Shut the Sliding Glass Door

Miss Ella gazing at songbirds out the window.

It is a gorgeous, sunny day in Colorado when I proceed to open the

sliding glass door to let Howard, our Border Collie puppy, and Jabez,

our Senior Golden Retriever, out on our deck to enjoy the Colorado

sunshine.  They love their morning sunbaths.  I make my way to the

kitchen island to prepare a snack for my daughters, who are 5 and 8

at the time.  I am on my own this week, as my husband is on a

business trip.

As I am standing at the kitchen island with my girls facing me in their

usual seats, out of the corner of my eye, I see a tiny bird fly into my

family room and land on a tray on the ottoman.  It is a beautiful

Black-headed Grosbeak songbird, with black feathers and an

orange breast with white speckles throughout its feathers.  I feel my

blood pressure rising and my face turning red.  I am trying to

strategically think of a way to get this bird out of my house without

my children or dogs noticing.

Then suddenly, the bird flies up to our loft - we have nearly 20

foot ceilings in this house - and the bird plants itself on the loft railing.

At this point I am thinking, no problem, I can go upstairs and simply

open up the balcony door and hopefully it will fly out the door.  Then

another thought simultaneously runs through my mind, “Oh no, the

ceiling fans are on.”

Then I am immediately thinking decapitation and carnage to this

beautiful songbird!  I quickly excuse myself from the island, letting the

girls know that I need to get something from upstairs and I will be

right back.  I scurry up the stairs hoping and praying that I can switch

off the ceiling fans in time to not decapitate the bird.  And I’m also

wishing my husband never travelled!!  I am not my best in high-

pressured situations.

Well, I get to the top of the stairs and am able to switch off the

ceiling fans, but there is no longer a bird on the railing or anywhere

on the loft.  When out of nowhere, I hear this blood-curdling scream

from my oldest daughter, Selah, who, out of curiosity, followed me

up the stairs.  I fling around towards the scream to discover Selah,

pointing to my bedroom.  I turn towards where she is pointing

and then I scream.  Then, we look at each other and scream.

Selah and I are in shock as we are witnessing our brown and golden

tabby cat casually walking across the door opening of my bedroom

with a Black-headed Grosbeak bird drooping lifeless from her mouth.

It is terrifying to see my domesticated cat act like the savage

carnivore that she actually is.

Can you imagine my cat’s surprise as she is curling up on my bed

napping when bird simply just falls into her lap?  She is thinking

that she just died and went to heaven with a bird falling from the

ceiling, while Selah and I are simply beside ourselves to see our cat

as the wild beast she is.

I am also beside myself because of news reports over the past

month that a severe plague is killing birds in the region and now my

cat currently has a dead bird hanging from her joules.

I turn to Selah in panic and snap, “Go get a garbage bag.”  Well,

the poor thing!  She is already shaken by the scene of her cat

clenching a dead bird and now her mom is snapping at her.  So she

runs down the stairs and hands me - honest to God - the tiniest little

plastic sandwich bag you can imagine.  And I am thinking I am not

touching this bird - I need the biggest bag possible!  So sadly I bark

back at her, “This is too small!  Get a leaf bag from the laundry

room!”  So Selah hustles down the stairs again in search of larger

garbage bag.

As I am waiting for her return, I am doing everything in my power to

cajole my cat to drop this bird from her mouth.

“Drop it!”  I demand, thinking that she is obedient and people-

pleasing like my Golden Retriever.  However, there is no obedience

to be expected from a cat and I wasn’t even considering at all what

the cat is thinking.

And you know exactly what the cat is thinking, “What are you crazy?

I have been waiting for this moment my entire life!”  My cat has been

gazing out the window for years longing to snatch one of these little

critters and now one has fallen directly into her lap.  A dream come

true!  Why would she ever want to drop it?

Finally Selah returns with an enormous leaf bag for which I am

thankful, because I, once again, don’t want to touch this mangled

bird! I make my way over to my cat with this gigantic black leaf bag

and am able to successfully snatch the bird from my cat’s grip!

There are feathers all over my comforter and bloodstains on the

ceiling fan blades.  It is definitely a crime scene and my cat is not the

murderer, just the blessed recipient of my own stupidity for leaving

the sliding glass door open.  I am the murderer!  This beautiful

songbird was just strolling into my home minding her own business.

She was even chirping on the tray on my ottoman - moments away

from her own demise.  It breaks my heart every time I hear the similar

song of this beautiful Black-headed Grosbeak, knowing that I was

inadvertently the cause of death of one of these harmless creatures.

So what did I learn from this situation:

1. Keep your sliding glass doors closed when your husband is

travelling.

2. If you choose to keep the doors open, make sure that your ceiling

fans are off.

3.  It is most definitely true that you can take your sweet cat out of

the wild, but you can’t take the wild out of your cat - I witnessed this

firsthand!

4.  Moms, always, always have large leaf bags on hand because

you never know how quickly and dramatically your home might turn

into a crime scene and you may need to dispose of the body swiftly

before Daddy comes home.