Blasted Birds!

So.. Friday night, I was on my way home, when

John notified me there were scratching sounds coming from behind the dryer. I didn't believe him at first. Instead, I asked him if he was sure it wasn't just the neighbors or something. When I got home, I had to listen for myself, and sure enough, there were scratching noises. Some type of animal was obviously trying to escape our dryer vent. John had called the apartment offices, but they were closing in minutes and reported that they would "see what they could do." I decided to call the emergency maintenance line... left a message for the maintenance dude and left it up to him to decide for himself whether or not this qualified as an emergency. He, of course, was probably out enjoying his Friday evening and could care less about the freaked out gal on his voicemail. So, John shoved a towel under the laundry room door and headed for bed. The next morning, we called the apartment offices yet again. The maintenance dude came right over, and with John's help, devised a plan to get the mystery animal out of our dryer vent. In the meantime, I was perched on a chair in case it was a little rodent. John held a blanket up over the laundry room door, while the maintenance guy used his "graspers" in one hand and removed the dryer vent wtih the other. He yanked it off, and out came this little.. (or should I say large) creature:

So.. together, John and the maintenance guy took the bird, as it flipped out and started screeching... outside. The bird kept flying at us, all disoriented, but finally escaped to freedom.. to his natural habitat.. although it probably wasn't quite as warm as the dryer vent.. hah!.. Anyways, he only left us a few little treats in the vent.. Those were real fun to clean out!! EWWW!