Oh, What A Night...

I'd planned to share my next small quilt project with you today, but instead, I have a short tale to share.

Last night, I went to Panera's and met up with the girls for our regular knit/crochet night. Everyone had a good time and we all parted company around 8:30. I headed home on my usual route, which takes me past a large, wild area.

I always drive the speed limit, even if law enforcement didn't regularly set up speed traps there, but also because you never know what you'll see on or next to the road in that area. We've seen large, wild hogs with litters of piglets tearing up the easement, armadillos snouting in the grass for grubs, or an occasional raccoon foraging next to the fence line. The most disturbing event is always the seasonal toad migration from one, soggy side of the road to the other soggy side of the road. Love is a powerful motivator, and once I realize I'm axle-deep on a road, slick with frogs, I avoid the area like the plague until I know the "frog season" is over.

I know. I got a little sidetracked here. Sorry. So, as I drove home from Panera's, a bird swooped down onto the roadway right. in. front. of. me. I swerved left. Bird flared right. My right bumper caught his left side. I just kept repeating, "Oh, no! Oh, no!"

I turned around and my headlights shone on a beautiful barred owl hopping on the road, with an obviously broken left wing. (Thankfully, the bird was alert, so the wing was the only damage.) As I drove back toward the owl, it hopped into the grass. I kept it in my headlights and turned on my flashers. After quickly grabbing one of Kes' dog quilts from the back of my Explorer, I slowly and calmly walked toward the owl. It didn't take long for me to cover the owl with the quilt and scoop it into my arms. Then, I drove home as quickly as I could.

Handsome and Kes met me at the door and I asked him to call the police station to see if they had a warden or animal control person that could come out and take the owl to the wildlife rehab facility in Venice, FL. A policeman was dispatched to "our location", and he made a number of calls to see what should be done with the bird.
Before the officer arrived, we had taken one of those plastic milk crates and carefully placed it over the owl as I unfurled the quilt. I was concerned the the bird would be too warm wrapped in the quilt - and it took nearly an hour for the officer to get to our house. (Injured owls are not a priority.) We kept the quilt under the crate, anticipating an eventual transfer to another crate or enclosure.

Handsome and the policeman commented on what a large bird it was, and were surprised that I had managed to handle it without getting pecked or scratched. ("I am woman, hear me roar!" Really, I was just darn careful - and lucky.)

After multiple calls between the office, dispatch and animal facilities, it turned out that the only place the owl could go to at 10:30 at night was the emergency clinic in Sarasota (20 miles away) where Handsome and I had been last month with Fezzik. I told Handsome that I would make the drive and we agreed he'd stay home with geriatric Kes.

The emergency clinic was alerted by the officer that I was on my way, so they were ready when I arrived. I pulled the quilt up around the crate, secured it with a bungee and carefully carried the injured owl into the clinic. They took the crate to the holding area, put the owl into a kennel and allowed me to take its picture before they covered the door with a towel to keep the owl calm.

Wildlife rehab people will be at the clinic this morning to take the owl back to their facility. There they'll repair its wing and allow it to heal before taking it back to the area where it was injured. I'm so sorry owl. I hope you heal quickly and completely so that you can go back home.

I never expected yesterday to take the path it did. What a night! I'm still finding it hard to believe that I actually held that magnificent bird in my arms. It's an experience I won't soon forget. I'll be back tomorrow to show you what I'm working on next.

PS. When I got back home, I found one, fluffy feather that the owl had left behind for me. A reminder of my close encounter with one of God's beautiful and majestic creations. That's the feather in my first photograph today.