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The Jersey County Journal welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed, include your address and a daytime phone number. Letters without an individual’s signature will not be published. The Jersey County Journal will accept only letters to the editor that are written in good taste. Libelous remarks will not be published. The editor reserves the right to make the decision of acceptance. Letters may be edited for clarity, brevity and fairness. Letter writers may have only two letters printed per month.

Opinions expressed in columns are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.

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M E M B E R 2 0 1 8

2015

How to reach us: PHONE: 618-498-1234 FAX: 630-206-0320 MAIL: 832 S. State Street Jerseyville, IL 62052 E-MAIL: jcjnews@campbellpublications.net

It never hurts to smile

My mother has a bird trying to build a nest on her porch.

It’s not a robin, this time, or a grackle, but a very small bird. It wants to build its nest on top of Mom’s plastic squirrel garden statueon top of its head!

Apparently, the top of the statue’s head is flat, which makes just enough of a ledge for a very small nest. And a very big mess! Mom came home from car trouble and a shopping disaster to find the porch littered with nesting material left by the industrious mamma bird. Uncle Bill and Mom knocked down the nest, swept up the mess on the porch, and put things back in order, all while being watched by the very put-out bird.

Mom said the bird will probably be back tomorrow, trying to build her nest on top of the squirrel’s head. It’s an odd place for a nest, but then, I’m not a bird. I suppose the bird feels safe on top of the plastic squirrel. The whole idea of building a nest on top of the plastic squirrel’s head made me chuckle.

I needed a laugh today — a change of point-of-view. Don’t you?

Everyone has bad days. Days where we wake up and want nothing more than to cover our heads, dive back beneath the covers, and hide. I’ve had plenty of those days — days where I have too much to do and too little time to do it in. There are days where I fall into bed at night and toss and turn. Like the angry bird, I want to holler. Then, mercifully, night comes, I go to sleep, and another day ends so a new day can begin.

The true miracle is that I get up, rise again from the ashes of my defeat, and keep going. Like the mythological phoenix, I am forged in the fire of life’s trials and setbacks. I don’t die, but I do get up. It’s only when I refuse to rise that I truly fail.

Even the bird, once it was done scolding my mother, had to get up and go on. Those eggs have to go somewhere! I’m pretty sure the bird won’t like the bleach smell on the squirrel. Mom washed it down with bleach to kill all of the parasites and germs. No nest. No squirrel. Bad smell. No wonder the bird was having a really bad day!

It’s nice to know that I’m not the only person who has bad days — that I’m not the only one who complains when things go wrong in my life. Poor bird! But, I agree with Mom. No one wants lice and mites on the porch. It would be great if the birds cleaned up after themselves, but they don’t. They are messy houseguests. Mom likes the birds but not the mess. She has a no bird rule at her house. Watching the babies is wonderful, but cleaning up the mess is not.

By JARAD JARMON Jersey County Journal

On what is hoped to be the last day of the stay-at-home order, the TreeHouse Wildlife Center will be looking for donations during a busy time for those at the rehabilitation facility:

It’s baby season.

The TreeHouse Wildlife Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned wildlife and the educational promotion of environmental stewardship and awareness. And during this time, those at TreeHouse expect an inundation of animals — namely babies.

“This is our biggest time,” Kelly Vandersand, TreeHouse fundraising coordinator, said.

From February and March all the way to August, they see a flood of these baby animals.

“We get babies in by the box-full,” Vandersand said.

Currently, they are housing a whole range of baby animals including foxes, coyotes, squirrels and owls.

With this influx of babies comes a need for supplies, so the TreeHouse staff is opening up the center, in a sense, for a Drive-Thru Baby Shower. Organizers will be celebrating these little critters May 30 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Like any baby shower, gifts are appreciated. They are asking for donations that will go toward resupplying the center and supporting the animals; specifically, they are asking for bungee cords of all sizes, kitchen or 33 gallon trash bags, any cleaning supplies, paint scrapers, laundry detergent and dryer sheets, arm-length welding/animal handling gloves, latex gloves (medical/cleaning), 8 quart rubber feed and water bowls, 1 quart or gallon “Ziploc” bags, 1 gallon and 1/2 gallon buckets, heat lamps, full spectrum light bulbs heating pads w/ no automatic shut offs, printer paper, gas gift cards to cover transportation of injured animals, and durable plastic kiddie pools/water troughs.

During the baby shower, they will have volunteers collecting donations and taking “selfies” with those in attendance. Photos will be posted on their Facebook page to then share with friends and family. Animal ambassadors will be out with handlers for viewing as weather and environmental factors allow. Those interested will also get a bag with activity sheets.

Q Heidi Moore is a resident of Jersey County and a guest columnist for the Jersey County Journal. Guest Column BY HEIDI MOORE

TreeHouse hosts baby shower ahead of hopeful reopen

Mom’s in for a rough few days. She now has a car repair bill on top of everything elseand an overzealous bird to fight with. Argue with is the better terminology. Birds like to argue just like the rest of us. I want to build there. You can’t. Yes, I can! No, you can’t. Make me!

Arguing with a bird set on building a nest on the porch is like arguing with a defiant dog. The only difference is that a bird hollers and a dog sulks. Either way, the argument goes array. The dog doesn’t wear the harness you bought for him, and the bird returns with renewed vigor. Mark Twain put it best in his short story, “What Stumped the Blue Jay’s.” “A jay can lie, a jay can steal, a jay can cuss…” You get the picture.

Arguing with a bird isn’t any fun, but arguing with your family isn’t much fun, either, though it does happen. We’re all stuck at home together due to the coronavirus threat, and, while togetherness is good, it’s not so fun when the family gets on each others’ nerves.

Sometimes it takes an angry, hollering bird to make us laugh at ourselves. To realize we do some pretty silly things, like building a nest on top of an unstable, plastic squirrel! Maybe we need more birds to help us realize that life is unpredictable at times, but it is also great. It never hurts to give ourselves, our families and our kids a lot of forgiveness and grace.

Smile when you think you can’t. A change of view is good for the soul.

Always. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

On their drive through the facility, attendees will also be greeted by a “cheer squad” of volunteers. Vandersand said groups of people will have signs, and they’ll cheer everybody on as they come through.

The baby shower serves as a unique twist on a fundraiser they have done in the past around this time of year, and with the shutdown of more social avenues of raising money, these creative means have been a necessity at TreeHouse.

“We’ve had to kind of come up with unique ways to fundraise, because unfortunately, wildlife rehabilitation is rather expensive,” Vandersand said.

And the work still needs to get done.

“Even though the world has kind of stopped right now with COVID-19, we have still continued to rescue rehabilitate and release wildlife,” Vandersand said.

Despite a virus, the need for their services is ever-present, and thankfully for those at the center, so is the support from the community.

“We have been blessed,” Vandersand said. “We’ve had overwhelming support.”

Under the current circumstances everybody is in, it is especially appreciated, Vandersand said.

This was especially evident when they put a call out on Facebook for meat for the animals. There was concern that such a request would garner negativity in a situation where meat is hard to come by, but instead, the center saw an overwhelmingly positive response and donations.

Vandersand said the post even grew to reach over 42,000 people, one of the biggest— if not the biggest— outreach they had gotten for such a call on social media.

“That’s viral for us,” Vandersand.

Those at the TreeHouse are hoping to open following the end of the stay-at-home order.

This Week's

ONLINE POLL

Share your answer at jerseycountyjournal.com

This poll is not scientific and reflects the opinion of those who chose to respond

A: I am going to just relax and veg out. B: I will be visiting graves of the fallen. C: I will be celebrating the day with family in the military. D: I have to work on Memorial Day.

Q: How are you celebrating

memorial day?

Q: Should the region open earlier than

rest of the state?

36% 29% 14% 21% Last week's poll question Yes, we should not have closed down in the first place. Yes, but only in a limited capacity. Safety guidelines should be required. No, it sends the wrong message about Jersey’s thoughts on COVID-19. No, this make the virus a much bigger issue in the county.

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