This morning right after breakfast we heard the sound of grinding metal.
“What was that?” my wife quickly asked.
I stepped out onto the balcony to investigate and the noise disappeared. “I don’t know what it was. It’s gone now.”
About an hour later, my wife urgently called to me from the living room, “Ray, there is something in the chimney!”
I came out and started moving toward the fireplace. I thought “Let’s find out.”
“What are you doing? It might be an animal or something!”
I again moved toward the fireplace.
“No! No! No! Don’t open it! Don’t open it! What if it’s a raccoon?”
I was now stuck in a male/female quandary. Does she want me to take care of it or just be scared with her? Wanting to be the sensitive husband, I almost considered the latter for a split second and then decided “I can’t do that”. I mean, she called me out here to DO something about it, didn’t she?
I thought, “there is no raccoon in our chimney.” However, just as an added precaution, I decided to firmly hold both sides of the mesh screen together in the center with my left hand just in case Rocky decided to make an appearance. That way I could buy a little more time to figure out my next move.
I then pushed open the flu with my right hand. Instantly, two small chunks of wood dropped to the bottom of the fireplace…
Except the second piece of wood STARTED MOVING! IT HAD WINGS!
Before I knew it, it flew to the corner of the fireplace, pushed out the mesh screen, flew over the breakfast bar and out the open balcony door! It was all over in about three seconds!
I triumphantly closed the flue, turned around and announced, “Honey, it’s taken care of.”
As I walked back to my office, I wondered “What would I have done if it WAS raccoon? If a little bird could escape so easily…”
Oh well, what she doesn’t know won’t hurt me…I mean her…er, umm, something like that!
This is very encouraging!