Challenges of Life in the Foothills

Last night we planned for hubby to grill. Then the weather changed and the wind kicked up. It truly was hubby’s intention to cook out, but when the woods are filled with dried leaves, we always think what could happen should the wind carry an ember into the trees that surround our home. After a little discussion, we decided to order take-out.

There are not a lot of options for take-out that are not fast-food. It was the perfect opportunity for me to suggest Thai food. With the temperature dropping and the wind kicking up, a spicy meal sounded great. I even offered to go along for the pick-up so I could pop in and pick up the food just in case parking was difficult. I could already taste the Panang curry!

The restaurant was very busy and they said it would be forty-five minutes before the food would be ready. We waited patiently then bundled up. I opened the door and heard hubby shout those dreaded words. “A bird flew in the house!” We had been here before.

Not only was there one bird in the house, there were two. Our house is built such that the living room at it’s highest point is about 18’ high. What adds to the challenge is that the hallway on the second level of the house that leads to the bedrooms is open (loft-like) to the downstairs. This gives birds amazing escape routes when we try to corner them.

The poor birds.  Little Carolina wrens. We think they nestled into the Christmas wreath still hanging on the front door in an attempt to get out of the cold. When I opened the door to go outside, it must have startled them and in they flew.

So, with hubby armed with a fishing net and me manning the door, the chase was on. We try not to scare the birds, but I know they must have been terrified. When cornered upstairs, they would fly back across the railing to the ceiling below. When cornered downstairs, they would make their way back upstairs. We managed to get one to fly out before we needed to go pickup our Thai food. We closed all the adjoining doors and left.

Gif courtesy of Giphy.com

On our return home, we put the food in the oven to stay warm. We lined the fishing net with a plastic garbage bag so the bird could not fly through the net. I armed myself with an extension pole to tap the high points when it hid in the high corners. I opened both sliding doors downstairs in hopes the bird would find its way outside. 10 minutes into the chase, the bird started flying low. Poor thing. It was tiring and frightened. Luckily, when we went into the kitchen to urge him out, he flew into the living room and out the sliding glass door.

After all that, we only found one small downy feather and two small bird droppings on the floor. After cleanup it was time to eat. Thankfully, Thai food warms up nicely in the microwave.

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This post contains today’s Just Jot it January prompt supplied by Faye of Faye’s Mystical Musings and sponsored as always by Linda Hill. Follow the link if you are interested in participating.