So, I just had an interesting experience...

[Draconium]

My mother accidentally hit an owl (we thought it was a hawk at first) with her car a little earlier tonight, but no one realized it was still stuck in the grill of the car until about half an hour ago. So I decided to be a good son and get the thing out for her. I can honestly say that I've never had to pull a dead owl out of the grill of a car before tonight, that's for sure.

So anyways, along with sharing this, I wanted to pose the question of whether any of the other Playgrounders have had experiences that were unusual, interesting, or out of the ordinary (for them).

[factotum]

I once had to remove a very alive owl that had somehow fallen down the chimney at my mother's house (fortunately the fire wasn't lit at the time). You don't realise how huge the darned things are until you're trying to carry a struggling one outside in a towel!

[Keltest]

A little context: I like to participate in a small time maple syrup operating with my dad's Alma Mater. We have a little blast furnace we use to heat our boiling pans and all the work is done pretty much by hand. Well, one year we forgot to clean out the pans at the end of the season, and came back to find a bunch of dead mice stuck in caramel. We got to have an interesting experience cleaning the pan that time.

And no, its not a health hazard, because blast furnace. Anything remotely dangerous is going to get killed in the boiling. But having caramel and mice stuck to your pan makes it a real pain to boil anything, and the caramel in particular will burn and taint everything, which is very much bad.

[Icewraith]

It was a gusty day, and a particularly bad gust blew a flying pigeon to a dead (literally) stop in front of my car while I was traveling at full highway speed. It knocked out a small support in the decorative front grill and got wedged between that and the actual filter section/air intake for the engine. The wing was visible hanging down in front of the front bumper.

It was sad, and very surreal. Fortunately it wasn't really that messy, but removal was complicated by efforts to not touch the thing at all because they're known for carrying all manner of nasty parasites.

A week later on the same stretch of road I almost hit another bird, something smallish and finchlike in a full dive basically aimed at my head with its mouth wide open. There was a crack as the bug it was chasing splatted on my windshield, the bird broke off at the last millisecond but I didn't realize it wasn't the thing that hit my windshield until I had a second look.

[Alent]

I like to joke that I saved everyone from the rapture.

Several years back on the date of one of the many "this is the day the rapture happens!" days, I was driving on the interstate at highway speeds, and caught a white blur out of the corner of my vision from the right, heard a loud "pataaaaannngggggggggg-aaaaannngg-aaaaaanggg-aaaannggggg" noise followed by a loud thud and looked over to see both an oscillating radio antenna and a corner of the front windshield covered in blood and white feathers. :smalleek:

I'm not sure what kind of bird my antenna ziplined, but after the morbid "Nooo! :smallfrown:" moment passed, it ended up amusing friends and clients for the rest of the day.

[Winter_Wolf]

It's probably wrong of me to laugh at that, but it's been a rough morning and that helped a lot.

[Dill Raulnor]

Was the car an OWLdi?
I'm sorry that was terrible

[BannedInSchool]

Not my personal experience, but at a sports car race a Porsche 911 hit a possum. The 911 is a rear-engined car with the "trunk" in the front, and the funny thing is the (very deceased) possum ended up in the trunk, for the pit crew to find hours later. They nicknamed him "Ballast" and gave him a Twitter account.

[Frozen_Feet]

When I was ~7 and walking back from school, I found a crow entangled in an abandoned fishing line. Feeling sorry for it, I ran home to fetch a pair of gloves, safery glasses and scissors. It was quite a struggle to let the panicked crow free of its trap. It pecked and scratched me and I lost sight of the line I was trying to cut, but in the end I managed by accident and the bird flew free.

[lylsyly]

On a lighter note; I shop at a grocery store in a LARGE strip mall. Last time I went I was walking down the mall, turned a corner, and there, on top of a trash can, was a squirrel chowing down on a chicken leg. I mean this little squirrel was REALLY going to town on that piece of fowl. Funniest darn thing I have seen in years.

[Lemmy]

Wait... I thought this was only for recent stuff. Do kid stories count? Because I could tell the tale of when emus saved me from murderous turkeys!

[Black Socks]

Because I could tell the tale of when emus saved me from murderous turkeys!
I would very much like to hear that tale.

[tantric]

uh, i'm an agent of Coincidence Control Central (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Lilly#Earth_Coincidence_Control_Office_.28 E.C.C.O..29). my blog is called 'confessions of a weirdness magnet'. so yeah - but i'm not telling, cause i'm tired of sounding bat**** insane.

[Lemmy]

Wait... I thought this was only for recent stuff. Do kid stories count? Because I could tell the tale of when emus saved me from murderous turkeys!I would very much like to hear that tale.
(Quick Correction: it was ostriches, not emu)

It's a bit long, but it's quite funny IMO. Nowdays, anyway... At the time it was terrifying! :smallsmile:

- - -

When I was around 4 years old, my dad took my family to a farm/inn. A farm/inn that had all sorts of animal livestock, including ostriches... They had their own area, of course, surrounded by a simple wooden fence, which kept them in, but didn't do much to stop smaller animals, such as dogs... Or turkeys... Or children.

In any case, my dad took us to sight-seeing the farm, and at some point we walking along the ostriches' wooden fence. We stopped to play on a small playground there... My dad was sitting on a nearby bench watching me and my sister play.

And so it begins...

My sister saw a line of cutesy ducks walking the brick pathway used by tourists such as us to walk around the farm. Since we had fed ducks a few times already by then, we decided to do it again, and my dad kept an eye on us so we wouldn't stray too far but didn't see the need to stand up from the bench. Ducklings are harmless, he had to look after my brother and my other sister as well and we were only about 60 ft away from him, after all. What's the worse that could happen?

Evil birds, that's what!

Soon, a few turkeys (6~8, I believe) came next... And tried to take the bread from the ducklings. They were bigger, so it wasn't difficult. However, my sister and I didn't like those ugly meanies taking the food from innocent ducks... So we tried to scare them away. But we failed. Miserably.

You see... Turkeys can grow pretty big. Specially compared to a 4 years old kid. We noticed too late that between their size, numbers and dark, evil souls, we were no match for the hellish birds! The ducks quickly fled, the ungrateful bastards... My sis and I tried to do the same, but we were almost surrounded! My sis, being 9 or 10 years old at the time managed to climb the fence, where she was safe from the turkey's bloodthirsty beaks!

I wasn't capable of climbing it, though... So in my despair, all I could do was cry and run... And so I did. I cried and ran... Under the fence, into the ostrich area. The ostriches, apparently used to humans and kids (kids could even ride ostriches, although only slowly, with an animal handler guiding the bird along), didn't really care, but when a bunch of loud, angry turkeys followed, the ostriches were instantly annoyed at the feathered trespassers and started pecking and kicking the turkeys away. The evil bastards still tried to put up a fight, but the ostriches were too big for them, so the turkeys eventually had to fall back to the other side of the fence. I was saved!

Meanwhile, my dad, seeing me go into the ostrich territory, quickly ran and leapt over the fence to get me. The ostriches actually moved away from him, allowing my dad to get me. When we were near the fence, the turkeys actually tried to attack me again. My dad was holding me in his arms, doing his best to protect me from the gang of evil birds furiously pecking at him, but there wasn't much he could do to fight or escape them without dropping me and/or losing sight of my siblings, so he just stood his ground by the fence, trying to kick and scare the turkeys.

And then... The ostriches came back!

Their approach scared the turkeys away! Kinda of... They still remained within close distance, but dared not approach us for as long as we remained close to the fence. A few minutes later, one of the animal handlers showed up and scared away the turkeys, this time for good... Finally, we could safely return to our rooms. We fed the ostriches the next day. Me and my sisters even got to ride them... It was pretty cool!

Not all heroes wear capes... Some of them are covered in feathers (but so are some bloodthirsty villains).

- - -

And this is the tale of how ostriches saved me from evil turkeys... Giving me one of my earliest memories in the process. I hope you enjoyed it. :smallsmile:

[Black Socks]

(Quick Correction: it was ostriches, not emu)

It's a bit long, but it's quite funny IMO. Nowdays, anyway... At the time it was terrifying! :smallsmile:

- - -

When I was around 4 years old, my dad took my family to a farm/inn. A farm/inn that had all sorts of animal livestock, including ostriches... They had their own area, of course, surrounded by a simple wooden fence, which kept them in, but didn't do much to stop smaller animals, such as dogs... Or turkeys... Or children.

In any case, my dad took us to sight-seeing the farm, and at some point we walking along the ostriches' wooden fence. We stopped to play on a small playground there... My dad was sitting on a nearby bench watching me and my sister play.

And so it begins...

My sister saw a line of cutesy ducks walking the brick pathway used by tourists such as us to walk around the farm. Since we had fed ducks a few times already by then, we decided to do it again, and my dad kept an eye on us so we wouldn't stray too far but didn't see the need to stand up from the bench. Ducklings are harmless, he had to look after my brother and my other sister as well and we were only about 60 ft away from him, after all. What's the worse that could happen?

Evil birds, that's what!

Soon, a few turkeys (6~8, I believe) came next... And tried to take the bread from the ducklings. They were bigger, so it wasn't difficult. However, my sister and I didn't like those ugly meanies taking the food from innocent ducks... So we tried to scare them away. But we failed. Miserably.

You see... Turkeys can grow pretty big. Specially compared to a 4 years old kid. We noticed too late that between their size, numbers and dark, evil souls, we were no match for the hellish birds! The ducks quickly fled, the ungrateful bastards... My sis and I tried to do the same, but we were almost surrounded! My sis, being 9 or 10 years old at the time managed to climb the fence, where she was safe from the turkey's bloodthirsty beaks!

I wasn't capable of climbing it, though... So in my despair, all I could do was cry and run... And so I did. I cried and ran... Under the fence, into the ostrich area. The ostriches, apparently used to humans and kids (kids could even ride ostriches, although only slowly, with an animal handler guiding the bird along), didn't really care, but when a bunch of loud, angry turkeys followed, the ostriches were instantly annoyed at the feathered trespassers and started pecking and kicking the turkeys away. The evil bastards still tried to put up a fight, but the ostriches were too big for them, so the turkeys eventually had to fall back to the other side of the fence. I was saved!

Meanwhile, my dad, seeing me go into the ostrich territory, quickly ran and leapt over the fence to get me. The ostriches actually moved away from him, allowing my dad to get me. When we were near the fence, the turkeys actually tried to attack me again. My dad was holding me in his arms, doing his best to protect me from the gang of evil birds furiously pecking at him, but there wasn't much he could do to fight or escape them without dropping me and/or losing sight of my siblings, so he just stood his ground by the fence, trying to kick and scare the turkeys.

And then... The ostriches came back!

Their approach scared the turkeys away! Kinda of... They still remained within close distance, but dared not approach us for as long as we remained close to the fence. A few minutes later, one of the animal handlers showed up and scared away the turkeys, this time for good... Finally, we could safely return to our rooms. We fed the ostriches the next day. Me and my sisters even got to ride them... It was pretty cool!

Not all heroes wear capes... Some of them are covered in feathers (but so are some bloodthirsty villains).

- - -

And this is the tale of how ostriches saved me from evil turkeys... Giving me one of my earliest memories in the process. I hope you enjoyed it. :smallsmile:
I don't know what I was expecting from that tale, but 'ostriches fight off evil bread-stealing, child-attacking turkeys' wasn't it. I enjoyed it very much.

[Lemmy]

I don't know what I was expecting from that tale, but 'ostriches fight off evil bread-stealing, child-attacking turkeys' wasn't it. I enjoyed it very much.I'm glad you like it... The only good side of being attacked by evil birds is that you get a great story to tell in parties! :smallsmile:

[The Second]

Let me tell you about how I came to fear and loath utterly harmless, orb weaving garden spiders.

I was around twelve years old at the time, and mowing the lawn with our old Indian riding mower. While mowing under the huge fig tree behind our house, I ran into a huge spiderweb. At first I was slightly annoyed, until I felt something scramble against the back of my neck. I screamed bloody murder, launchedlaunched myself off the mower, and ran into the house crying 'get it off'. My grandmother had to peel my shirt off, run a brush through my hair, and physically examine me twice before. I could be convinced that a huge, evil spider wasn't lurking somewhere on my body, just waiting to sink its fangs into me.

Just thinking about it still gives me the willies.