Birdcatchers
If you ask most people what the most interesting thing they've done this week is, you'll get some bland answers: "I watched something on TV." "I read something crazy on the internet."
Not me.
Yesterday, a bird somehow got into the back room at the comic book store. It wasn't very big and it was just sitting on some of the pipes. Several people tried to get it out, but since the thing hid in a cluttered back corner, there was nothing we could do.
Today, I dropped in for a few minutes in between getting some figures for my thesis and going to the library to type them into the paper. The whole time I was talking to Tom, I heard the bird making lots of noise. We were afraid it had gotten into the walls of the store proper.
I went downstairs to use the restroom--and I saw the bird in the main room of the basement, a room filled with boxes of comics. This wasn't good. A bird hanging around with boxes isn't that bad, but a bird hanging around with old comic books, that could be disaster. Obviously, the bird had to go.
Since the bird found a corner where it thought it could easily hide in, I got the idea that I could prod it out with my umbrella and catch it in some comic box lids. But it thought it could hide in the corner, so that didn't work. Instead, the bird likely hurt its wing trying to fly in an incredibly confined space.
Tom said the bird was close enough to the open where someone could reach in and grab it. Since Ken wasn't around to do the crazy stuff, I volunteered. Tom laughed and said I didn't have to, but I did anyway.
It was a little bird, probably a fledgling. As I tried to nudge it into the open, I noticed that it let off a series of cries, all without closing its mouth. Since I didn't want to make any more contact with the bird than I had to (it wouldn't be good for the bird), when I got it to hop out a few feet, I made a motion toward Jack and said for him to pass me a box. About that moment, customers started coming in upstairs and everyone else migrated that way. I nearly got the lid put over the bird, but it dashed past me before I could get it all the way down. I jumped forward with the box again, catching the bird's wing for a single second.
It flew into another corner, this one surounded by a desk instead of comic boxes. The commotion brought the other guys back and we proceeded to the desk. The bird was sitting in the corner, feeling momentarily safer. I asked the guys to make some motion off to the side of me as I walked around to another angle and dropped the box lid over the bird. And succeeded.
We cleared a path to the door and I used a piece of small cardboard to wedge a gap under the box so Jack could slide a long piece of cardboard underneath. As we straightened it out, we heard the bird crying out again and noticed we'd caught it's foot outside of the box lid. I lifted the lid slightly and managed to get the entire bird safely under the box lid.
Due to the size of the box, I had Jack help me escort the bird out. Since I was walking backwards, I managed to fall when I got backed into the stairs, but the bird didn't get out and I was fine. I got back up, we went out the door, and released the bird... who promptly ran underneath Tom's car.
Not to worry, the car was parked. Within an hour, a larger bird of the same variety landed in front of the comic book store. A few minutes later, the little bird we'd nearly kept as store mascot hopped out and started following its mother.
Who says there are no happy endings?
Not me.
Yesterday, a bird somehow got into the back room at the comic book store. It wasn't very big and it was just sitting on some of the pipes. Several people tried to get it out, but since the thing hid in a cluttered back corner, there was nothing we could do.
Today, I dropped in for a few minutes in between getting some figures for my thesis and going to the library to type them into the paper. The whole time I was talking to Tom, I heard the bird making lots of noise. We were afraid it had gotten into the walls of the store proper.
I went downstairs to use the restroom--and I saw the bird in the main room of the basement, a room filled with boxes of comics. This wasn't good. A bird hanging around with boxes isn't that bad, but a bird hanging around with old comic books, that could be disaster. Obviously, the bird had to go.
Since the bird found a corner where it thought it could easily hide in, I got the idea that I could prod it out with my umbrella and catch it in some comic box lids. But it thought it could hide in the corner, so that didn't work. Instead, the bird likely hurt its wing trying to fly in an incredibly confined space.
Tom said the bird was close enough to the open where someone could reach in and grab it. Since Ken wasn't around to do the crazy stuff, I volunteered. Tom laughed and said I didn't have to, but I did anyway.
It was a little bird, probably a fledgling. As I tried to nudge it into the open, I noticed that it let off a series of cries, all without closing its mouth. Since I didn't want to make any more contact with the bird than I had to (it wouldn't be good for the bird), when I got it to hop out a few feet, I made a motion toward Jack and said for him to pass me a box. About that moment, customers started coming in upstairs and everyone else migrated that way. I nearly got the lid put over the bird, but it dashed past me before I could get it all the way down. I jumped forward with the box again, catching the bird's wing for a single second.
It flew into another corner, this one surounded by a desk instead of comic boxes. The commotion brought the other guys back and we proceeded to the desk. The bird was sitting in the corner, feeling momentarily safer. I asked the guys to make some motion off to the side of me as I walked around to another angle and dropped the box lid over the bird. And succeeded.
We cleared a path to the door and I used a piece of small cardboard to wedge a gap under the box so Jack could slide a long piece of cardboard underneath. As we straightened it out, we heard the bird crying out again and noticed we'd caught it's foot outside of the box lid. I lifted the lid slightly and managed to get the entire bird safely under the box lid.
Due to the size of the box, I had Jack help me escort the bird out. Since I was walking backwards, I managed to fall when I got backed into the stairs, but the bird didn't get out and I was fine. I got back up, we went out the door, and released the bird... who promptly ran underneath Tom's car.
Not to worry, the car was parked. Within an hour, a larger bird of the same variety landed in front of the comic book store. A few minutes later, the little bird we'd nearly kept as store mascot hopped out and started following its mother.
Who says there are no happy endings?
posted by LEN! at 10:18 PM
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