A bird in the fireplace is not worth two in the bush

I knew that with moving to the country run ins with animals would become more frequent.

I've grown accustomed to the frogs that hop around all over the property, the teeny little chipmunks that follow us looking for peanuts, the occasional racoon and skunk and turkey.  I'm not crazy about how close the coyotes sound when their howling at night but usually these run ins happen in the great wide open outdoors.

What happened this morning took place in the not so wide open house.

I had just sent Jack off to school and was getting Max breakfast when I heard what sounded like a cat playing with tin foil. Sadly it was not that, it was a bird that had thought it was a clever idea to jump down the chimney.

Just a side note, we have all been enjoying a beautiful indian summer so the fireplace was not lit.

I ran in a panic to get my Dad who casually shook his head and went to light a cigarette, clearly not as concerned as I was. After I got him on board with a bit more urgency we strategically placed a bed sheet in front of the fireplace and opened the door, but the bird didn't come out...of course.  I was left to man the bed sheet while Dad went to get a flash light and then you can guess what happened. The bird found a week spot in our fool proof plan and flew like crazy all around the living room.

I ran to any door I could open yelling for Dad as the bird flew to every closed window, and then the cat, oh the cat! Duster, who is our smallest cat came out of nowhere, like a lion and pounced on the poor bird. Now remember I'm yelling like there is a pterodactyl flying around! 'Dad...No Duster. ..Dad! The cats going to eat the bird! !!'

Then my Dad in all the calm in the world walks in, grabs the bird and lets it go outside.

 I think other then a small heart attack the bird was okay and he flew off. I'm sure promising itself never to fly down a chimney ever again.

Oh and where was Max during all of this? Sitting on the couch watching a movie.