Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Don't Leave the Door Open!

"Were you raised in a barn?" I can remember Mom asking that whenever I would leave the door open. Ironically we did have a barn, and I spent a great deal of time out in the barn. I probably could have answered rather honestly "Yes" but it wasn't really worth pissing off my mom just for the pleasure of being a smart aleck.

Mom was worried about the flies coming inside. It took my cow wandering into the living room and leaving a cow patty on the rug before I learned to make sure the the door was securely closed. It isn't easy to get cow flop out of the rug. In fact we got rid of the carpet very soon after the cow incident, the smell lingered inspire of my best efforts to clean the mess.

When I fuss at my kids to close the door I'm not worried about flies or even passing livestock. I am more worried about malaria carrying mosquitos, deadly snakes (think mambas and cobras) , and horrifyingly large spiders. Yet in sprite of those very real threats the door is left propped wide open, more often than not, so that any passing critter can just come right in and make itself at home.

Today the dreaded home invasion finally occurred. The boys were off to school, Dave was off to work, and I thought I was alone in the house. As I walked down the hall past the bedrooms I was startled by a sudden noise and a flash of movement. After the intial moment of panic I realized that what I was seeing couldn't possibly be a mamba. I decided to investigate instead of running screaming out the door. What I found was a bird caught inside of Grayson's bedroom. The poor thing was frantically beating at the glass trying to find a way out into the garden.

At first I had no idea what was in Grayson's room.

When it stopped throwing it's self against the window I was able to tell a Heuglin's Robin had made it's way into the house and couldn't figure out how to get back out.

I was able to catch it without hurting it, although I could feel it's heart beating very very fast. The poor thing was terrified.

Once I had it out in the garden it stared at me intently as if to say, "Turn me loose already!"

When I opened my hand it flew away with even looking back. Hopefully it has learned that human houses are no place for birds.

7 comments:

Nomads By Nature said...

Too cute! Very glad it wasn't a mamba!

Camille said...

PLEASE tell me there's is a picture somewhere of a cow in your living room.

jamiew said...

better a cute bird, than a large snake!
;0)

Monica said...

CUTE bird!

Connie said...

What a lovely bird! Glad you were able to get it outside again :)

Shannon said...

Camille thankfully Mom wasn't the camera nut I am so many of the more embarrassing moments of my childhood have no photographic evidence. No cow in the living room pictures. Thank goodness!

College Station Sandblasting said...

Great blog thanks for posting