Okay--I had another run-in with a bird! The first incident that I'm referring to can be found at the following address:(http://http://busymomto6.blogspot.com/2009_01_25_archive.html).
It was Tuesday night, quite late, dark, and foggy. I had taken Brienna & Zane to the dentist earlier in the afternoon and shopped a bit. We (Brienna, Zane, & Benjamin) were driving home from watching the boy's district basketball game (we lost). About 10 miles from home, I saw (through the fog), what I thought was a clump of snow. As I switched my bright lights on, I realized it was a pretty big bird sitting in the middle of my lane. I had a second to react, so I applied the brakes, but the silly bird did not move--just sat there and hit the front of my van!!!
I screamed, because as it hit the van (thud), it then flipped up to the windshield right in front of my view {thump, thump--that's my heart beating a million beats a minute :)}, and over the top of the van.
I thought that it had hit the bumper/license plate. But after I had parked the van (by now it was after 11 pm), I started unloading the groceries, etc.--you know I can't make a trip into town without buying groceries!! As I unloaded, I heard a ton of liquid dripping (pouring) from under the van. That's when I discovered the damage.
So I had to go wake poor sleeping Rusty (he had stayed home with Emmalee who was sick, and Callum) to tell him the bad news and have him check it out. He asked what he could do about it at 11 at night, and I said nothing except make me feel better!
He said it was the transmission radiator, but it looked like there was a nice big hole in it.
If you look close, you can even see some of the feathers the bird left behind! Wednesday after school, Rusty took the radiator out--so we didn't have to tow the van 45 miles to town to get it fixed. Friday he took the broken parts to town: the radiator was beyond repair, so a new one is on order, and he found a grill at the junk yard. But that took his whole Friday up!! Thanks Rusty--you're the greatest.The van will be out of commission for about a week, so we are going to attempt to fit into the pickup to go to the next district basketball game (Sat. at 6 pm).
This is my first "accident"/damage to a vehicle!! I miss my van.
