(no subject)
Jun. 15th, 2012 07:32 amI was surrounded by sleeping cats this morning as I enjoyed my morning cup of coffee and internetting. And then…
… shuffle shuffle scritch scritch flapflapflap.
First one cat gets up and pads predatorily into the dining room.
The sounds get more intense. Two cats get up, three. All of them heading, ears back, into the dining room.
I’m thinking, “What the heck? Is the three legger stuck in a diaper box and can’t get out or something?”
I get up and follow all the cats into the dining room (reluctantly leaving my cup of coffee). They are all clustered in front of the fireplace and the flapping noises are getting more frantic. A bird! A bird stuck in our fireplace!
The fireplace itself is a turn-of-the-century fireplace, built in mantle and mercury glass mirror, with the original green 1900s tiling around the inset. It has a scalloped metal surround with a fitted metal piece that completely covers the insides/grate. We’ve only opened it twice since we moved in. And the first time we opened it, we found a looooong dead bird skeleton.
Bird! In the fireplace! I run upstairs with a hysterical giggle fueled by my quasi-adrenaline rush and wake Nicole. Bird in fireplace!
Of course, she immediately knows what to do. Thank God I married her. She goes out to the garage and gets her large fishing net and instructs me to hold the net. I help her pry off the fireplace cover and we discover (with the help of a flashlight) that the bird has wedged itself as far away from us as possible and might actually be stuck behind the built-in coal grate. Nicole goes outside for her garden gloves.
I’m still holding this ridiculously large net in the dining room with instructions: If the bird gets out of hand, Nicole is going to dump it in the net. If it doesn’t get freaked out, I’m to run to the front door and open it as she walks the bird outside.
She calmly reaches in and takes the bird carefully from the grate. The bird is really calm for a bird that was trapped in a fireplace surrounded by 8 cats. I run to the front door (holding the net) and open it. Nicole walks out into the yard and opens her hands – the bird flies away with a dust bunny dangling from a foot.
… shuffle shuffle scritch scritch flapflapflap.
First one cat gets up and pads predatorily into the dining room.
The sounds get more intense. Two cats get up, three. All of them heading, ears back, into the dining room.
I’m thinking, “What the heck? Is the three legger stuck in a diaper box and can’t get out or something?”
I get up and follow all the cats into the dining room (reluctantly leaving my cup of coffee). They are all clustered in front of the fireplace and the flapping noises are getting more frantic. A bird! A bird stuck in our fireplace!
The fireplace itself is a turn-of-the-century fireplace, built in mantle and mercury glass mirror, with the original green 1900s tiling around the inset. It has a scalloped metal surround with a fitted metal piece that completely covers the insides/grate. We’ve only opened it twice since we moved in. And the first time we opened it, we found a looooong dead bird skeleton.
Bird! In the fireplace! I run upstairs with a hysterical giggle fueled by my quasi-adrenaline rush and wake Nicole. Bird in fireplace!
Of course, she immediately knows what to do. Thank God I married her. She goes out to the garage and gets her large fishing net and instructs me to hold the net. I help her pry off the fireplace cover and we discover (with the help of a flashlight) that the bird has wedged itself as far away from us as possible and might actually be stuck behind the built-in coal grate. Nicole goes outside for her garden gloves.
I’m still holding this ridiculously large net in the dining room with instructions: If the bird gets out of hand, Nicole is going to dump it in the net. If it doesn’t get freaked out, I’m to run to the front door and open it as she walks the bird outside.
She calmly reaches in and takes the bird carefully from the grate. The bird is really calm for a bird that was trapped in a fireplace surrounded by 8 cats. I run to the front door (holding the net) and open it. Nicole walks out into the yard and opens her hands – the bird flies away with a dust bunny dangling from a foot.