damn the humanity
12 Apr 2007 06:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigouIt appears that someone must've waltzed into the garage and stolen my orbital sander. It's gone. I know I used it on Monday afternoon, then I took it back to the garage along with the rest of the tools. I've been trying to be very good about putting things back into some kind of order, with the lower-shelves on the sawhorses being the repository for the circular saw, the jig saw, the reciprocating saw, and the sander. But then on Tuesday, I was going to sand something, and the sander wasn't right there. I thought, maybe I left it in the library (where I'd last used it), and so I sanded the little bit I needed, by hand. Then on Wednesday, while in the library, I looked around... and no sander. So I checked the garage again. Still no sander.
I have now completely rearranged the garage, opened all boxes, doors, drawers, moved all wood and wood-boxes and swept and poked through everything, and even looked throughout the house, too -- the library, the bathroom, the hall closet, the bedroom, even, and the guest bedroom and CP's study and it's gone.
Thing is, CP leaves the garage door open when he leaves for school, and when I get up, I'm in and out of there, anyway. I prefer the door up when I'm working; nice breeze, more light, all that. But we're also on a dead-end street, and I know a lot of folks like to park at the end and go hiking through the woods. I can only guess that someone decided to 'investigate' our garage -- and of all the tools I've got, the orbital sander is (a) the newest & nicest-looking, and (b) the only one small enough to tuck under an arm and walk off.
I AM PISSED.
I've only had that sander for what, three weeks? At most? It's a good sander, and I bloody well can't find it anywhere. In a bit, I'm going to go out and empty the entire trashcan, just in case somehow the sander got knocked in there (though I have no earthly idea how that'd be possible), but I'm going to check. I've looked everywhere else.
It's not like it was a massively expensive tool... but it was brand-new, and this just... it steams me. Utterly, completely, totally steams me.
Well. I guess I'm in the market again for an orbital sander. That one was a quasi-Craftsman (black & decker) orbital sander with a damn good sawdust bag, lightweight, 5-speed, 2500 whatevers, amps, whatever. I liked the fact it was light enough in my hands (compared to my old square sander), could move like the dickens, and that its sawdust collector worked really well.
Any suggestions on replacement, or should I go back and get the same?
(And start researching automatic garage door openers at the same time...)
Pissed, pissed, pissed. I am totally completely pissed.
Welcome to Texas: we have a mommy bird and her babies living in our garage.
She comes in and out, feeding them constantly, and she doesn't seem to mind if I'm within two or three feet, so long as I don't touch (which I wouldn't). Considering there've been plenty of times I'm out in the garage running the circular saw, the saber saw, and other noisy things -- and she's just gone about her business -- I don't think she's that miffed about humans being around.
We have two wire-hanger baskets, that I hung from a wooden shelf along the wall -- the baskets are about on eye-level with me. Maybe two months ago or so, I was out in the garage in that corner and saw this whole mess of sticks and straw and thought, wow, I really need to clean this place up. But it looked like a nest (though not much bigger than the palm of my hand) and I figured first I'd tell CP we'd had a visitor at some point... and I got distracted (of course) and forgot about it.
Next time I thought to look, it must've been a month later, and I realized with a shock that the nest was now twice the original size! But... I couldn't see anyone in it. It'd been cold & rainy that week, I recall, so CP had been driving his car (or getting me to drive him) instead of taking his bike. When he takes his bike, he leaves the garage door open, since I'd be opening it anyway while doing various house-renovation things. But we'd had the doors closed for maybe a week, or longer, and I figured the bird might've abandoned the nest if she couldn't get to it.
Again, I forgot about it -- mostly. I mean, the garage is wild kingdom! I've rescued/found at least two lizards who chose it as a good wintertime hibernation spot (I almost threw one of them in the trash, thinking it was dead -- and then it MOVED, cripes, I jumped about a foot). I got used to having the garage door open while I worked and whoosh, a bird would fly in, realize going under the roofline didn't work as well as going over the roof, and fly around in panicked circles until it figured out the big gaping hole in the wall -- the open garage door! -- was the way out.
A few days after that (and the nest still growing in size but no sign of a bird whenever I looked), I went out to the garage to close the door before running errands, and a bird was flapping around. Only it didn't go out the door, but into the back corner under the work table. I followed it, but it didn't come out... and I had to go, so I ended up closing the door with this horrible feeling that I'd find a little body next time I cleaned.
The very next day, I was doing something at the workbench and turned around to see the same type of little bird -- tiny thing, round body, long insect-eating beak, with black stripe over the eyes and gray-white belly, with a tail that flips like a mockingbird's (but fortunately NOT a mockingbird or we'd never be able to get into the garage!) -- only this time the little bird had grass or straw in its mouth. I stood there and watched it flit to the nest, poke around, reappear, fly out, come back with more, and busily do the last bits of house-building, in, out, in, out. The little bird was on a deadline!
Maybe a week ago, I had the garage door open again, lovely day, doing some prep work on new shelves, and I looked up to see the bird coming and going... and when she arrived, if I was really quiet, I could hear, "cheep! cheep! cheep! cheep!" and I realized: she's got BABIES.
(I did try to look, but they must've only been a day or so old. They didn't respond to me, didn't move, and just looked like a large lump of gray in the belly of the messy over-large nest.)
Okay, that day, I did panic, realizing she was in there and I had to close the garage door. She'd been coming and going with insects, feeding the babies, and boy were they keeping her running -- flit in, flit out, flit in, flit out. I didn't want to trap her in there, but I didn't want her babies starving, but I didn't want to leave the garage door open when no one home -- what to do? I ended up propping the garage door open only a few feet, with an old box, and planned to make my errand as fast as possible.
Just as I'm getting in the car, I see the mommy bird -- she flies down to the *other* door (the one we keep closed all the time) -- and slips through the gap between door and floor. Ah-HAH. So that's how she's been getting in and out. I shut the open door, and let her do as she pleased. Mostly she's coming and going, feeding the little guys, who are getting much noisier.
So today, I'm trying to rearrange the garage, straighten things up. I don't want any of the little babies trying to fly and landing face-first into a box of old table saw parts, or anywhere else, for that matter. Concrete's hard, too, so that worries me, but nature's got to take its course, right? In the meantime, the garage is probably the safest place the bird could've picked -- no raccoons or foxes or other predators are going to be able to get in and steal the eggs or eat the babies, at least, and I'm certainly not going to allow snakes to hang out.
(I've already had one run-in with a snake, in the backyard. It was black or dark brownish, it had a diamond-shaped head... and I hustled the dogs back inside SO FAST. Granted, it was a chilly day, so the snake probably was feeling really sluggish, but I was taking no chances. Water moccasins, I don't care what anyone says, if it's long, black, and within sixty yards of moving water, I'm not going near it.)
I took a few pictures today -- Mom-bird doesn't like the camera flash, and she hopped about shrieking at me for a bit, before flying off when I raised the camera for another shot. Every now and then she notices me, and tells me a thing or two -- mostly while perched up on the garage door, peering down at me suspiciously. But once I turn my back on her, and go back to what I'm doing, she's quite happy, and busy.
(And now I know when she's in the garage. I can hear the babies demanding more food from my desk, and I'm in the living room a good thirty or more feet from the garage door.)
So... pictures!
The nest:
Mom:
One baby...
...four?
I have now completely rearranged the garage, opened all boxes, doors, drawers, moved all wood and wood-boxes and swept and poked through everything, and even looked throughout the house, too -- the library, the bathroom, the hall closet, the bedroom, even, and the guest bedroom and CP's study and it's gone.
Thing is, CP leaves the garage door open when he leaves for school, and when I get up, I'm in and out of there, anyway. I prefer the door up when I'm working; nice breeze, more light, all that. But we're also on a dead-end street, and I know a lot of folks like to park at the end and go hiking through the woods. I can only guess that someone decided to 'investigate' our garage -- and of all the tools I've got, the orbital sander is (a) the newest & nicest-looking, and (b) the only one small enough to tuck under an arm and walk off.
I AM PISSED.
I've only had that sander for what, three weeks? At most? It's a good sander, and I bloody well can't find it anywhere. In a bit, I'm going to go out and empty the entire trashcan, just in case somehow the sander got knocked in there (though I have no earthly idea how that'd be possible), but I'm going to check. I've looked everywhere else.
It's not like it was a massively expensive tool... but it was brand-new, and this just... it steams me. Utterly, completely, totally steams me.
Well. I guess I'm in the market again for an orbital sander. That one was a quasi-Craftsman (black & decker) orbital sander with a damn good sawdust bag, lightweight, 5-speed, 2500 whatevers, amps, whatever. I liked the fact it was light enough in my hands (compared to my old square sander), could move like the dickens, and that its sawdust collector worked really well.
Any suggestions on replacement, or should I go back and get the same?
(And start researching automatic garage door openers at the same time...)
Pissed, pissed, pissed. I am totally completely pissed.
Welcome to Texas: we have a mommy bird and her babies living in our garage.
She comes in and out, feeding them constantly, and she doesn't seem to mind if I'm within two or three feet, so long as I don't touch (which I wouldn't). Considering there've been plenty of times I'm out in the garage running the circular saw, the saber saw, and other noisy things -- and she's just gone about her business -- I don't think she's that miffed about humans being around.
We have two wire-hanger baskets, that I hung from a wooden shelf along the wall -- the baskets are about on eye-level with me. Maybe two months ago or so, I was out in the garage in that corner and saw this whole mess of sticks and straw and thought, wow, I really need to clean this place up. But it looked like a nest (though not much bigger than the palm of my hand) and I figured first I'd tell CP we'd had a visitor at some point... and I got distracted (of course) and forgot about it.
Next time I thought to look, it must've been a month later, and I realized with a shock that the nest was now twice the original size! But... I couldn't see anyone in it. It'd been cold & rainy that week, I recall, so CP had been driving his car (or getting me to drive him) instead of taking his bike. When he takes his bike, he leaves the garage door open, since I'd be opening it anyway while doing various house-renovation things. But we'd had the doors closed for maybe a week, or longer, and I figured the bird might've abandoned the nest if she couldn't get to it.
Again, I forgot about it -- mostly. I mean, the garage is wild kingdom! I've rescued/found at least two lizards who chose it as a good wintertime hibernation spot (I almost threw one of them in the trash, thinking it was dead -- and then it MOVED, cripes, I jumped about a foot). I got used to having the garage door open while I worked and whoosh, a bird would fly in, realize going under the roofline didn't work as well as going over the roof, and fly around in panicked circles until it figured out the big gaping hole in the wall -- the open garage door! -- was the way out.
A few days after that (and the nest still growing in size but no sign of a bird whenever I looked), I went out to the garage to close the door before running errands, and a bird was flapping around. Only it didn't go out the door, but into the back corner under the work table. I followed it, but it didn't come out... and I had to go, so I ended up closing the door with this horrible feeling that I'd find a little body next time I cleaned.
The very next day, I was doing something at the workbench and turned around to see the same type of little bird -- tiny thing, round body, long insect-eating beak, with black stripe over the eyes and gray-white belly, with a tail that flips like a mockingbird's (but fortunately NOT a mockingbird or we'd never be able to get into the garage!) -- only this time the little bird had grass or straw in its mouth. I stood there and watched it flit to the nest, poke around, reappear, fly out, come back with more, and busily do the last bits of house-building, in, out, in, out. The little bird was on a deadline!
Maybe a week ago, I had the garage door open again, lovely day, doing some prep work on new shelves, and I looked up to see the bird coming and going... and when she arrived, if I was really quiet, I could hear, "cheep! cheep! cheep! cheep!" and I realized: she's got BABIES.
(I did try to look, but they must've only been a day or so old. They didn't respond to me, didn't move, and just looked like a large lump of gray in the belly of the messy over-large nest.)
Okay, that day, I did panic, realizing she was in there and I had to close the garage door. She'd been coming and going with insects, feeding the babies, and boy were they keeping her running -- flit in, flit out, flit in, flit out. I didn't want to trap her in there, but I didn't want her babies starving, but I didn't want to leave the garage door open when no one home -- what to do? I ended up propping the garage door open only a few feet, with an old box, and planned to make my errand as fast as possible.
Just as I'm getting in the car, I see the mommy bird -- she flies down to the *other* door (the one we keep closed all the time) -- and slips through the gap between door and floor. Ah-HAH. So that's how she's been getting in and out. I shut the open door, and let her do as she pleased. Mostly she's coming and going, feeding the little guys, who are getting much noisier.
So today, I'm trying to rearrange the garage, straighten things up. I don't want any of the little babies trying to fly and landing face-first into a box of old table saw parts, or anywhere else, for that matter. Concrete's hard, too, so that worries me, but nature's got to take its course, right? In the meantime, the garage is probably the safest place the bird could've picked -- no raccoons or foxes or other predators are going to be able to get in and steal the eggs or eat the babies, at least, and I'm certainly not going to allow snakes to hang out.
(I've already had one run-in with a snake, in the backyard. It was black or dark brownish, it had a diamond-shaped head... and I hustled the dogs back inside SO FAST. Granted, it was a chilly day, so the snake probably was feeling really sluggish, but I was taking no chances. Water moccasins, I don't care what anyone says, if it's long, black, and within sixty yards of moving water, I'm not going near it.)
I took a few pictures today -- Mom-bird doesn't like the camera flash, and she hopped about shrieking at me for a bit, before flying off when I raised the camera for another shot. Every now and then she notices me, and tells me a thing or two -- mostly while perched up on the garage door, peering down at me suspiciously. But once I turn my back on her, and go back to what I'm doing, she's quite happy, and busy.
(And now I know when she's in the garage. I can hear the babies demanding more food from my desk, and I'm in the living room a good thirty or more feet from the garage door.)
So... pictures!
The nest:
Mom:
One baby...
...four?
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Date: 12 Apr 2007 11:28 pm (UTC)