Thursday Art Date With Rain ... Kindness

 Kindness

I have a hard time passing a homeless person without dropping something into their cup.  Some people tell me  "oh no, you are only feeding their drug habit", but I don't know that and nobody really knows their story.  I would rather err on the side of assuming that they are leading a tragic life and need help.

Kittens were dumped in our unincorporated area by the lake all of the time.  My neighbor and I must have rescued over 20 kittens, took them to the vet, had them fixed and given their shots and then found them homes ... some, of course, we kept in our own homes.  The top picture is Latte' a beautiful female that I caught up and took to Spay and Stay ... they said, sorry, she's about to pop out some babies, we can't spay her.  So home she came and into our guest bedroom on the loft.  Within 24 hours we had 3 baby boys ... Latte' and Teddy were taken home (after 10 weeks) by my friend Diane and the two boys (we called them Da Boyz) stayed with us.  Chachi and Fonzi were wonderful pets ... sadly we lost Fonzi last year, but Chachi is still hanging in and we give him as much care and loving as we can.

The second picture is Bailey.  She was kept by my neighbor and is still a sassy little girl that everyone loves.  We (my neighbor and I) are so grateful to have these little fur babies in our lives.  I also have two more rescued kitties, Diva (the devil child) who lives up to her name every chance she gets and Buffy the dragon slayer who was dumped as a baby and learned to survive ... it took me all summer to gain her confidence and now she is a bouncy, playful female and nurtures Chachi in place of his brother.  

Diva

Buffy

This little Budgie was found by my other neighbor in the bushes at her work.  She bought him home to me and he now lives with my friend Barb, who is a bird person like me :)

After retiring from nursing, I volunteered at a Raptor Rescue facility.  This place was built on kindness and commitment.

 Birds were brought to us or we were called out to catch up       an injured raptor.  We had to take a 5 week course and then spend several weeks with an experienced handler before we were allowed to handle the birds on our own.  

When we brought a new bird in, we would hydrate them then place them in a dark comfortable cage until our veterinarian came in to fix what ever needed fixing.  They would stay with us until they could demonstrate flight and hunting skills in our flight cage.  If they were able to fly and hunt they were released back into the wild, if not, they stayed with us our another facility and were cared for and used in education programs.

We had a pair of Barn Owls  who served as surrogate parents to the baby barn owls we raised (from egg to adult) and released with telemetry so the scientists we worked with could determine where they would go.  The Barn Owl population in our area was almost extinct and it was their hope that we could boost the population ... but as nature would have it, most of the barn owls left the area (very few farms with barns to provide shelter). 

Our birds learned to sit and sometimes feed on the glove.  They were walked on the glove every day, fed, cleaned, watered and when they were comfortable on the glove they were taught to fly to the glove from a distance.  This allowed them to maintain their normal body strength and hunting skills.

This beautiful lady was found down in a field with a serious viral infection.  She spent several months with us and was a delight to work with.  We released her in the same field that we found her in. 

Kindness can take many forms and can sometimes seem cruel. Those of you who have had to put down a loved pet can understand the need for that kind of kindness.  The reason I have been gone is we have had to put my daughter in a nursing home because we can no longer provide her with the care she needs.  She feels abandoned and is fighting us and the whole situation , making it harder and harder to do ... and believe me it is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  I am trying to get back into the swing of things, but I am struggling ... I have missed all of you because you are all important to me in my life ... Be safe and be kind :)

Andrea @ From the Sol