Find a penny, pick it up...

...later on you'll find a duck? Yep, that is exactly the kind of luck I have.

I've been trying to get back into a walking routine for the past few days, and today I happened to see a penny in my path. Never one to pass up free money, I pick it up, even though it was tails-side up. Apparently, that whole face-up-to-be-lucky part is true, because about a mile later I ended up not with luck, but with a duck...ling. And it wasn't even that nice of a penny, as it's all dinged up:

A mile later I'm walking by a house and an older gentleman who I've exchanged greetings with in the past asks me to come help him catch a baby duck. It's a sad fact of the times we live in, but the first thing that pops into my head is that he's trying to lure me into some kind of trap! But we're outside on a fairly busy road and I'm pretty sure I can outrun him, so I follow him to the side of the house and sure enough, there's a duckling hiding in the shrubs. His Doberman had chased the mom away, and the duckling's peeps were drawing his cats to it, so not a good situation.

He finally manages to catch the baby, and then hands it to me, making it my problem! We wait a while to see if the mom comes back, but she doesn't, so now I hold this little life in my hands. Nothing to do but walk the last mile home with him/her cradled to my chest.

I put her (I'll call it a "her" just to make it easier) in, kind of ironically, one of my cat carriers while I call my vet. My cats, who usually run at the sight of the carriers, are fascinated by her peeps; they probably thought I'd brought them another toy!

Luckily, my vet told me about an avian rescue group about 20 miles from my house, so off we went:

Our timing was good, because the woman who runs the place said they were going to be busy this afternoon performing surgery on a peregrine falcon. She also said that they already had a solo duckling, so this little baby would have company right away. Here she is getting ready to enter her new (hopefully temporary) home:

So, it turns out that "lucky" penny cost me about $3 in gas and a $20 donation; but hey, I'm only out $22.99!

Sorry for the non-stitchy post, but I just had to share this little cutie. More stitching to come next week!

Edited to add a happy ending: the rehab center called just now and said that they were able to foster the baby into a wild duck family, so she is now back in the world with a new mom and eight siblings. I'm so happy!