Friday, February 12, 2016

Friday, February 12, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in February of 2006. We decided to make valentine's together for all of Mattie's friends in preschool. I may have cut out the hearts, but Mattie did the rest. We always did creative projects like this on the floor of our dining room! I knew I had these photos, but I couldn't find them anywhere! It was truly bothering me. So I went back on line to our Shutterfly account and sure enough..... I FOUND THEM!


Quote of the day: The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ~ Gandhi

I went to my five hour licensure board meeting today. When I left our home, Lovie was sitting by our door, and when I returned there she was!!! 

I was telling my mom about Lovie, and this morning she encouraged me to have her examined and cared for. Not that this thought did not cross my mind, but HONESTLY I thought, what vet is going to see a wild bird?  So when all else fails, I turn to Google!!!

On Google, I located an incredible resource in DC, City Wildlife. Their mission is: to address the need for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation in Washington, DC. Over the past several decades, local wildlife habitat has been severely depleted, and wild animals have had to adapt to living in close proximity with people. Each year hundreds of wild animals in DC are unintentionally harmed by people and the urban environment.

The wonderful part about City Wildlife is they rehabilitate animals and then return them to nature. They provide care for any animal you drop off for FREE. In fact, this weekend, they are having their annual Valentine's Day tour of the facility, on Sunday (noon to 5pm). More details, go to:
http://citywildlife.org/be-my-valentine-2016/

When I spoke to the folks at City Wildlife, they told me how I should go about capturing Lovie. They suggested a towel, thrown over her to prevent her from flying and then to place her in a box with some holes in it. 

Well that all sounds easier said than done. Typically I let Peter handle touching stray animals and wild life, but since he was at work, I had to rise to the occasion. I can honestly say if my neighbors saw me, they would have been laughing. Lovie gave me a run for my money. Despite being injured, she can run and jump. Of course she was frightened and I did not want to make it worse, but I knew she needed treatment. So that was my motivator. 

She managed to escape me on our deck, and she walked down our commons area onto my neighbor's porch. Fortunately my neighbor has a milk crate for her plants. I was able to put the milk crate over Lovie. She tried for minutes to escape the crate and this wore her out. So by the time I pulled the crate off of her, she had very little energy to run.... and I threw the towel over her and placed her in a box with a towel and bird seed.  

Now once I caught Lovie I then had to figure out how to get to City Wildlife. It isn't in a part of DC I traverse often. But thanks to GPS, I found it. 

The ladies who work at City Wildlife are delightful and true animal lovers. It was a delight to see this facility and to know such a resource exists for our DC animals.