Do a good turn daily

"Do a good turn daily" they used to teach me in the Boy Scouts.  Well, as I got home this morning from job #1 it was evident that the dogs REALLY wanted out.  I just just starting to slide the glass door when my wife hollered at me to stop.  There was a bird in the backyard struggling.  It could sorta fly - like a chicken.  You know, get about 1' off the ground and travel a short distance before crashing gracelessly.  My dogs were all like "flappy toy!  flappy toy!" but I (and my wife) wanted to help it.  I think it was a Steller's Jay.  There was another one lingering nearby, seemingly concerned.  I know I'm guilty of anthropomorphizing these screwy little birds, but it sure looked like the one was trying to encourage the other.

My plan was to just gather up the struggling bird and set it down on the other side of the fence, beyond the reach of my dogs.  But the little birdie could fly just enough to make me look REALLY stupid.  Remember that scene when Rocky tried to catch the chicken?  Yeah, like that, except this time of year that part of my backyard is a mudbog with an occasional doglog.  Pretty tricky to catch a little birdie in those conditions.  But I did manage to usher him to a gap in the fence, which he escaped through.  He'll probably end up as kitteh chow, but hey, I tried.

Then I arrived at job #2 and my cow-irker co-worker was fussing about a good sized beetle (about an inch) wandering the floor.  She wanted to stomp on it but couldn't 'cuz she "can't handle that crunching sound."  So instead of stomping it myself I coaxed it onto a piece of paper and shook him off outside.  The dumbazz landed on the doormat and just sat there, nearly invisible on the black doormat.  He was soon to be goo if he stayed there long.  So I flicked him towards an open area, but he landed on his back and just looked really pathetic with his little six-pack of legs flailing furiously at the air.  So I flicked him again and he landed on his feet.  He's probably squished in the treads of a car tire by now, but hey, I tried.

If the Boy Scouts are right, I'm supposed to have done more than 14,000 good deeds by now.  I have some catching up to do.  But at least this one day, I ran a budget surplus.