Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2018-01

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Four college students are helped after an accident
• Shirley Conlon forwards this month´s calendar illustration
• Tom Telfer prefers travelling by train to travelling by car
• Geoff Goodship writes about bird-feeding on Vancouver Island
• Catherine Nesbitt forwards this article about birds vs drones
• Barbara Wear sends this story about an unexpected return
• Marilyn Magid shares this story about a driving licence
• The editor expresses her thanks to readers
• Tom Telfer suggests interesting websites

Ellen SchraderStutts Durham of North Carolina tells her Heroic Story:

OVER THE GUARDRAIL

Three of my college dorm mates and I headed home for Christmas from North Carolina to various points of the Northeastern United States. We were driving up I-95 in a rural part of Virginia when bad judgment launched us over a guardrail and down a steep embankment. It was after dark, and despite bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-95, we knew that the car was too far down the embankment to be seen. We were prepared for a very long hike to the next exit to call for help (this was in the mid-70s, long before cell phones!)

Before we could scramble to the top of the embankment, we heard a voice asking if we were hurt. A motorist had seen us go over the guardrail and immediately pulled over to help. He was about as surprised to see us as we were to see him! He told us that judging from the way the car plummeted, he hadn´t expected to find survivors. Mr. Olson was a travelling salesman headed home to the D.C. area after a week of work. He offered to drive us to the nearest exit so we could call police and a wrecker, and since the car was obviously totaled, notify our parents that we wouldn´t arrive that night.

After making the necessary calls, Mr. Olson drove us back to the side of the road to wait for the police. Unfortunately for us, there had been an even-more-serious wreck down the road that night, so the police didn´t arrive for three hours. Mr. Olson insisted on waiting with us the entire time, running his car heater so we wouldn´t be cold.

Once the police had taken the accident report, he drove us to a nearby hotel to spend the night. Sensing that we were the stereotypical poor college students, he offered to loan us the money for the hotel room. We thanked him but declined, and offered to pay him for his trouble, or at least for the gas he used while waiting with us. But he refused to take any money, saying he hoped that if his wife or daughter were ever in a similar situation that someone would help them out.

In the process of climbing up the embankment, my roommate had lost her boyfriend´s class ring. She was devastated, and spent considerable time trying to locate it in the dark. We mentioned her ring to the tow truck driver in passing. The next day he arrived at the hotel with the car - and the class ring! He had been so concerned about it that he had spent part of the morning going over the ground with a metal detector until he found it.

Two people going the extra mile to help a bunch of strangers - it certainly renewed my faith that there are good people in the world.

NOTE: E-mail subscriptions to Heroic Stories are free. Sign up here: http://www.HeroicStories.org.

Shirley Conlon forwards the current month´s calendar as portrayed by a resident of a seniors´ home:

James Bond, as portrayed by Wilhelm Buiting, 90

Tom Telfer writes about

TRAIN TRAVEL TODAY

Heading out to visit relatives for the holidays requires specific planning. Thinking about our winter roads, we decide that taking the train is a safer option.

Most folks buy their tickets online, but I like to complete the transaction in person. No-one wants to be at a railway station heading in the wrong direction. With railways wanting to cut costs, some stations operate with no staff. If you do not have a ticket, you will need to buy one from a machine.

Railway staff are very helpful with the boarding process, as large suitcases are hoisted up into place. The key to a successful trip is being early at the station. As the train picks up speed, the friendly conductor scans your ticket.

As you near your destination, it is wise to speak to a husky young man who will lift your case down to the sidewalk.

The trip ends well when someone is there to meet you. Then you have a guide to choose the right elevator that takes you down under the tracks to a hallway that leads to another elevator that takes you up to the station.

It is a very relaxing way to travel, and you often pass folks stuck on a highway.

Geoff Goodship tells us about

WINTER ALONG THE WEST COAST

In late December and while the rest of Canada is wondering what weather will hit them next, Vancouver Islanders are busy with their annual bird count.

I don´t feel the need to plow off into the bush with binocs to count birds, for birds can easily be called to almost any feeder and almost any food.

Each winter I create some kind of feeding station in the middle of our back lawn. I leave a space around it and add a little fencing to gives the birds a chance to survive several neighbourhood cats.

By January I´ve pretty well established what birds are around. There are occasional surprizes with newcomers, but not this year.

This year I´ve set up my tripod and camera outside to record them rather than just shoot through a window glass. I turn on the video, then just leave the scene. The camera battery seems to last about 35 minutes outside in this cold weather. Next, I´ll view the camera card on my TV. Sometimes nothing useable has been recorded, but often there are some video clips worth adding to my 2017 backyard bird count.

In this winter´s video I filmed several Stellar jays, three kinds of sparrows, a couple of towhees, a desperate mob of Japanese starlings, a couple of very wary crows, and one flying pig.

Catherine Nesbitt forwards this article about

WINGED WARRIORS HUNTING ROGUE DRONES

Following incidents of drones flying over the presidential palace and restricted military sites - along with the deadly 2015 Paris terror attacks - the French Air Force has trained four golden eagles to intercept and destroy the rogue aircraft.

Aptly named d´Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis - an homage to Alexandre Dumas´ "The Three Musketeers" - the four birds of prey have been honing their attack skills at the Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France since mid-2016.

"A drone means food for these birds," Gerald Machoukow, the military base´s falconer, told FRANCE 24. "Now they automatically go after them ."

The use of hunting birds - normally falcons and northern goshawks - by militaries around the globe is common practice in the fight to scare other critters away from runways and so cut the risk of accidents during takeoff or landing. But it wasn´t until 2015 when the Dutch started using bald eagles to intercept drones that other militaries started to see the benefit of these winged warriors.

The French bred the four golden eagles - three males and one female - using artificial insemination since eagles are a protected species and harvesting wild eggs is strictly forbidden. They chose the golden eagle because of the birds´ hooked beak and sharp eyesight.

A golden eagle grabs a flying drone during a military training exercise at Mont-de-Marsan French Air Force base, Southwestern France

Also weighing in around 11 pounds, the birds are in a similar weight class as the drones they´re sent to destroy, and clocking in at a top air speed of 50 miles per hour, with the capability of spotting its target from over a mile away, the eagles are deft hunters.

To protect the eagles from drone blades and any explosive device that might be attached to them, the French military designed mittens of leather and Kevlar (an anti-blast material), to protect the bird´s talons. "I love these birds," Machoukow told Agence France-Presse. "I don´t want to send them to their death."

The birds are first taught to attack in a straight line before graduating to diving from heights. Soon they´ll be patrolling the skies over the Pyrenees Mountains in southern France, and could possibly be deployed at airports and special events, such as political summits and soccer tournaments.

The French air force already expects four more eagles to join the fleet.

Barbara Wear sends the story of

DON´T DESPAIR

Sitting by the window of her convent, Sister Judy opened a letter from home one evening. Inside the letter was a $100 bill her parents had sent. Sister Judy smiled at the gesture.

As she read the letter by the window, she noticed a shabbily dressed stranger leaning against the lamp post below. Quickly, she wrote, "Don´t despair. - Sister Judy," on a piece of paper, wrapped the $100 bill in it, got the man´s attention, and tossed it out the window to him.

The stranger picked it up, and with a puzzled expression and a tip of his hat, went off down the street.

The next day, Sister Judy was told that a man was at the door, insisting on seeing her.

She went down, and found the stranger waiting. Without a word, he handed her a huge wad of $100 bills.

"What´s this?" she asked.

"That´s the $8,000 you have coming, Sister," he replied. "´Don´t Despair´ paid 80-to-1."

Marilyn Magid forwards this story about

MOTHER´S DRIVING LICENCE

A mother is driving her little girl to her friend"s house for a play date.

"Mommy," the little girl asks, "how old are you?"

"Honey, you are not supposed to ask a lady her age," the mother replied. "It"s not polite."

"OK," the little girl says, "How much do you weigh?"

"Now really," the mother says, "those are personal questions and are really none of your business."

Undaunted, the little girl asks, "Why did you and Daddy get a divorce?"

"That"s enough questions, young lady! Honestly!" The exasperated mother walks away as the two friends begin to play.

"My Mom won"t tell me anything about herself," the little girl says to her friend.

"Well," says the friend, "all you need to do is look at her driver"s license. It´s like a report card; it has everything on it."

Later that night the little girl says to her mother, "I know how old you are. You are 32."

The mother is surprised and asks, "How did you find that out?"

"I also know that you weigh 130 pounds."

The mother is past surprised and shocked now.

"How in Heaven"s name did you find that out?"

"And," the little girl says triumphantly, "I know why you and daddy got a divorce."

"Oh really?" the mother asks. "Why?"

"Because you got an F in sex."

FROM THE EDITOR´S DESKTOP

My thanks to all of you who wrote to encourage me to continue publishing The Spinner. These included Anne Hogan, Annette Vowles, Barbara Wear, Betty Audet, Geoff Goodship, Kate Brookfield, and Jean Sterling. Forgive me if I have forgotten anyone.

Geoff Goodship deserves special thanks because he responded to my appeal for more personal stories with his account of bird watching in his back yard.

I had already decided to continue because I need a challenge, and sometimes finding enough material for an issue is a challenge indeed. Other times I have an embarrassment of riches, and the only challenge is to decide which items to use when. I like those times!

Once again, thank you to all my readers and contributors. I am grateful for your continued presence in my life.

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Tom Telfer forwards this link to a site of all the amazing things that humans did in 2017:

Tom also sends the URL for photos of 10 of the craziest intersections in the world:

This website describes five good-news stories to counteract the depressing news to which we are constantly exposed:

Dr. McDougall talks about Dr. Henry Heimlich, the inventor of the Heimlich maneuver, who saved more lives than any other person on earth. It includes an illustration of the maneuver:

This organization in Kenya is teaching simple self-defence to girls and boys to prevent sexual assault. It has already resulted in sexual assault rates being cut in half:

The Good News Network lists ten of the greatest things that happened in 2017:

In this TED talk, Prof. Frank Gu of the University of Waterloo talks about one way to tackle the global water crisis using nanotechnology: