April and May were CRAZY months for us. There were several reasons for this, but a few of them were:
- I was still adjusting to life with two children . . . Brenson was only 2 and 3 months old during this time.
- Chris was travelling quite a bit with work, so he was gone on several 3 and 4 day trips.
- My sister and her family were in the process of moving from South Carolina to a town about 20 minutes from us. Due to a housing situation (long, long story), they were homeless for 8 weeks. Her husband stayed with us 5 days a week during that time while she and her daughter lived with my parents. During several of Chris's trips, they all stayed at our house. Our house isn't very big, so it was a bit on the crowded side.
- We lost Baby Lucy on May 1st, so there was unexpected time at the hospital, a funeral, and just spending lots of extra time with my friend, Tia.
Okay, so on to the story.
One afternoon in the middle of May, Lisa (my sis) and Tia were at my house. We were all hanging out and visiting while the 3 babies (my 2 and Lisa's Chloe) were napping. Chris was in Connecticut for work, and would be gone 2 more days. Earlier that morning, I had heard a very strange noise in my bedroom . . . it sounded like an animal scratching at the wall.
--As a side note for those who don't know me well, I am NOT an animal person. Animals freak me out . . . pretty much ALL animals. Now, I don't purposely cause harm to them in any way, but I certainly try to steer clear of them in hopes that they will steer clear of me. This even includes dogs. Yes, I realize that this is highly abnormal. --
So, while we are visiting, Brenson wakes early from his nap. When I go in my room to see what the problem may be, I hear the noise again . . . and it is loud. I call for Li and Tia to come in my room and see if they can hear it.
-- Another side note: They are both much braver than me when it comes to animals. --
They agree that it sounds like an animals outside, so we all (including poor Brenson who was awakened by this creature) traipse outside to see what we can find. Sure enough, it IS an animal. The thing is STUCK in the downspout of my guttering, which runs along the outside corner of my bedroom. We have no idea what it is, except we know it has claws because it is frantically scratching at the downspout trying to get out.
-- Side note number 3: I am NOT the person you want with you in a situation involving an animal. I just get almost frantic. Which I was. *sigh* --
Lisa and Tia (while I retreat to the back porch . . . nice and far from the "situation") decided to first try and flush the downspout with the garden hose. All this did was nearly drown the creature and make it scrape even more with its claws. Then, they (mostly Lisa) decide to remove the bottom portion of the downspout and free the thing.
Working hard to remove part of the downspout:
After she removed the end of the downspout, this is what we saw:
Yes, it's a {large} nest. And the animal was still stuck inside the downspout.
So, she tried the garden hose again. This time, enough of the nest had been removed that the water flushed the remainder of the nest out of the downspout.
And what came out with that nest, you ask? A bird! And believe me, it took off flying before it even hit the ground . . . SO happy to be free!
I was honestly having a small meltdown while all this was going on. I just knew it was a huge rat stuck in there and the thought of that freaked me out! I am soooooo thankful that Lisa and Tia were there to regulate the situation. I don't know WHAT I would have done otherwise. Oh, and I was very relieved it was only a bird. And yes, I realize that I {totally} over-reacted.
When the little girls got up from their naps and we told them what had happened, they were very impressed with Lisa for rescuing the bird.
I left out the part about me panicking on the porch :-).
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