den: (rescues)
[personal profile] den
The phone rang at 7am. ugh

"HI DEN!" said Cheery Di. "This is your early morning wake up and rescue call!"

I didn't need this. I felt like crap after a bad night of coughing and wheezing. Di said the council ranger had found a sick frogmouth in Victoria Park, and I was the only one available to take the call. Another hour in bed wouldn't help since I'd be wheezing and coughing, so I might as well be up, doing something and wheezing and coughing.

The lawn was white with frost. I checked the thremometer: -2C outside. Oh goody.

First stop was at the mall to buy some cold and flu capsules. The pharmacy was closed but the supermarket was open. I hoped they had something stronger than asprin. They did! Apparetly. The box was labelled Night & Day Cold & Flu, but the list of ingredients were all herbal. Bugger. I wanted DRUGS, dammit! I needed something that would take to the symptoms with a cricket bat and would make my head go "Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-POP!" I didn't want something to sit beside the symptom and tell it that what it was doing was really really uncool, man.

So I bought the hippie drugs, a bottle of soda water and a packet of crisps, called that Breakfast and went looking for the bird. I found the ranger after ten minutes of wandering around Victoria Park. He was being intimidated by a fully grown frogmouth. The bird was snapping its huge beak and flaring it's wings. It was doing everything except trying to get away: not a good sign. He started telling me about how he found it, then he paused and said "There he goes again." The frogmoth had closed his eyes and was doubled over in pain. The spasm passed and he went back to his Big Scary Frogmouth poses.

"Oh boy," I muttered.

"What?"

"I think it's poisoned. It probably picked up a sick mouse. Have you laid rat baits anywhere?"

The poor ranger looked upset. They'd laid rat-sak in one of the storage sheds. Ugh. Bloody warfarin. I told the ranger about one of the local pest cortol companies that sells a non-heomorragic bait that doesn't cause secondary poisoning. The poor bloke looked really upset and I told him that very few people realise the secondary poisong effects, and at least the bird has a chance now that I could get it to a vet. I'll know later how the bird is doing. If it really is poisoned I don't have much hope it'll survive.

Two hours had passed and the hippy drug wad not helped my cold. On the way home I called in at a pharmacy and bought a packet of "Die You Filthy Microscopic Bastards" containing codeine and pseudoephedrin. I feel much better now.

Date: 31 Jul 2004 00:35 (UTC)
kayshapero: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kayshapero
Poor beasties - you and the bird... Get well... and do keep us posted on the poor frogmouth. The LA zoo has a couple of them on display; two untidy bundles of grey feathers perched on a branch who move just often enough to make it clear they *aren't* stuffed. Or maybe they are stuffed as in have had quite enough to eat today so have no reason to do anything but sit there. Of course it IS daytime when I get to see them; I've no idea what they may get up to at night. I rather like them, though I'm not sure why.

When Vicky decided to run an Australian character in a Hogwarts based on-line rpg, he had a tawny frogmouth instead of an owl. When she described the critter, the Oz contingent recognized it at once, while the rest of the players were thoroughly Confused.

Date: 31 Jul 2004 00:46 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com
It's rare to see them move at all during the day. They Become the branch and radiate a "Just a stick here. Move along!" aura.

Profile

den: (Default)
den

April 2023

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526 272829
30      

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 2 January 2026 17:57
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios