It's more to the fact that I am fairly certain that she would cause bodily harm to one of us if I let her operate a power tool. ;D I have to give her some credit though as she did unload 1 yard of pea gravel from my truck into the mews by herself as I was putting up the roof in 95 degree heat.
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Yes he is. I will try to get some more pics of the mews to ya as the wife took pics at several stages of construction. ;D
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Post by Master Yarak on Jul 1, 2004 8:18:33 GMT -5
The Value of a Safety Door It is my sincere hope that someone out there reading this may benefit from it. If you do not have safety door on your mews build one now! Five years ago here in the D/Fw area we had a bad wind storm, straight line winds in excess of 65 mph. It was July 31st, everything was status quo. I weighted the bird she was at 52 oz fed her and left for a date ( if you can believe that) got back late and went to bed. I got up and and first thing as always checked on bird. The mew door was open and as you can guess it was empty! The wind hit about an hour before sunset right after I had left. I had a sliding bolt that was closed but not in the full down posistion. The wind rattled the door back and forth until the bolt backed out and swung the door open. Once out she could not hang around she just got blown downwind. I searched and searched and searched and searched etc etc etc for days I looked. No work from sunup till full dark. Notified everyone that she was missing. as a side note I was driving a '72 FJ-40 Land cruiser at the time it got 8mpg. This was an excersise in futility after 8days and a few hundred miles I suspened my search. I was asked to help a guy do the Minn. Renn faire, so for month I was gone. I got back at the end of August. Sept 15th was just two weeks away so I got me some gerbils and got the BC all ready. I was leaving to help at the wildlife Expo with a rehab group the last weekend of Sept. The friday before the day I was to leave I got a call from my vets office saying someone had seen a large bird with bells and straps hanging from its legs (only 12miles as the RT flies) away. Not expecting much I called the number the vet had given me. By the time I got the message from the time the vets office got the call had been just over two hours. I Got this lady on the phone and she said she was standing under the bird now. All my food was frozen but I took it anyway and the loaded BC. When I got there it was a trailer park. Their was group of 15-18 people standing around this very big cottonwood tree and in its top most branches was MY hawk. No mistake about it. She had been gone sixty days. Her squirrel chaps and both jesses where still intact and unremoved. I tried to explain what the bird was why I had it etc. I asked all the people to disperse and return from whence they came or go inside, all complied. Now it was just her and I. I figured about 35 more minutes of light left. I put a half frozen chick on the gauntlet blew the call and presented. Absolutelty no response. I really did not expect her to drop from that height to the glove. Next out came her BELOVED lure also garnished with chicks. This time it was much different. Immediately she crouched spread and looked like she was going to come.... THEN she resumed her upright posistion and pulled her foot up. I continued with the lure but never again did she show any interest. Getting worried now I could see no way up into the tree. I went back top the truck got the BC placed it under the tree stepped back and down she came, she hit the BC so hard it crushed one of the gerbils and flipped the BC she was not hung it was just laying on top of her feet.I made in cautiously got a jess leashed her up and exploded with joy. I hooded her as though I had done it yesterday told the folks glued to the window to come out. They all did, I thanked them profusely and went home. I weighed her she was now at 55oz ( her flight weight is between 45-48oz no wonder she did not respond). Oh yeah, the people had confessed before I left that they had been watching her for more than a week chasing and catching squirrels in the park. They could always tell she was near by hearing her bells. She had become quite the attraction. Now you talk about good fortune, why did she leave her equiptment on? Why a park full of people? She had all the time in world to go anywhere. Gaining two oz. hunting every day. DO NOT let this happen to you, chances are you will meet with such luck. BUILD THAT SAFETY DOOR NOW. It could save you alot grief. Yarak
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away
Well folks, Wish me luck....or wish my bird luck, as I just turned her loose inside the new mews. I'm hoping that she won't beat herself up on the walls and ceiling.......
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."
Yup, the water dried up awhile back. It's 95 degrees now so it doesn't take long to do that. FB, I have some pics but I need to copy them to a disk to bring to my computer at work as it won't let me download them strait off the camera. The only thing left to do is install the main storm door, but funds dried up along with the water so it may be awhile before I get it done . So far so good with the bird in the mew as she "seemed" to do OK yesterday. My sponsor went by and checked on her around noon to see if she was OK and she showed him a big threat display. I guess the hormones are in full swing now as she is puffing up to all the dogs and other people now. She was being real pissy when I took her out to weigh her yesterday so I made her sit on the fist for a couple of hours and she slowly settled down. She's been kept inside for so long now that when I bring her inside she turns very complacent and pulls a foot up. I can sit her on the scale and she almost falls asleep while I weigh her. The moment she is outside the house, it's back to being a freaked out fresh trapped bird again. I fed her on the lure for the first time in a couple of weeks and she nailed it like it was her last meal on this earth so she hasn't forgotten that at least:)
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion................ and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."