why bird-brained means dumb

Not long ago, I heard some chirping or squeaking in the laundry room. We've had mice, as I've mentioned before. It sounded more like birds, though, so I thought it would be no problem. (Do you sense the foreshadowing?)

I have a wonderful husband. He works noon to 6, so he's home in the mornings. This morning, he decided to do laundry. When we both got home, he told me that the laundry was taking a really long time to dry. So, I suggested checking the exhaust hose to see if there was lint buildup or something blocking it.

Our laundry room is a long narrow hallway, with the door in the middle of the long wall. Open the door, the washer is on the left (outside wall), dryer on the right (inside wall). The space in the middle is about the same size as a washer or dryer. Dad rigged up the exhaust hose to run from the dryer to the outside wall.

Rodgers pulled out the dryer, climbed over, got behind it (that was quite an ordeal), and disconnected the hose to look inside. It was completely clear. He climbed back over and leaned over the washer to disconnect the hose from the wall. We immediately saw why the dryer wasn't drying.

There were so many feathers, we were afraid there was a whole dead bird in there, but no, just feathers.

And eggs. :'( Little baby bird eggs.

He got the whole nest into a plastic sack.

There are the eggs again. Disturbingly, my first thought was, "Well, I could boil them and make balot..." I never even ate the real balot while I was in the Philippines. I don't know why I would think that.

That's a lot of nest.

What we've learned from this experience is: If you hear chirping outside the laundry room, make sure no birds are building a nest in the dryer vent. If you don't live on the first floor (we're on the second floor), take off the hose and look because, seriously, there might be a bird nest in there.

The end.