Signs.....

Last week on our way home from swimming lessons, I noticed a turtle on the side of the road, trying to cross. I turned the van around and Brian got out and moved him to the other side of the road. He didn't want to do it at first, but I was a *little* insistent that he try to help him out. After all, the road is pretty busy, the turtle is very slow and there was a curb on the other side of the road along the grass and I knew that the turtle, even if he did make it across road, would not make it up the curb to get on the grass. So, albeit reluctantly, Brian got out of the van and moved the turtle to the other side of the road, into the safe, grassy area where there was a swampy area below.

Late this afternoon, as I was coming back inside from getting the mail, I noticed something moving on my doorstep in the recessed area of the door frame. Upon closer look, I noticed it was a bird, a sparrow to be exact, but there was something wrong with it. He was shivering, he had his beak tucked under his wing and there was something on it's head. I thought that perhaps my cat hat gotten ahold of it, but remembered that my cat had been in all night & morning & was still inside. I left it where it was, thinking I would call the Bird Refuge people when Brian got home to look at it. In the meantime, my pastor came by to fetch his child and saw the bird in doorway. He told me that the "things" on it's head were not, as I had thought, brains, but rather ticks. TICKS. I nearly threw up. Ticks are gross....really, really GROSS. Anyway, he asked if me if I had a pair of gloves that he could wear and he would pull the ticks out. I got him some work gloves, he pulled the ticks out, put the bird out in the yard, he flew a bit, then headed toward our box holly bush, where he sat, shivering. The bird was still sitting there when Brian got home, so he got him some suet to see if he would eat, and when Brian went out to check on the bird about an hour later, he had falled over, with his eyes closed. Brian came in "playing" TAPS for me.

So, I can't help but wonder....is there something to that turtle and the bird? And if so, what? Especially the bird. Why did it come up onto my front stoop? He had to climb 3 big steps to get up there, then another step up into the recess of the door frame. I think "someone" is trying to tell me something, but if that is the case, I'm not good at solving riddles. I need clarity.