• pusscat said on Feb 10, 2009....

  Oh wow - pine needle - ouch!!  You were lucky it didn't break off or anything.  I know the last time I got poked real bad in the eye.  Hope you're ready for a 'War & Peace' epic lol!
  
  4 years ago, on the grounds where I worked, I noticed a baby rook on its own, on the grass.  Far too young to be on the ground at this point looking completely lost.  There was a large rookery on the grounds.  He seemed to have a gammy leg and limped and his tail feathers were rather battered from him constantly losing his balance poor thing.  It broke my heart day after day to watch him and listen to him, hopping from one low branch to another, getting caught in the large brambles, calling for his mum but, the RSPB had advised me to just watch him for a week, leave him some water, and wait to see if the parents are feeding him.  After a whole week watching this awful scene hour after hour from my office window I finally made the decision and drove the 28 miles back to work on the Friday teatime with my husband to rescue the tiny little fella.  To say how pathetically small he was and not iin good health, he sure took some catching.  God knows what I looked like running round the bushes with an old jacket like I was trying to tempt a bull at a bull fight lol!
  
  He was so dehydrated we weren't sure if he would make it through the night.  I held him firm and dripped tepid water into his mouth using a piece of kitchen towel.  It was a sight to see next morning when we opened up the cat-basket to find him standing there looking at us.  He really was the scrawniest cutest thing you have ever seen.  We called him Zack.  Over the months we built him an enormous avery in the back garden and he had his own indoor apartment too ha ha! (an old garden shed we had insulated).  Because he had no tail feathers to balance with (they don't get new ones until their first malt when almost a year old) everything had to be modified so he couldn't fall far.  He was so playful and really trusted me, always wanting to stand on my shoulder and peck at my glasses.  Well, one day he was pecking harder than usual and I thought he was going to damage my glasses so I took them off.  Just at that moment, I turned to Zach as he turned to me.  OOOOUCH!!  Did that baby hurt.  One very sharp rook beak right in my eye! 
  
  All in all it was 3 weeks off work with 3 visits to A&E due to infection and just being in sheer agony and 3 visits to the eye specialist.  Didn't make me love him any less though bless him.  Mind you, it gave some of the hospital staff a laugh when the consultant rang the specialist to ask him to see me ASAP.  I heard him on the phone saying, "No, not hook, rook. . R-O-O-K. . . yes, that's right, with wings and a beak" ha ha!
  
  I'll never forget my little baby Zach.  He's probably got babies of his own by now (told you it was a long one lol!)
  

• Hegemone said on Feb 10, 2009....

  Huh, when's the last time I got a good poke in the eye?  Ya know, I can't honestly remember WHEN it was, but I'm pretty sure it was with my own finger.  

• bigshoulders said on Feb 11, 2009....

  
  sorry Hegemone but pusscat wins the best story poke in the eye contest with flying colors. I never thought anyone would have a story like that, amazing.

• pusscat said on Feb 11, 2009....

  Ha ha!!  Aaw bless you big - I like you :-)  I'm normally a good judge of character on SC here and, so what if us folk are spread all over the globe, I know who I like and who I 'click' with.  Glad I came on board with you :-)  That pine needle still sounds painfull. . .
  
  Hege - my friend - I will not bore you with how many times I have poked my own eye with my finger lol!  In fact - that reminds me of another story about a hairbrush, my eyeball and a family planning clinic that I am definitely gonna post now I've been reminded of it.  No one will ever feel dumb again after reading it ha ha. . . .
  

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