Saving the World - One Bird at a Time

The goldfinch is almost completely recovered. He (PWC told me it’s a he) had an injured left leg – don’t know if it was broken or exactly what – but it needed a splint and was put in a close confinement cage to keep him from re-injuring the leg while it healed. They actually call it intensive care although it’s more of a protective type of care.

Today he is being placed in a large outdoor enclosure with other recovering birds where it will relearn how to fly and find food placed around the enclosure. Typically he will stay there for about a week till PWC is confident he can be released. Once released, there will be food outside till it learns how to fend for itself.

All in all – a good outcome.

Saving the world, one bird at a time.

We were 'sposed to riot? I didn't get the Memo.

Mike Commodore let the ladies place bids to cut his hair and beard. He raised over $15,000 for a children's cancer research foundation.

Raleigh, being a small city, doesn't realize that we're supposed to riot like the big cities do when there's a sports championship won. From the newspaper, a couple dozen people decided to get into the street on Glenwood South, so the cops detoured traffic so no one would get hurt. One guy was reported to have shoved a cop and got pepper sprayed for being a dumbass but that was about it. I can't recall the exact quote from the cop but it was something along the lines of "It's only a few people so we're just letting 'em have fun".

The Onion has a pretty funny spoof. The caption from The Onion article faked photo: "Hurricanes defenseman Bret Hedican celebrates his team's victory in the quiet, empty streets of Raleigh, causing shocked residents to wonder what is going on."

JN has set up the bonus room over the garage as his apartment. He's got a really nice space up there. Clearing out his thownhouse in Durham is just about finished. His parents, WN and HN are periodically coming up from Southport to help JN with the fix up of the Durham house to get it ready for leasing. Should be ready to rent in fairly short order.

That's really about all that's newsworthy around the house. GAH and ACH are in the middle of their month long Mediterranean cruise on the QM-2. They called yesterday morning from Italy. G was exasperated that A and I spent so much time, at international phone rates, talking about the Hurricane's winning the Stanley Cup.

No real plans for the weekend. JN and his folks are spending the weekend at the townhouse painting and working on minor repairs and maintenance. I'm doing laundry and general house stuff - but nothing major.

ADH, MIH, and EIH are coming over later for hamburgers with us. I figure there'll be an Addendum to this post later.

Monday Morning Addendum

ADH / MIH / EIH came over for a cook out Saturday evening. We had the full crowd including JN and his parents WN and HN plus their two dogs Koko and Brew.

Had a good time although EIH was tired and therefore a little cranky. Plus, when the dogs barked, EIH didn't like that very much - but I think she was going for the attention as well.

JN and his folks have been working on the townhouse since Thursday - very tiring work. They're headed back to Southport today to catch up on their place. Plus, WN needs to work on the kitchen cabinets at his shop and collect some more tools and equipment. They'll be back later this week to continue fixing up the townhouse. It's a lot of work getting a house ready to rent. Small things that we put up with in our own homes must be taken care of if you're going to rent it out.

Met ADH / MIH / EIH for breakfast in Cary Sunday morning. EIH and I shared a banana split crepe. What a great thing to have for breakfast!

Today and tomorrow I've 2 long days in the field. Plus the new engineer starts today.

Stan Lee Moves to Mayberry

News outlets will tell you all about the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup.

Let’s have a word for the Edmonton Oilers.

Edmonton is, and should be, justifiably proud of their Oilers. No number 8 team has ever made it to the Stanly Cup Finals until the Oilers. There has never been a penalty shot made in the playoffs until this year by the Oilers. Down 3 games to 1 – the Oilers forced a final decisive 7^th game.

In Raleigh, when we play a Canadian team – we stand and sing Oh Canada along with the Star Spangled Banner. In Edmonton, they stand and sing the Star Spangled Banner along with Oh Canada.

The San Jose fans asshats attending their playoff games should be ashamed of themselves for booing when Oh Canada was played.

Inappropriate behavior just doesn’t happen at the RBC Center. On the rare occasion when it does – you are quickly shown the error of your ways – escorted out (and usually arrested) and banned from the Arena.

[Bill darts a sideways glare at Buffalo]

Edmonton fans who made it down to Raleigh were great guests by all accounts. And they sure know how to make a lot of noise on their home ice.

Gritty and gutsy play by the Oilers – they did themselves proud with the odds and injuries stacked against them.

Way to go Canes – and hats off to the Oilers.

BTW – the RBC Center in Raleigh stands for Royal Bank of Canada. How ‘bout that?

We also play this little game in the RBC Center called College Basketball.

I’d like to see the University of Alberta* added to NCSU’s schedule.

I’ll call the Wolfpack Club tomorrow.

* The University of Alberta has 2 mascots – the Golden Bears and (Say what? Are you sure? No kidding!) the Pandas!

Claim Check

Work is going great. Newly hired Electrical Engineer, CC, starts the last week of this month. He’s in his mid 50’s, personable, great sense of humor, and very very smart. Capt. Ralph and I are salivating with anticipation.

The Canes lost last night to Edmonton. Believe it or not – that’s OK. It was a great game. The Stanley Cup is the hardest sports crown to win. Saturday, game 6, in Canada.

The juvenile goldfinch has an injured left foot. After an inquiry (plus seed and small cage purchase) at PetSmart, we learned that wild animals are rescued and rehabilitated by Piedmont Wildlife Center.

Located in Durham, PWC is a non profit organization that helps the helpless.

JN delivered the goldfinch.

They accepted the 3 pound bag of bird seed (for small birds) that we had purchased but returned the cage. Looked at the goldfinch, took her back to the animal hospital and told JN that she’d be fixed and well taken care of. They told JN that they had received a large number of small wild animals that had been hurt in the severe thunderstorms last weekend.

JN said there were a lot of birds there and a lot of chirping and noise at the PWC. JN also said that she (goldfinch) was really cool on the drive up to PWC. No fretting or anything. He said that she spent the drive eating seed and drinking water and seemed oblivious to the fact she was being driven in a SUV. She was simply cool in her cage.

PWC had JN fill out medical paperwork. When she was found, behavior, eating, water, symptoms, habits, etc. JN said he filled out all the paperwork and gave PWC a donation (BTW - NOT required).

We can call to inquire on her progress and visit anytime to check on her.

Among the multitude of birds, how do we identify which is ours?

Simple -

We have a Claim Check.

A Good Read

I subscribe to The Atlantic Monthly. It’s the best general subject magazine published today. The articles range all over the place. For example, one of my favorite all time articles was The Making of Steinway 487 (not sure of the exact number) published several years back. The author followed the building of a Steinway Concert Grand from start to finish.

The current issue’s 2 main articles are Inside the Jihad and The Monster of Florence.

I love reading. I’ll read just about anything. Crime novels and True Crime books, however, are not my preferred subjects. But – the true crime article The Monster of Florence written by crime novelist Douglas Preston is riveting. If you enjoy reading, pick up The Atlantic Monthly and give it a try. Every month there’s something in it that will capture your attention.

Speaking of True Crime books – that is my writer brother-in-law’s (ACH) forte (see note below). He has several books published. I edit and proof read his writing. Some writers just have a knack for their craft. He’s one of them. His books are easy to read. I don’t mean that they are simple – I mean that his style is so good that the story just seems to naturally flow. But some of the crimes that he has written about are just gruesome. I’ve actually had to put some of the drafts down and take a break because I get so creeped out by what took place.

Anyway, even though I don’t particularly care for crime stories – the one in this month’s Atlantic is a great read. Check it out.

PS

Bird is doing well and has traded up from a cardboard box to a new small cage. She does seem to have what appears to be a birth defective left leg. It isn't broken - it just doesn't seem to work properly. But, she isn't making any distress calls or anything like that. She's eating well, fluttering around and getting used to her new 'digs'.

PPS

Possessed answering machine has quit working.

Note

Normally I use initials when blogging about friends and relatives. In this case - since ACH is published and therefore in the public domain - here is a link to a (somewhat dated) biography.

Storm

A serious storm went through 2 days ago.

A seriously large and tall tree was taken down - thankfully away from the house.

There was a victim.

We (JN and I) saw her yesterday - but - as bad as we felt about it - we decided to let nature take it's course.

However - today - JN - saw her - she was still alive.

Tomorrow, on my way home from work - I will be at CrossRoads Ford to have the SUV serviced (tires rotated and balanced, oil change, and 4 wheel alignment).

While the truck is being serviced - I'll walk over to PetCo and get a small bird cage - and more importantly - I'll get some baby bird food.

She's asleep now.

JN is keeping watch over the innocent.