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ost_uid4]Kamikaze birds and other assorted flying objects........
Way back in the dark ages of my trucking career I was driving a "R" Model Mack, yes it had 2 sticks in it, anyway I was pulling a flatbed up US 206 in northern NJ just about daybreak one fall morning when I saw a dark object heading towards me, for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was until it hit the passengers side windshield and completely shattering it. Amongst the shower of glass and other odd objects and the shock of being hit I managed to pull the truck over. After the "storm" subsided I noticed an Owl sitting in the passenger seat. It was the biggest Owl I had ever seen. "Not so smart were you???" I asked my quite dead friend.
I called for help on the CB, when CB was a good thing to have.
The nice lady who answered my call thought I was kidding her and it took about 10 minutes to convince her I was serious. She did call the police plus, she had to come out and see for herself.
When the officers arrived they weren't sure what to think, but there it was, a big old Barn Owl sitting in the seat just as if I had placed it there. The lady came up to the truck and was really surprised, she also brought me coffee, which was nice of her. One of the investigating officers asked what I was going to do with the Owl. I told him I'm keeping it as evidence so the boss don't try to charge me with an accident!
About 2 hours later the windshield repair person wasa finished and after numerous phone calls to the boss and the receiver I was on my way. I took the Owl and strapped its feet to the CB and propped it up so it could look out the windshield.
I made it to the recievers yard and pulled up to the guardshack, the female guard came out and started laughing. I asked her what was so funny and she pointed to my buddy. I told her it was a new type of radar detector, when it spotted a police officer with radar the tail feathers would go up and it would drop a present on the radio. Don't know if she believed me or not.
The Owl rode with me the entire day and when I got back to the yard I showed the evidence to the boss. He asked if I was going to keep it and I told him no, but I did know a police officer in town who collected stuffed Owls, so I called him and he came and got it.
Yes he still has that mean old bird today!
Two side notes: The incident did make the paper in the little town where the incident happened and the lady turned out to be the mother of a Amateur radio operator in Raliegh who had heard me telling someone about this a few years back!!!
Got to run, next on the agenda "Lightning and the Volvo"[/color
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