Blasted Birds!
I had a bit of excitement at the shop today, though thankfully it all ended well.
Several times throughout the day, I thought I heard sounds like something scratching, and/or rattling in the shop. I was eventually able to catch the sound as it was occuring, and followed it back to the source: There's an old, unused chimney-stack in the shop from back when there was supposed to be a dry-cleaner's in there, and I'm guessing it was the stack for the big boiler. In any case, it was sealed off but never removed, and when they redid the roof last year, they just pulled off the top sections, covered the hole, but never bothered to remove the rest of it. So, there's this stack about 5' tall sticking up inside the attic, just sitting there, waiting to cause trouble.
I knew that there was something in the stack - I could hear it crashing around inside and scratching, but I had no way of knowing what it was. At the time, i also didn't know how far the stack extended into the attic, since I had no way of getting up there. I managed to shanghai The Kidling, and sent him up a ladder into the attic; I didn't tell him why I needed him up there until after he was up - otherwise there's a good chance he would have chickened-out, and not gone up. Sneaky sneaky... ;) Unfortunately, it seems that there's a wall between the various sections of the shop, and the stack was on the other side. There was a small hole through the wall that might have been a window before the extension was added, so he squeezed through that to get closer to the stack. He tried to take a picture of whatever was down there, but the iPhone isn't exactly designed for peering down chimney pipes, so all we saw on the pictures was a dark, dusty hole.
The bottom of the stack was accessable from the kitchen area, but since we had no idea as to what was trapped in there, I wasn't overly keen on just opening it up to see what might come jumping or flying out. I called the Wildlife officers, and they (somewhat reluctanty) agreed to come out and check it out. They don't normally do "house calls" - but I wanted some professional advice here. Their advice: Open the bottom and see what comes out. Great, thanks... Once again I pressed The Kidling into service, and had him climb up a rather rickety wooden ladder (the big steel one can't fit in there) to undo the cover over the stack and see what came out. The wildlife officers were pretty sure that it was a bird, but they couldn't be certain. The Kidling held up a box over the opening, and undid the cover. There was a flurry of activity and a Starling came flying out and started flapping around! It flew around the shop a couple of times until I could get the big roll-up door open, and then it flew away. How the heck it got in there in the first place is beyond me, but at least it's out now, and none the worse for wear. Which is more than I can say for the ceiling above the area; The Kidling misjudged a step at one point and put his foot down between the joists instead of on them, and put a hole through it! It's not much, and it's in an area where you can't even really see it, but it scared to bejeezus out of him when he felt his foot go through!
After we got everything sorted out, we headed for home. I've got a long drive tomorrow as Trixstir and I are headed to Calgary for a few days, and I still need to pack, have a shower, and (hopefully) get a decent night's sleep. I really wasn't in the mood to cook, and I figured The Kidling deserved a reward for his efforts, and being Thursday night it was the smorg-night at Pizza and Chicken, so I took him there. The smorg wasn't super fancy this time, they were doing what was basically a Salisbury Steak, with sides of veggies, mashed potatoes, and gravy. The other item on the smorg-menu was Honey-Garlic wings, which neither of us really care for. The "steak" was good though; Good, basic comfort-food. After the day's misadventures, comfort-food was just the ticket.
Several times throughout the day, I thought I heard sounds like something scratching, and/or rattling in the shop. I was eventually able to catch the sound as it was occuring, and followed it back to the source: There's an old, unused chimney-stack in the shop from back when there was supposed to be a dry-cleaner's in there, and I'm guessing it was the stack for the big boiler. In any case, it was sealed off but never removed, and when they redid the roof last year, they just pulled off the top sections, covered the hole, but never bothered to remove the rest of it. So, there's this stack about 5' tall sticking up inside the attic, just sitting there, waiting to cause trouble.
I knew that there was something in the stack - I could hear it crashing around inside and scratching, but I had no way of knowing what it was. At the time, i also didn't know how far the stack extended into the attic, since I had no way of getting up there. I managed to shanghai The Kidling, and sent him up a ladder into the attic; I didn't tell him why I needed him up there until after he was up - otherwise there's a good chance he would have chickened-out, and not gone up. Sneaky sneaky... ;) Unfortunately, it seems that there's a wall between the various sections of the shop, and the stack was on the other side. There was a small hole through the wall that might have been a window before the extension was added, so he squeezed through that to get closer to the stack. He tried to take a picture of whatever was down there, but the iPhone isn't exactly designed for peering down chimney pipes, so all we saw on the pictures was a dark, dusty hole.
The bottom of the stack was accessable from the kitchen area, but since we had no idea as to what was trapped in there, I wasn't overly keen on just opening it up to see what might come jumping or flying out. I called the Wildlife officers, and they (somewhat reluctanty) agreed to come out and check it out. They don't normally do "house calls" - but I wanted some professional advice here. Their advice: Open the bottom and see what comes out. Great, thanks... Once again I pressed The Kidling into service, and had him climb up a rather rickety wooden ladder (the big steel one can't fit in there) to undo the cover over the stack and see what came out. The wildlife officers were pretty sure that it was a bird, but they couldn't be certain. The Kidling held up a box over the opening, and undid the cover. There was a flurry of activity and a Starling came flying out and started flapping around! It flew around the shop a couple of times until I could get the big roll-up door open, and then it flew away. How the heck it got in there in the first place is beyond me, but at least it's out now, and none the worse for wear. Which is more than I can say for the ceiling above the area; The Kidling misjudged a step at one point and put his foot down between the joists instead of on them, and put a hole through it! It's not much, and it's in an area where you can't even really see it, but it scared to bejeezus out of him when he felt his foot go through!
After we got everything sorted out, we headed for home. I've got a long drive tomorrow as Trixstir and I are headed to Calgary for a few days, and I still need to pack, have a shower, and (hopefully) get a decent night's sleep. I really wasn't in the mood to cook, and I figured The Kidling deserved a reward for his efforts, and being Thursday night it was the smorg-night at Pizza and Chicken, so I took him there. The smorg wasn't super fancy this time, they were doing what was basically a Salisbury Steak, with sides of veggies, mashed potatoes, and gravy. The other item on the smorg-menu was Honey-Garlic wings, which neither of us really care for. The "steak" was good though; Good, basic comfort-food. After the day's misadventures, comfort-food was just the ticket.