Attacked in my own home
Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:49 am
About 3:30 yesterday afternoon, I was on the phone standing in from of the fireplace in my family room when, BAM, something hit the back of my house. My first thought was that a bullet had hit my house. I immediately hit the floor and noticed that my cats had pretty much done the same thing. My Glock was there on the coffee table so I reached for it. Slowly, I rose up and looked around expecting to see broken glass or something. I looked out back towards the alley and beyond (There’s a “nature preserve” behind my house but way beyond that, ½-3/4 mile away is Davis Street). I looked on the patio (as that is where the noise seemed to come) to see if there was any evidence there and couldn’t see anything. I walked back into the family room, all the time looking out the window and then noticed a spot on one of the windows about the size of a softball with a thick fluid in the center of it with some sort of plant material in the thick fluid. I then realized that a bird had tried to fly through my house again. Previously, a sparrow or finch would make this mistake (once fatally) but this time it was obviously a much larger bird. Again I looked on the patio and didn’t see anything at first. Then, there under one of the patio chairs was a large dove, apparently with a broken neck as its head was contorted way to one side and it appeared very dead. I thought, “Oh crap, I guess I better clean that up”. When is trash pickup day? I waited a while, put on some shoes and started to go outside to put the poor bird in a plastic bag and then in the trash. But wait, the durn thing is sitting up and blinking its eyes occasionally. No other movement for at least two hours. Then, about 8:00 p.m., it turned 90 degrees to its right. Then, about two hours later, it turned another 90 degrees to its right. This morning, it’s still in the same position and in the exact same spot. But it seems “puffed up”. Swelling? Who knows? Once it had been daylight for about an hour or so, it managed to walk about 6 feet east and 2 feet south. Now it was in full view from the window (whereas before it was directly behind the fireplace and too close to the wall to be seen). My cats spotted it and were chattering (words of encouragement, no doubt) to it. I was working in the study and needed more coffee so I checked on it as I went to the kitchen. Apparently, the dove noticed me approach the window. It ran about 5 or 6 steps and launched itself into the air and immediately up to one of the wires that run behind my house. It stayed there approximately 30 minutes and then away it went.
Boy, I wish I could hear its version of what happened when it gets back to the flock.
So I’m thinking to myself, “That worked out pretty well for both of us – the bird and I – I don’t have to clean up any mess.” Or so I thought until I spotted all of the deposits the bird left on the patio. Gee, if I had just gone out there when it first happened, I probably wouldn’t need to get the pressure washer out.
Boy, I wish I could hear its version of what happened when it gets back to the flock.
So I’m thinking to myself, “That worked out pretty well for both of us – the bird and I – I don’t have to clean up any mess.” Or so I thought until I spotted all of the deposits the bird left on the patio. Gee, if I had just gone out there when it first happened, I probably wouldn’t need to get the pressure washer out.
That was a good one!!