This one’s for the birds…..

Well, it was another normal day. I was at my computer working and listening to some music and then I heard our neighbor’s rooster crowing, which is normal, though usually I hear it much earlier in the morning. Then I heard him again, and realized, something was different- it was much louder, like he was right outside my window. So I looked out the window and saw nothing, and looked out a few other windows to see if I could see him. Nothing- but then I did see something unusual, our next door neighbor, and elderly woman, was on a ladder leaning up against the outside of her house and she was looking over into our yard. I figured she had to be watching something, so I continued to look out the window and then I saw him….the rooster! He is one big bird!! Then I remembered the cat was out. I was concerned for two reasons- 1st this rooster was bigger than my cat and was afraid that she would get hurt if they crossed paths; 2nd what would I do if they did cross paths and she killed our neighbor’s rooster?! Luckily while he was on one side of the house, she was on another side and came in through the window! That problem solved, but I still had a very large rooster roaming our yard- with very dangerous potential! I did not grow up on a farm, but I had seen how people caught chickens but I also knew that roosters had some serious weaponry and was not so confident about doing this all by myself. So I thought about my friend who lives a few houses up the street. I would ask her for advice and help. I opened the front door and saw that he had gone into our outdoor room, so I quickly shut the door! Now he was contained! That’s was another accomplishment. But I really did not know to which neighbor he belonged, so after he was caught, what would I do with him? At that time my elderly neighbor got back on the ladder and I asked if it was her’s, she looked like she did not understand, so I ran inside looked up the word 'rooster' in my Russian/English dictionary and ran back out. I asked if the rooster was her’s and she shook her head no and pointed to the neighbor’s house behind ours. Knowing what to do with him after he was caught, I then walked to Yylkon’s house, explained my problem and she and her brother said they would come and help. Did I say that this bird was huge! Her brother went into the outdoor room and the rooster jumped up on the windowsille, which made him an easy grab! He took hold of the rooster without injury! Then he threw it over our back fence into our neighbor’s yard! We all laughed about the situation as I walked them to the gate door. Yes, you never know what the day might bring!! I had some moral support from John who had the idea that if things had gone bad, then maybe I could invite the neighbors over for a late thanksgiving dinner- but with chicken. Thankfully they got their rooster back and no one got hurt, and I got another interesting story for my blog.