OUR TRUE BIRD STORY 2/8/03 - 2/9/03

This was very funny, but it's probably one of those things where you just had to be there.

Anyways, here's our story:

Rick went out somewhere and Raven and I were in the basement working on the computer. I thought I heard something on the unfinished side, but I blew it off. Later I went to the bathroom and saw a bird in the corner by the washer & dryer. I put Raven outside and opened the side door hoping to get the bird to fly out by chasing it with a broomstick. No luck. The bird kept flying from one side to the other. I called Rick and he finally came home. We were both trying to steer the bird to the finished side of the basement so it would fly up the stairs and out the door. It ended up disappearing in the corner by the bathroom. There was only a tiny crack, but it managed to get through it in a hurry. There was no way to get to it without tearing the wall apart. We were an hour late meeting our friend at bw3 because of this bird. Rick put some popcorn on the ledge by where it disappeared. We went to bw3 and then our friend came back to our house to go bird hunting.

The popcorn was gone, but we couldn't find the bird. We blocked the doorway to the main floor so the bird would have to stay in the basement. Rick and our friend had me convinced that the bird left the way it came in (which we don't know how). I was feeling better.

I got up Sunday morning and went to the basement. Rick held his finger up to his mouth like saying "be quiet" and I noticed he had a ceiling tile down. He thought the bird was in the ceiling. Of course, I start tearing more tiles down. I eventually heard it flapping around, but couldn't see it in the ceiling. I finally tracked it to the wall behind the corner couch. I told Rick that we had to take the paneling off to let it out. He knew better than to argue with me because I'd tear the wall apart myself and probably not as neatly as he would like. We had to move the whole couch and other stuff to get to that corner. Our basement was a wreck. Rick then started pulling the ceiling tile track off and then the paneling. I know the bird had to be scared. He pulled the paneling out far enough for the bird to fly out. I could see the bird, but he wouldn't move. I referred to the bird as "he" and Rick referred to it as "she". I threw some popcorn down, but he wouldn't budge. Rick got the yardstick out and nudged it from behind. It then flew on top of a beer sign and then behind the computer desk. We kept pulling things out and the bird disappeared again! It was underneath the filing cabinet. Rick pulled the cabinet out and the bird took off. Rick yelled at me that it was above my head so I hit the floor. It then flew out the door. I didn't even get to see it fly away. I'm really bummed. I did however find a coupon from 1999, a potato chip and stick pins when we moved the couch.

I had to run an errand later and when I got home there was a bunch of black birds in our yard and I wondered if our bird was one of them. I threw the remainder of the popcorn on the front yard. Later, I looked outside and there were bird tracks everywhere in the snow. I felt good then.