Freedom!

This is the kind of story you need when it seems like the world is spiraling out of control..

Not many people get a picture of this proud bird snuggled up next to them.

Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places. She's my baby.

When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in.. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes.. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.

We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show about us.

In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving. I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.

So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.

On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power coarse through his body. I have so many stories like that.

I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as
Freedom.

Hope you enjoy this.

Jeff

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Posted in birds , heartwarming , story

A Lion of a Hug

I really don't know if this is true or not, but it's a nifty story making the rounds on the internet, and so here is the story:

The woman in this video found this lion injured in the forest and ready to die. She took the lion with her and nursed it back to health. When the lion was better, she made arrangements with a zoo to take the lion and give it a new and happy home.

This video was taken when the woman, after some time, visited the lion to see how he was doing. Watch the lion's reaction when he sees her. Amazing!!

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Posted in heartwarming , lion , video

A Magical Rescue

Nestled in the heart of a rose, his slumber cushioned by soft petals and his bushy tail, Dreamy the dormouse looks snoozily content. But life hasn't always been so blissful.

His seven-month hibernation was rudely interrupted when his mossy nest was dug up by an inquisitive dog.

Discovered by the dog's owner wide awake, if slightly bewildered, he was taken to the Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre in Somerset, where staff fattened him up on hazelnuts and seeds before giving him a coconut shell in which to sleep away the rest of the winter.

So deep was his resumed slumber that he didn't stir when called on for a photoshoot, with Dreamy being carefully placed in the rose after the centre petals had been plucked out.

Dreamy continued to snooze for another two months, and was released in April. Perhaps by now he's found a Mrs Dormouse and started a new family.

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Posted in Animal Pictures , heartwarming

Awww... Now that's an unusual Mom!

Happy mothers day to ALL the moms out there!

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Posted in Animal Pictures , heartwarming

Downtown Duck Hero

On Tuesday, May 20, 2008, a Spokane man who works downtown as a loan officer at a local bank, became a hero in the eyes of his sister and many of his co-workers. What follows is his story, as told by his sister, Candace Mumm.



Something really amazing happened in Downtown Spokane this week and I had to share the story with you. Some of you may know that my brother, Joel Armstrong, is a loan officer at Sterling Bank. He works downtown in a second story office building, overlooking busy Riverside Avenue. Several weeks ago he watched a mother duck choose the cement awning outside his window as the uncanny place to build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid ten eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 15 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks, and Monday afternoon all ten of her ducklings hatched.



Joel worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching.



Tuesday morning, Joel came to work and watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off! The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. In his disbelief Joel watched as the first fuzzy newborn toddled to the edge and astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below.



My brother couldn't watch how this might play out. He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs to the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling was stuporing near its mother from the near fatal fall. Joel looked up. The second duckling was getting ready to jump! He quickly dodged out of the duckling's sight under the awning while the mother duck quacked at him and the babies above. As the second one took the plunge, Joel jumped forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the cement. Safe and sound, he set it by the momma and the other stunned sibling, still recovering from its painful leap.



One by one the babies continued to jump to join their anxious family below. Each time Joel hid under the awning, just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its freefall. The downtown sidewalk came to a standstill. Time after time, Joel was able to catch the remaining eight and set them by their approving mother.



At this point Joel realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had at least two full blocks to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs, and pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the Spokane River.



The onlooking office co-workers then joined in and hurriedly brought an empty copy paper box to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, and loaded them up into the white cardboard container.



Joel held the box low enough for the mom to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the Spokane River, as the mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight. They walked block by block to the water’s edge. As they reached the river, the Sterling Bank office staff then tipped the box and encouraged the younglings, quite nervous from their adventurous ride, to walk toward the water and their mother.



She approached her brood and marched them to the brink, ushering them with a splash into their new watery home.



All ten darling ducklings safely made the plunge and paddled up snugly to momma duck. Joel said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank workers, proudly quacking as if to say, "See, we did it! Thanks for all the help!"



Thankfully, one of the co-workers, Morgan McGee, had a digital camera and was able to capture most of it (except the actually mid-air catching) in a series of photographs.

Note: It's now May 2009 and Mama Duck is back in her nesting place in the awning on the second floor of Sterling Savings Bank in downtown Spokane. They have installed a web cam for your viewing pleasure: http://www.spokesman.com/duckcam/. Enjoy!

Click here to read the follow-up INTERVIEW WITH JOEL ARMSTRONG

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Posted in birds , heartwarming

Awww... this is too cute!

Zookeeper China York cares for all kinds of animal babies at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in South Carolina. Her assistant is Anjana, a chimpanzee she raised and who copies her caregiving behavior. Recently, the two have been caring for two white tiger cubs that were separated from their mother.

‘Mitra and Shiva, were born during Hurricane Hannah,’ said Dr Bhagavan, founder of TIGERS. “During that time everything flooded in the sanctuary and they had to be moved into the house as their mother became stressed.

‘It was important for their safety that they were separated.’

‘Anjana has been with China, side by side, ever since she was born and has joined her in caring and raising baby animals.

‘So she helped her and acted as a surrogate mother to these animals and she has done these same with these baby white tigers.

‘She gives them a bottle, lies with them and acts as a surrogate mother. She has a close contact and bond and gives them a nurturing.’

Credit: BARM/Fame Pictures

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Posted in heartwarming , monkey , tiger

Unusual Friends

What on earth this mouse doing at the back of this frog?



Actually what happened is, at that time it was an heavy flooded in India and the mouse was trapped and was in danger of drowning until he found an unlikely friend.

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Posted in frogs , heartwarming

Seeing Eye Cat

Here's what the article says:

Cashew, my 14 year old yellow lab, is blind and deaf. Her best friend is Libby, 7, her seeing-eye cat. Libby steers Cashew away from obstacles and leads her to her food. Every night she sleeps next to her. The only time they're apart is when we take Cashew out for a walk. Without this cat, we know Cashew would be lost and very, very lonely indeed. It's amazing but true: This is one animal who knows what needs to be done and does it day in and day out for her friend.

~Terry Burns, Middlesburg, PA

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Posted in Cat Pictures , Dog Pictures , heartwarming

Nifty Desktop Wallpapers

From Mandala Madness,
here is a selection of cool and inspirational desktop wallpapers.
Enjoy!


Go confidently in the direction of your dreams,
Live the life you've imagined.


Toward the One


What you must dare to be is yourself.


Be still and know.


There is only one journey. Going inside yourself.


Be yourself. An original is always worth more than a copy.



May the blessing of light be on you,
light without and light within.

May the blessed sun shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows
like a great peat fire,

so that the stranger may come
and warm himself at it,
and also a friend.

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Posted in Art , heartwarming

Koko

"Soft good cat cat."
~Koko

Koko is one of a number of great apes in various experimental communication programs and is remarkably conversant in American Sign Language, used by hundreds of thousands of hearing-impaired people. With her linguistic skill, she asked for, and finally received, the small, tailless tabby kitten she promptly named All Ball.

All Ball was groomed, played with, cuddled and loved, and never once showed fear of her large foster-mother, outlandish though she might seem to feline eyes. The growing relationship was cut horribly short by All Ball's death beneath the wheels of a car. This is Smokey, Koko's more recent kitty friend.

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Posted in Animal Pictures , heartwarming

Something to warm your heart!

Awwwww....

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Posted in Animal Pictures , heartwarming , puppy

Newborn Baby Moose, Alaska.

The mother picked a small quiet neighbor and had her baby in the front yard.

Is this cool or what?

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Posted in Animal Pictures , heartwarming , moose

Is this cute or what?

I love this picture, it always makes me smile!

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Posted in Adorable Pictures , Animal Pictures , cute , heartwarming

Call of the Wild

Striking images of a wild polar bear





playing with sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay.





The photographer, Norbert Rosing, was sure that he was going to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear materialized out of the blue, as it were.

Obviously it was a well-fed bear.
The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs.

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Posted in Animal Pictures , bears , cool , Dog Pictures , heartwarming , story