Saturday, we discovered a dead opossum - she had been hit by a car. Her babies -8 of them - were still alive. Some were still with her, most had crawled away into the grass at the side of the road. They were all very cold. So, I made a pouch of the front of my shirt and put them there so they could warm up. Back at the house I put them in a box with a heating pad to bring up their body temperature and called Monika Wilcox at Woodland Wildlife Rehab in
Radcliff,Ky. I have taken her all kinds of wild animal waifs - a baby skunk, a worm ridden raccoon, baby birds, other baby possums, it goes on and on. She has a small yard that is filled with runs for the various animals she cares for.
Here are the eight babies getting heated up before the drive to Radcliff.
What a sweet baby face.
The drive through Irvington - distance from our house to Radcliff - 45 miles.
The incubator the possums now share with 7 other baby possums.
Monika the benefactress of countless lucky birds, mammals and reptiles - one time she had a
box turtle which had been stepped on by a cow. The season is just beginning for her - right now she has 700 baby birds, 15 possums and 11 raccoons. I tried taking pictures of the baby birds, but they came out too blurry. Pretty soon, she will be overrun with fawns. In this picture, she is holding an opossum that will be 1 year old in October. I believe his name is Bob ( I could be wrong) and he is not releasable.
I am so grateful to have Monika and Woodland Wildlife - she works around the clock caring for these animals, I don't know how she does it. I always take a donation - we took a $50.00 check to offset the expense of the possums, but Woodland Wildlife really needs donations. If you can help, please send a tax deductible check to:
Monika Wilcox
Woodland Wildlife Rehabilitation
297 N. Woodland Dive
Radcliff,KY 40160
(270) 351-3509
Monika has many birds that can't be released back into the wild and so are permanent residents
like these barn owls, the red shoulder hawk and the great horned owl below.
This scupture began with a limestone block that Don started to work on and then abandoned. I hated to see that stone go to waste, so I tried working up a design that would fit into the remaining stone.
Here you can see I have crayoned on the basic design which will be a dancer, leaping. The inspiration for the piece was a stick caught in a spider web that if you squinted just right,
Here is the beginning of the figure. I had a small oil clay model to help me determine where everything was and what I needed to remove. This is the ugly stage of the sculpture. Just got to have faith that the form you want is in there, somewhere....
Another view of the dancer as he emerges.
