Great story, Carol.  Good for you!  Love the description of the chicks.

Jane


marcus5495 wrote:
> Tafts Corners in Williston, once a bucolic scene of cow pastures, now
> houses a sprawling complex of stores whose architecture seems to have
> been inspired by Albert Speer, Hitler's building-meister.  But a few
> undestroyed meadows do remain, and it was between two of these uncut
> meadows that I was wending my way in my car a few days ago, on my way
> to buy mulch at Home Deport.
> 
> Fortunately, traffic on Harvest Lane was unusually light, and I was
> able safely to hit the brakes and come to a stop when a Mama Snipe,
> followed by two youngsters too immature to be able to fly,
> impetuously crossed the road in front of me.
> 
> But - horrors! - though Mama had no trouble hopping up the concrete
> curb on the other side of the road (where she disappeared into the
> field weeds), the kids were left behind on the road, peeping
> helplessly in the gutter, incapable of mounting the curb.
> 
> The roadway there is strictly two-lane, with no shoulder.  I pulled
> over as far to the right as I could (but still in the roadway), put
> on my flashers, killed the engine, and hopped out.
> 
> Baby #1 was pretty easily corralled and tossed up over the curb.
> Number 2, however, convinced that I was going to kill it and
> screaming at the top of its tiny lungs,  scooted back and forth along
> the curb, eluding me.  Meanwhile, as I was pursuing it, I glanced
> back at the road and saw a long line of vehicles now backed up and
> motionless behind mine, which despite my best efforts, was blocking
> the lane..
> 
> Finally I nabbed #2 and tossed him up over the curb where he
> disappeared into the weeds in a flash and, I trust, joined his
> family.
> 
> Then I got back in my car and cleared out of there as fast as I
> could, grateful that I had neither been run over or arrested.
> 
> The babies, in case you are interested, reminded me of downy
> brown-black-white-striped marshmallows with toothpicks for legs.
> They were very pretty creatures, and when I picked them up felt ever
> so soft and downy, and weighed . as much as a feather.
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