Baby is home.
Yesterday at about 12:30pm PST baby flew out an open door.
I hand delivered nearly 150 flyers in a 3 block radius knocking on every door and talking to anyone that would answer telling them what to look for and how they might catch baby if they were willing to try.
I contacted local Animal Control, the Human Society, the Fire Department, pet stores and so on. Nobody could or would help.
Baby was in the cold winter darkness for more than 12 hours. There were no winds but the temperature was at about 40 degrees all night at about 50% humidity. It was so cold I could not stand outside for more than 20 minutes. At midnight I had been up for 18 hours and was convinced to go to bed by friends and family. I was up at 4:30 am and outside talking to baby from my back yard till the sun came up.
At around 8:30 am my back yard neighbor Gary greeted me. He called the gun toting neighbor whose tree baby was in. This time he answered and then called me. He told me he would keep his cats in and I could use anything I needed to try to get baby down. He is an elderly gentleman and was not able to help me much physically but he did give me support.
I tried for 4 hours to coax baby down, to shake the tree and get her to move ANYWHERE but the highest branch of the highest tree she could be in. A number wonderful people from the old bird shop where I got baby, and various online message boards suggested that although it sounds bad, I should try using a hose to get her wet and scare her out of the tree. None of the hoses or nozzles I tried could get more than a few drops on her tail feathers and this only made her climb higher.
I found a 15 foot ladder and called Gary over to ask him to steady it for me. I thought maybe if baby saw I was trying to get to her she might climb part way down to meet me. By this point, after the spraying, baby did not even look at me when I called. I’m sure she felt betrayed and abused in her worst hour.
Gary and I talked for a few minutes and came up with an idea. We duct taped several poles together; the type that are used for pool cleaning attachments like sweepers and nets to clean out leaves. We taped 3 12-15 foot poles together and instead of trying to catch her in a net, we taped my jacket to the end; something that would smell and look familiar and that she could easily hold on to. With me on a ladder leaned against the tree guiding the pole and Gary steadying the pole from the bottom we maneuvered it up to baby. It literally scared the s*** out of her and she took off. She flew back to the other side of the block and it looked like she went down in my front yard.
I flew down the ladder and sprinted to my car parked out front. I yelled something to Gary like “I have to go now” and did about 50 around the corners. I just stopped in the street and jumped out of the car calling to baby. She screeched back. I saw her on my next door neighbors’ roof. I ran over and pulled some Spiderman moves and got my arm up on the roof where baby walked over and climbed on to my hand. I held her with both hands and ran inside.
I put her immediately in her most favorite place in the world; the shower. This is good because it’s warm and humid just how she likes it and she can get re-hydrated. I also put her food bowl in there and she started eating right away.
She will stay here just as long as she pleases.
I want to thank everyone in all the online communities that have given me their support over the last 24 hours including Rage3D.com, ocforums.com, and last but absolutely not least MyToos.com
I absolutely would have lost my mind if I had not gotten baby back. I have had her for nearly 10 years and think of in many ways as my child (I know I will get some heat for this from two of the three message boards but I don’t care!)
Thanks again to everybody!
