April 18, 2015
While outside this morning with Emory* catching some UV rays, I heard a scratching noise coming from the downspout in front of Deb’s office. Hmm... I thought. Was it just tree branches scratching the gutter? A sharp rap on the downspout informed me no, something was trapped.
I promptly returned Emory to his enclosure and acquired the necessary tools I would need to extract the helpless, unknown creature from a certain slow and torturous death: a screwdriver and serving tongs from the kitchen.
Scene survey. Autumn leaves that had overwintered in the downspout created a cork stopper. Neither beast nor water could penetrate its carbonous layers. I began to pull out the leaves with the tongs and could hear the animal scratching the metal pipe in fear. After 5 minutes I had enough leaves to fill an orange jack-o-lantern garbage bag (slight dramatization). There it was, a yellow and black beak and a tiny toe clinging to the tongs. Leaf removal had served its purpose, but more drastic measures needed to be taken.
I lept on top of the wooden water collection box and settled my feet among the potting plants. With screwdriver in hand, I detached the downspout from the support beam’s metal hug and turned the base aside. From the dark depths of the downspot came life. A starling shot out and flew to a far away tree. Case closed.
*note: Emory is one of our educational snakes
