| MISS SNOWY OWL by MARY ALICE BOWLES freelance writer: Southern Indiana |
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| I THINK SHE MIGHT BE READY |
HARDY LAKE SNOWY OWL I just wasn’t myself as I drove up highway 31 from work Sunday night, I felt kind of weak in the knees and a little bit sluggish. I was thinking maybe once I got home I would be O.K. All the customers came in herds on that Sunday evening! There was only two of us working on that late shift. It was rough work, but that's the way it is when you work in a deli. I just felt like I had a fever, I can’t put it in to words, but I just knew I was sick. I came through the door and My husband of 42 years had a twinkle in his eye, and he was as excited as a little boy of 12. “O.K. tell me about it”! “What new bird did you snap today”! Then he said, “first of all you have to tell me if you’re scheduled to work Wednesday", and I said “Yes, but I don’t know why, my boss just has my days split right in the middle and Wednesday is the one day I have to work". He said, “ Oh Honey, we have to figure out some way to get you to take your lunch hour about 5: 30, because that’s when they are releasing the owl back out into the wild"!. I said, “what Owl and where at”? "Oh honey I wish you could have been with me today I saw the prettiest bird I have ever seen in my life; they even let us take photos": “Honey, now slow down and let me hear the whole story”: "We got invited out to the Dwight Chamberlain Rehab Center at Hardy Lake to see the snowy owl! She has been in their care since November 15 of this year. A family rescued her in Decater county after she had been hit by a car. She came here for rehabilitation,” honey, you just have to see her”! When she came to the center she had a lot of damage to the joint in her wing, but there was no broken bones An avian specialist. was called in from Louisville and he has been seeing her once a week. Now guess what, her wing is better and they are going to release her back to the forest at five-thirty wendnesday evening". Honey please, we just have to be there! After We eat supper, I would just like to introduce you to miss snowy owl. I'll show you the pictures I got today"!. |
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| Now I wanted to meet Miss Snowy Owl in the worst way, but I just could not see it happening. My shift starts at 11 on Wednesday and I just could not see me leaving everyone in that 5 0’clock hour. That is the worse hour of the whole day for customers in the deli. They all usually decide to come right at that hour . I had decided I would try though, and suffer the consequences later. I would just tell them that I had something really important to do, and to me this was very important. My George and I think it was the opportunity of a life-time After all I could not leave work and tell them I was going to see a Snowy Owl. I did not want to be the laughing stock of the whole department. You know how people are! Or do you? Well Monday I had to work and I just kept getting sicker and sicker, like the worse head ache I ever had in my life, and I felt like my eyes were going To pop. Come Tuesday I was off and I just laid around and took life easy. I thought, “well this is something that is just going to pass, so I’ll be all right”. Wednesday morning came and I decided I had to get to the doctor as soon as possible! I rushed myself to the Convenient Care place just five miles down the road. I was the second patient the Doctor saw. He said, “Young lady, you are really sick, I am going to give you an antibiotic shot and 1000 milograms of keflex every 12 hours, and we’ll see how you progress from there, I’m asking you to go home and go to bed. I’m going to pull you through this; I need for you to make me look good! Well this is the big day, the day Miss Snowy Owl is getting released into the woods! Oh, my I’m going to have to miss it! I told my George to please go and take his camera and my camera and get some shots with both of them: but of course he said, “No” I did talk him into going though, he went out to warm up the Bronco about 4:30: He looked me in the eye and said, “I am going to let it get really warm inside that truck, honey, I mean really warm"! "What did he mean, really warm"? About 5 0’clock he said, “can you get bundled up”? “All you have to do is sat in the truck and stay warm!” Needless to say five minutes later there we were headed to Lake Hardy to see Miss Snowy Owl take off into the woods. , was there filming the whole thing. Everyone just had to see this majestic lady of the Artic head back home. Please don't forget to say a prayer for her safety. It's an honor to see Gods beautiful creatures so well taken care of out at The Dwight Chamberlain Rehab Center at Hardy Lake. May God show them special favors! That Snowy Owl was one of the most majestic creatures I have ever laid my eyes on and it was an experience I won't soon forget, and I thank God for the opportunity! |
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| Isn't she beautiful? |
