TV ruins me. Seriously it does. For example, today I am in the restroom and this huge jumping spider crawls out from behind the towel we have hanging up for drying your hands. Now when I say huge I mean huge in the size range of jumping spiders. Jumping spiders in general are pretty small little things most about the size of a pea, but this thing was about the size of a dime legs and all and it was black. Overall it was a neat looking thing, but it scared me, and I think I scared it. We both sized each other up and I, rather than grabbing a piece of convenient toilet paper and squishing it, looked it over and began talking to it. I was kind of stuck where I was for the moment and so I told it that I wasn't too happy to see it as I was sure it wasn't too happy to see me. Then I thought about Monster Bug Wars, a show that Kevin and I watch on Discovery Wild, and what that show says about jumping spiders. Very smart, very good predators, and as I watched it I realized that I didn't want to kill it, rather I wanted to get it out of my house, alive. So after I washed my hands I went and got a glass and a piece of paper and then trapped it and took it outside where I let it go. Later I sent a picture that I took of it to Kevin, who seemed genuinely shocked that I not only took a picture of the thing but caught it and let it go outside. Yeah, I am more of a scream and squish type person than a catch and release type person when it comes to spiders. TV is ruining me.
So a few days ago I was driving to my parents house and I saw this bird in the road, it was just sitting there in the middle of the road and when I drove by it didn't hop away, just sat there. So I turned my car around, parked it, and went and chased the bird off into the grass so it wouldn't get hit by a car.
Today I had a similar experience. I went over to my parent's house to visit my dad and when I was about a block away I came across a female mallard duck standing in the middle of the road, she moved away from my car slowly which seemed odd to me. But I went on to my parent's house and parked and got Davy out and stood around talking with my dad as he cleaned his garage and fixed up his work room. As I stood there I looked back down the street and saw the duck, still there in the middle of the road, dodging around cars and other vehicles that passed her but not really moving away from where she was. So I figured I would walk down there with Davy and see what was up. I scared her off the road and into the grass where I found an interesting thing, she had six chicks that were trying to follow her.
The subdivision my parents live in is new construction and around the lots they haven't yet built houses on they have put up little plastic fences, short enough to step over if you are a person but tall enough that you wouldn't ever be able to get over if you are a duckling. So I went back and told my dad about it and decided that I would gather up the ducklings and get them across the road for the mama duck. This was easier said than done. I chased the ducklings, which were all very good at running away and hiding from me. Eventually I caught them all, which confused the mama duck, as she could not see her ducklings anywhere. But she could hear them, so I led her across the road by walking with the box of ducklings and having her follow the sound. Eventually we all got across the road and into a protected area, and into an area that led directly to a pond that mama and babies could all take sanctuary in. I gently let the babies out of the box and the mama duck flew right to them and began walking like nothing had happened. And all the little babies lined up and followed her in the direction of the pond.
It really makes me think about what it would be like if I didn't have arms and couldn't grab my baby and couldn't easily protect him from nature and humankind and the elements and things that got in my way. What would it be like to give birth to him and know that I had to get him to safety but safety was a dangerous obstacle course away? It makes me grateful that I can keep him safe, and can keep him from harm. It makes me happy that I can help another mother out there keep her babies safe and get them to safety when she can't.
