I think that in all of the chaos of the last six weeks, this particular bizarre incident of terror got completely overlooked. Boy, if that isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is!
Back on July 10th I we were in escrow, but still living in the old house in West Hills. The Long-Suffering Wife had left for the morning, I was down the hall in my work-from-home office, and the house was filled with boxes and stuff waiting to go into boxes.
I heard a crash of some sort from down the hall, in the kitchen or living room. Being alone in the house and the sound not being something like someone smashing in a door or window to force entry, I figured something had been piled up in an unstable manner and had crashed over to the floor. I would deal with it later.
Then came another bang. And another crash. I came to the conclusion that I was NOT alone in the house.
When I went to investigate, I found that the kitchen had been invaded by mourning doves.
At the moment I had no clue how they had gotten in. All doors and windows were closed. (Later, having reviewed the view from a NestCam, I came to the conclusion that they probably came down the chimney by accident. Drunk? Fermented berries? Or just stupid and clumsy? Both?)
This one was fairly calm. I put a towel over it, picked it up, took it outside, and let it go.
This one I found in the kitchen sink and I figured it would be a breeze to drop a towel over it, trap it in the sink, and repeat the take outside & release strategy.
WRONG!
I never did figure out what its major malfunction was, but I spent fifteen minutes chasing it around the kitchen before I finally got the drop on it. There was much panicked flying up into the eyes (mine) and flapping of wings in my face. I know that we’re in drastically different weight classes and that no one on the planet has ever been killed by a mourning dove, but there’s a first time for everything and I didn’t want it to be me with the funny headstone.
When I finally succeeded in getting it outside I realized that I was now twenty minutes late for a Zoom call with my boss, his boss, our banker, and multiple members of our Board. OOPS!
It’s not quite a “my dog ate my homework” moment, but I’m sure it wasn’t a story that was on anyone’s Bingo card that morning.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 