Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

This card is made with two retired SU sets: Chickenwire background and Best of Cluck. It's for a gentleman that my husband works with that just underwent major surgery. They have a running joke about mulch but I didn't think mulch was appropriate to add to a card, so instead opted for the raffia. The paper used is So Saffron, Confetti White, Choc. Chip, and Real Red. The Chickenwire was stamped in Real Read (stamped off once) and Choc. Chip, So Saffron and Real Red were used for the rest of the stamping. Red Gingham ribbon was used on the top. I didn't want it to look feminine but it needed something.

My husband (whose name I'm not allowed to mention) will add a handwritten note inside. I hope his buddy doesn't have a fear of fowl!

I want to caption the picture below "I Don't Want Your Stinkin' Squirrel". This morning my daughter came back from getting coffee before I left for work and told me that there was a family of geese trying to cross the road not far from our house. She said that she saw 3 green fuzzy baby geeslings and their parents on the side of the road and that they were probably going to get hit by a car. After discussing the proper terminology for baby geese (which we still don't agree on) I had to leave for work myself. As I approached the bend in the road, there they were, there were 5 babies and they did indeed look green and fuzzy the way the sunlight was shining on them. They were on the other side of the guardrail and the parents looked so frantic, trying to keep them from wandering out onto the street and into the path of a car. I wished I could stop and do something but there's nowhere to stop on that curve. So when I got home from work I got my camera and walked down the street to see if I could see anything (by the way, luckily there wasn't anything dead on the road so I was assuming that I would see them alive somewhere). Much to my surprise, across the brook there was this large black object. Upon getting closer I could see that it was a bird - a turkey vulture. I walked down a little farther but I couldn't get a clear picture of it so I turned around and started to walk home. Just about half way there I heard this hissing noise and saw this guy. Now I like birds, but I'm not sure that this guy was very friendly hissing at me and all. Turns out that he had something on the ground in front of him and was pecking at it. When he lifted it up I could see that it was a dead squirrel. I guess he didn't want to share his dinner because as I lifted my camera (which by now was in sleep mode and had to be awoken to take the picture) he grabbed the squirrel and flew away. I guess the picture would have been much clearer if that bush wasn't there cause the camera focuses on the closest object, but then again, if that bush wasn't there I might have found out how truly unfriendly he was.