any history on this one, but if the idea of following your dreams over the Horizon has ever called you, take the time to follow today!

Carver Day -- George Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond, MO, US

Constitution Day -- Australia; Palau

Constitutionalist Revolution Day -- São Paulo, Brazil

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Omelet Day

Dunmow Flitch Trials -- Great Dunmow, Essex, England (come claim the bacon!  Chaucer spoke of this tradition in The Wife of Bath's Tale, now held every 4 years, in which a married couple must prove to a jury of 6 maidens and 6 bachelors that in "twelvemonth and a day" they have "not wisht themselves unmarried again"; winning couple takes home a "flitch" of bacon, which means half a pig cut lengthways)

Feast of Our Lady of Chiquinquira (Patron of Colombia; the Venezuelan National Guard)

Galicnik Svadba -- Galicnik, Macedonia (wedding festival, when one lucky couple gets to be married in a traditional "Galichka" style wedding, through tomorrow)

Harrison Festival of the Arts -- Harrison Hot Springs, BC, Canada (a celebration of the world of music, dance, theater, and visual arts; through the 19th)

Independence Day -- Argentina(1816); South Sudan

Martyrdom of the Bab -- Baha'i

Muffler Appreciation Day -- if you've ever had a loud vehicle, you will understand why someone started this one

National Sugar Cookie Day -- what could be simpler or more versatile?  make them plain or make them fancy, but be sure you make enough!

Nunavut Day -- NU, Canada

Offerings to Heru and Amun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (day Heru hears prayers in the presense of the Netjers; date approximate)

Pori Jazz Festival -- Pori, Finland (a major international music event with world class performances; through the 19th)

Shiman Rokusen-nichi -- Sensou-ji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo (Day of 46,000; a visit to the temple on this day through tomorrow credits you the same as visiting 46,000 times on ordinary days)

Sodbuster Days -- Fort Ransom, ND, US (learn how rural North Dakotans lived in the early 1920s; through tomorrow)

St. Mary Hermina Grivot's Day (Patron of martyrs)

Stone House Day -- Hurley, NY, US (tour of several 250+ year old stone houses within 150-yards of each other)

Stroud International Brick and Rolling Pin Throwing Contest -- held simultaneously in the 4 cities called Stroud: Gloucestershire, England; Oklahoma, US; Ontario, Canada; and New South Wales, Australia (results are compiled internationally following the event)


Anniversary Today:

Steven Cauble marries Lisa Whelchel, 1988


Birthdays Today

Mitchel Musso, 1991
Kiely Williams, 1986
Fred Savage, 1976
Jack White, 1975
Courtney Love, 1964
Kelly McGillis, 1957
Tom Hanks, 1956
Fred Norris, 1955
Jimmy Smits, 1955
Margaret Gillis, 1953
John Tesh, 1952
Chris Cooper, 1951
Mitch Mitchell, 1947
O.J. Simpson, 1947
Richard Roundtree, 1942
Brian Dennehy, 1938
David Hockney, 1937
Vince Edwards, 1928
Ed Ames, 1927
Mathilde Krim, 1926
Ottorino Respighi, 1879
Elias Howe, 1819
Anne Ward Radcliffe, 1764


Today in History

Roman  military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the Western Roman Empire, 455
Henry VIII annuls his marriage to Anne of Cleves (his 4th wife), 1540
In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution, 1789
The Act Against Slavery is passed in Upper Canada and the importation of slaves into Lower Canada is prohibited, 1793
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law, 1868
In Provident Hospital on Chicago’s South Side, black surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first successful open-heart surgery, 1893
Queen Victoria gives royal assent to an Act creating the Commonwealth of Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government, 1900
Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the world swimming record and the 'minute barrier', 1922
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London, 1955
In a seminal moment for pop art, Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans exhibition opens at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, 1962
Margaret Thatcher begins her second term as British prime minster, 1982
South Africa is readmitted into the Olympic movement after 30 years of exclusion, 1991
The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2002
South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan, 2011