Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul (not in my wall)

"Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend," I shrieked, upstarting-
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
-Edgar Allan Poe - The Raven

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
-Blackbird - The Beatles

Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Sit by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou"
Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing is gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing is gonna be all right!"
-Three Little Birds - Bob Marley

I love birds. I like songs and poems about birds. I like the freedom that birds (typically) represent. But I do not like birds that get trapped in my wall.

Book club got postponed, so I was looking forward to spending a cozy rainy night at home in my pj's. Instead I came home from work and kept hearing this weird scratchy kind of noise. At first I thought it was the rain hitting the windows, but it sounded like something different (and more) than that. So, I walked around the house until I tracked it down to my bedroom wall...right at the head of my bed. Of course.

Here is 'the wall' and where I am supposed to sleep
(looks cozy, huh? not tonight)

So, what do I do? 1) totally freak out, 2) go outside in the rain to check out the big hole a woodpecker has made in my house (see picture below), 3) bang on the wall thinking it would fly out in which case if it did I would have freaked out even more, 4) go back inside and look in the yellow pages for pest control places, 5) call Mom & Dad, 6) call a pest control place to make appointment (they'll be here tomorrow between 11:00 and 1:00), 7) eat dinner while watching American Idol and Dancing with the Stars (walk into bedroom 50 times to check on status of bird), 8) blog about bird being trapped in wall (walk into bedroom 50 more times to check on bird), 9), 10), 11), etc...repeat #8 ad infinitum.

I haven't heard it flapping around for awhile, so now I'm thinking that it has either, a) escaped and flown away, which I hope is what happened for its sake and mine, or b) died, which I hope didn't happen for its sake and mine.

Update:

10:38pm - It is alive and still flapping around. Will I ever be able to sleep tonight?

11:56pm - Still flapping. Still awake.

12:33am - No flapping. Still awake in anticipation of more flappage.

1:16am - I'm starting to think Deb (in the comments) has a point...maybe it is a bat. Wouldn't a bird be chirping or something?

1:26am - There aren't really as many songs or poems about bats. And who wants to see pictures of bats? Not me.

1:49am - Maybe the bird/bat is sleeping. I'm glad one of us is.

1:52am - Oh crap, I typed too soon...it's awake/alive and moving. I keep thinking I'll walk into my room and find a bird (or bat) sitting on the bed. Or worse yet, that something will fly at me. Yuk.

2:08am - I am going to attempt to lay down now...in my spare bedroom. The walls are alive in my room.

8:05am - I haven't heard anything...yet. I slept with both bedroom doors closed though and just now woke up. I am exhausted. Thanks a lot bird/bat!

11:11am - I was at work, but now I am at home waiting for the bird removal man to get here. I'm still not hearing any bird/bat-like activity in my wall. While we wait, here is a shot of the 'point of entry' (anyone sorry I got a digital camera for Christmas yet?):

Before: A strong case for siding (or renting)

11:31am - Roger aka My Hero is here!!! He says it looks like birds, not squirrels. That is good news cuz squirrels are more expensive to remove. He's going to see if anything is in there, and patch up the hole(s) with some kind of caulking.

More to come...hopefully more good news. He's banging around on the wall right now.....you go, Roger!

Note to Michelle: Roger confirmed the astute observation that I made years ago. He said it himself, "Birds are dumb". And apparently not just in the morning.

11:43am - I'm going to check on Roger.

12:13pm - It's over!!! Roger says that the bird is no longer in my wall, it must have flown out on its own (que "Freebird"). He patched up the hole with some wire mesh stuff and a piece of metal. He put caulk in the other holes. I paid him and then my hero rode off in his van (que "Wind Beneath my Wings"). Time to eat my lunch and get myself back to work where I belong (que "Working for the Weekend"...okay, I'll stop).

After: $189 piece of metal...TOTALLY worth it

Thank you for your prayers and support (and laughter) throughout my latest ordeal.

Peace has been restored at La Casa de Kelly.

Amen and Hallelujah (couldn't resist just one more).