Saved a life today

[Phantom 631]

Hey guy's and doll's

 

I was in the kitchen this morning and I heard some noises while I was making a coffee

Now with it being such a nice sunny day, I thought it was maybe the house heating up (as you do) to start with, but then it seemed like it was sort of a scratching sound

Now I was in the house by myself and having watched the remake of the Amityvill Horror in the early hours I though it was probably just my imagination because I was so tired (not slept since I got up yesterday/saturday).

 

I went into the lounge and had my coffee and dinner then began to fall asleep. This lasted all of 2 minutes as my daughter came back in with two of her friends

 

Then one of the lads came into the kitchen to make a coffee for himself. A few minutes later, he comes into the lounge and says to me "Whats that scratching noise in the kitchen?"

Well all of a sudden, I'm thinking umm..... Possibly another mouse? or perhaps a larger reletive of the rodent species Great opportunity to pop a rat I'm thinking :cool:

 

My wife came back from her trip to the shop and she spent time in the kitchen listening for the noises.

she then summonds me to the kitchen and says, "That noise is comming from there!" pointing to where the fire place used to be.

 

I'm immediately thinking a bird has come down the chimney as the council despite numerous promises (after I recoverd a dead Woodie and other birds when I removed the gas fire) still had not fitted a cowl over the chimney pots.

 

Anyways, I'm thinking this is gonna be a tw@t because when we fitted the new kitchen and put laminate down on the floor, I put cladding all around the lower half of the walls. This was then finished off with a hand routed Dado Rail that was stuck to the wall using hard as nails stuff then sealed to the wall with a white filler.

 

We had two options:

 

1/. We leave it be and it dies a slow death of starvation and dehydration

2/. I remove the cladding (Lesley decorated not long back!!) and free what ever it was in there.

 

Taking option two was going to mean a bit of mess (which in turn means ear-ache for me from the wife!)

Taking option one was going to mean I would feel very guilty about leaving an animal to suffer, so option one was not really an option at all

 

I moved the dining table and scored as much of the filler away from the wood as possible and then began prizing the Dado off the wall. If I mess this up half the wall skimming and plaster was going to come off

 

After almost half an hour of gentle prising and wabbling, I got the dado free from the wall and I could lean the cladding forward and remove the fireplace sealing plate. Only slight damage to the wall skimming

Much to the wifes disapproval

 

Leaning over to see what was in the now open fireplace I was astounded to see there was bugger all there I got a torch and looked upwards, but I could not see anything Nuts! Looks like its escaped back from where it came, leaving me to do much repair work

 

I reinstalled the blanking plate across the fireplace and got the cladding and dado back into position which took about 20 minutes to get right. I then went to the shed to get my hard as nails and sealent guns.

As I was getting them Lesley shouted, "that noise is back again" I thought Now I have to open it up again

Got back opened it all up again and leaned over to see a Starling stood looking up at me

Being friendly I said "Hello there, would you like to be rescued?" and as I got to the last word of the sentance, the sodding thing launched itself towards my face narrowly missing it with a right turn and heading straight to the window, where it came to and abrupt "THUD" As I approached it began flapping and trying its little best to get through the glass, alas to no avail.

Grabbing it gently I took hold of the bird and exmined it, seemed to be in pretty good condition and I knew it could still fly, I made it sit for a portrait and then took it into the garden and let it fly off out of my hands.

 

So thats my good deed for the day done

The down side is the wall now needs touching up (thank goodness Lesley don't chuck away paint when she's finished!) but more importantly I split my nicely healing trigger finger again, so I'm now back to square one AGAIN :cray:and it hurts like feck

 

I hope this little fella appreciates all I've done for him.

 

 

Phantom

[Freddy Watts 1]

I think you made the right choice there mate. I hope you think it was worth the extra work. Now maybe you can get onto the council again. Give them the bill for the repairs

 

Nice one mate.

 

Freddy

[davyt63 1,845]

well done tony

saving a life! after taking so many lol

i know what i would have done too!

are you in need of a vertical mineral application engineer i know of one.

you big soft git lol

 

regards

 

davy

[Phantom 631]

Cheers Guy's

 

I actually got away with very little damage to the wall :phew:

The biggest crack is just about 2.5 inches in length so I can deal with that

 

The worst damage of this episode is my thumb and trigger finger has all split again. They both looked great when I removed the bandages this morning, so thought I'd leave em off BIG mistake huh?

 

Take care Gents

 

Phantom

[LordGamebore 0]

Cheers Guy's

 

I actually got away with very little damage to the wall :phew:

The biggest crack is just about 2.5 inches in length so I can deal with that

 

The worst damage of this episode is my thumb and trigger finger has all split again. They both looked great when I removed the bandages this morning, so thought I'd leave em off BIG mistake huh?

 

Take care Gents

 

Phantom

 

 

Yep

 

I wish the anti's could read it

[festa 206]

the bird man of alka brough lol nice one tony buddy

 

 

atb gary

[Phantom 631]

the bird man of alka brough lol nice one tony buddy

 

 

atb gary

 

:11:

 

Lesley reminded me of my rescues from last year during the summer.

We have House Martins in a corner of the loft during the summer.

A young one had come out of the hole onto the guttering and fell down the downpipe My neighbours moggie was sat at the grate for over an hour before I chased it off, then it returned as soon as I turned my back. Chased it off again and had a look down the grate, the bird was hanging onto the grate just above the water level

I pulled up the grate and took hold of it. They have SERIOUSLY SHARP talons and it got my little finger and drew blood

After freeing my finger I tossed it into the air and off it went

Another day I saw one of these birds clip the washing line in the garden and went into a bunch of flowers in the neighbours garden.

Did you know that if one of these birds lands like this, it can not take off again

Their wingspan is huge compared to the body and their legs are virtually none existent, so they can not jump high enough to get airborn before unfolding the wings.

I went into their garden and picked it up before the moggie got it and again launched it into the air

 

I must be a big soft git.

 

Phantom

[Sweeney-Todd 208]

Hiya Tony.

 

Nothing wrong with being a softie mate, I cry every time I watch SAW II Interesting point about the House Martin......learn something evry day mate, I didnt know that.

 

Good effort mate.

 

 

 

ATB.

 

 

 

 

 

Bill.

[Phantom 631]

Thanks Bill,

 

:11: SawII love it

 

They are lovely creatures up close

 

Phantom

[farmboy99 1]

we got a swimmin pool out back and the swallows used to line up on the telegraph wire and take turns swooping down for water there'd be abou 40 all in a row one would go down and drink then itd take its place at back of que and shimmy along. very british i thought! lovely birds they are. well done on your resques mate rolf harris would be proud!

Edited March 8, 2010 by farmboy99

[adamthomas64 1]

brilliant write up mate

[JackReid 35]

This post is pure gold phantom!

 

Read the story then got to the bit of a portrait and I thought 'does he mean a photo?' then scrolled down and the picture cracked me up! Send the story to your local tv station mate, will be the first good press about an air gunner probably ever!!

 

All the best

Jack

[Phantom 631]

Thank you Jack and you other guy's

 

Knowing my luck, If I were to do the TV/newspaper thing, they'd turn it into something like "Murdering Scumbag Airgun owner, lets his next victim escape"

 

And anyhow, I just cocked up my haircut (clippers went from 9mm to 3mm as I pushed down on them) so now have an almost shaved head and now look a right tw@t

 

Wouldn't want that showing up on the telly or any pix

 

 

Phantom

[stealthy1 3,964]

Its a well known fact that you need a certain amount of compation to hunt

[davyt63 1,845]

Thank you Jack and you other guy's

 

Knowing my luck, If I were to do the TV/newspaper thing, they'd turn it into something like "Murdering Scumbag Airgun owner, lets his next victim escape"

 

And anyhow, I just cocked up my haircut (clippers went from 9mm to 3mm as I pushed down on them) so now have an almost shaved head and now look a right tw@t

 

Wouldn't want that showing up on the telly or any pix

 

 

Phantom

 

 

hi tony

and what is wrong with having a shaved head!

we are all not TW@TS! as you so! obviously put!!

 

davy