I have quite a few acts of kindness accumulated so I thought I’d do a post tonight and will try to do a second this week. Tonight is a hodgepodge of random items I’ve been holding onto.
Finally have the house almost back together after getting new floors. I’m loving them, but what a heck of a lot of work.
ETA: I moved the ducks up here because the Instagram embed would not work with the youtube link after I posted it. It was 100 degrees and Nora was panting, so it was time for some sprinkler fun.
First up: Love me some Matthew Lillard
I love the sweetness of writing thank you notes for random people:
A very smart mom:
And this guy and his vulture friend. There was some debate if he was his pet (I guess people keep vultures like they keep falcons) but in his Instagram post (below) he says he’s free to come and go as he pleases. So it makes it even more fun, in my mind. I love vultures, turkey vultures migrate through Boulder County every year and it’s amazing to see them fill the skies.
Solo deleiten este espectáculo 👏🏾
Vacila @maderodeivis
Flying high with 🦅 🪂 Tag someone who would love to do this!
🎥 by @rafaellvital, with @uru_fly
📍Serra da Aratanha, Brazil.#wildliveplanet #wildlifephotography #amazinggrace pic.twitter.com/AC7BTPOMWt— فيشالب🧙🏾♂️🖤🦁🐆 Alongi (@Faakin5) June 6, 2022
The vulture is his friend – his Instagram is full of videos and photos of them together
View this post on Instagram
And finally, it was 100 degrees yesterday and I looked out to see Nora panting, so it was time for some sprinkler fun.
That’s it for tonight’s Acts of Kindness. A little respite for your mental health…
debbie
Sweet ducks!
Rob
I love the vulture videos!
EarthWindFire
The pirate story reminds me of how my mom used to hand us a paintbrush and a coffee can full of water. She’d tell us the car needed painting and we’d be such a big help if we painted the car.
TaMara
Okay, so I had to reconfigure everything so the Instagram video would embed. Ducks are now at the top of the post.
geg6
My beloved BIL died yesterday. We are all just devastated. But my niece (not his daughter) wrote this as a tribute:
“ uncle george,
i could write a million words about you and how great you were and it would never be enough. you taught me a million lessons about life and supported me every step of the way. you taught me how to change head lights and tail lights, how to check the oil in a car, how to put air in my tire, and most of all you taught me how to be a good human being.
you never stopped helping people and teaching me to do the same. i will forever be helping people because of you. you have changed so many lives for the better and i hope you know that.
i’ll love you forever and i’ll never stop missing you! and don’t worry i’ll make it to disneyland and galaxy’s edge and harry potter world for the both of us (and take lots of pictures like how you always took pictures of everyone and everything)
thanks for spending one last birthday with me, the big 21 you always talked about
-caitie”
It completely broke me but it is so lovely. I’m so proud of what wonderful woman she’s become.
Baud
@geg6:
My condolences.
geg6
@Baud:
Thank you. He was everything she said and more. She is a truly kind and sensitive person. So proud of her.
Frank Wilhoit
@debbie: There is a really top-notch bird sanctuary up the road from us. About ten years ago, the state law dealing with the keeping of “exotic” animals was tightened up. In the wake of that change, the sanctuary got a big tranche of surrenders of birds that people had been keeping as pets: everything from blue jays to bald eagles, and including a black vulture and a couple of turkey vultures. Seem like you can bond with pretty much anything if you feed it.
TaMara
@geg6: That is beautiful and a wonderful tribute. Condolences to you and your family. He sounds like an amazing man.
geg6
@TaMara:
He really was. My poor sister is so sad, it makes me hurt.
JPL
@geg6: I’m so sorry and thank you sharing her tribute.
CaseyL
@geg6: My condolences. He sounds like a wonderful person.
The man who is friends with a wild turkey vulture, to the point where s/he glides along with him, gives me chills. Deep friendships with other species, enabling cross-species friendships, is what I think would have been a great mission, history, and legacy for humanity. Too bad we went in a totally different direction – but these sparks, these stories, touch my heart.
EarthWindFire
@geg6: You had a great BIL and have a wonderful niece. My condolences.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@geg6:
My condolences. Your BIL sounds like he was a good man and your niece a wonderful person
Elizabelle
@geg6: George sounds wonderful, and your niece is continuing the family tradition. I am so sorry for your loss.
trollhattan
@geg6: It would seem George brightened many, many lives. Very sorry you and the whole family have lost him–the fond memories will help ease the pain eventually.
ArchTeryx
Compared with most birds of prey, vultures are absolute sweethearts. They readily socialize to people and are overall pretty harmless and useful animals. They have a dire and totally unearned reputation because of their association with death but believe it or not they prefer fresh food!
I know a rehabber who has a Yellow Headed Vulture as the facility mascot. On his hatching day he got filet mignon and loved it. Lucky bird!
geg6
Thanks all. My niece is really something else. Majoring in nuclear medicine, starting an undergrad internship at Mayo in the spring and president of her sorority. The kindest and most empathetic young woman you could ever hope to meet.
My BIL saved my next older sister’s life, metaphorically, (not Caitie’s mom, who is currently undergoing immunotherapy and chemotherapy for a particularly nasty breast cancer). He was her fourth husband and just loved her and supported her and made her feel like the greatest thing since sliced bread. She had a long line of abusive husbands and he was her rock for the last 13 years. I’m so sad, I can’t even explain.
TaMara
@ArchTeryx: Careful…Cole will start leaving flank steak in the yard to attract them. LOL
raven
The first summer we lived in LA my old man was a reserve officer in the Navy and got assigned to amphibious school at Coronado. We lived in La Jolla and took “famous ancient” hikes on the beach and found just such stuff. Some of it pirate plunder for sure!
persistentillusion
@CaseyL: That vid made me cry. I’ve had dogs with that sort of bond, but the person who could create that with a bird, which are flying dinosaurs when you come down to it, is amazing.
persistentillusion
@EarthWindFire: Well said. Condolences.
CarolPW
We worked on a wind farm site on the Caprock above Roswell NM, and there would always be turkey vultures gliding back and forth along the cliff edge, and once we counted more than 40. One afternoon I was walking along a fence at the cliff edge hanging bat detectors, and my sister had driven ahead of me to the end of the fence. I heard an odd chuckling sound, looked behind me and there were at least 10 turkey vultures walking behind me watching what I was doing. And then I looked up and another dozen or so were coasting along in the updraft watching too. Several were close enough to touch. Those suckers are HUGE when they are that close and eerie when there are so many. Fortunately it wasn’t an evil sounding chuckle so I didn’t run screaming off the cliff.
SpaceUnit
The story below the duck video needs a little more context.
Who are these people?
Old Dan and Little Ann
I’m going to to go out on a limb and say people would not mind vultures as much if they were not so gross looking.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@geg6: I’m so sorry. He sounds like a great guy
Elizabelle
Vultures remind me of ZZ Topp. They had, um, a less than marvelous experience of the vultures they incorporated into a stage set.
RIP Dusty Hill. One of the greats.
debbie
@geg6:
So very sorry for your loss.
Elizabelle
@geg6: That is the best kind of romance story. A really wonderful guy.
You have a right to be so sad. George deserves it.
Ken
“Can we have a snack now, Mom? We finished scraping all the old paint off the car.”
scribbler
@geg6: So sorry for the loss of your dear BIL. But how wonderful is the connection he made to your niece.
Redshift
I love listening to the ducks. Wack-wack-wack-wack-wack-wack!
Steve in the ATL
A few years ago we had a group of eight or so turkey vultures land on our deck and just hang out for a while. They are huge! We were worried about our cats, but luckily both were inside, and were even a little worried that they might carry off a golden retriever or two….
Brachiator
@geg6:
That is very sweet. Thank you for sharing it.
My condolences to you and to your family.
TaMara
@SpaceUnit: Matthew Lillard played live-action Shaggy in Scooby-Do and does the VO now, too.
I’m assuming this was some type of comic-con event and he was just an amazing human being during it.
dkinPa
@geg6:
My condolences to you and your family. Such a sweet note from your niece.
zhena gogolia
@geg6: I’m very sorry.
SpaceUnit
@TaMara:
Okay, thanks. I’d never heard of him.
My Celebrity-Fu is not strong.
TaMara
@SpaceUnit: No worries, you are just not a Scooby fanatic like I am, LOL! He does an amazing Shaggy. He’s also a great character actor in more serious works.
karensky
Many thanks for each and every kindness post you made today, TaMara, I was very delighted and moved by all of them. You are a creative and kind soul yourself.