Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The Chimes Are Alive WIth the Sound of... ALIENS!

Nobody warned me.

The other day one of my wind chimes wasn't going ding-ding but clunk-clunk.  I'd like really big chimes, but so far I've only had the budget for small (but nice) ones.  When I examined the chimes more closely, I saw mud or dust or something clogging up the finger-sized pipes.

I thought I'd clean it out.  I unhooked the chimes from the overhang, and got some tools to work the dirt or whatever it was in them.  When I stuck a nail into one of the chimes to clear out the clod, there was a whiny little buzz, which I felt through my fingers.  I'd impaled some creature.

It was gross, and I took a few steps back, fully expecting a hornet queen to pop out and try to kill me.  Or at least to flop out, trailing ichor.  Something did fly out, but I never got a good look at it.

Each one of the six chimes had been turned into a brood chamber.  Nothing seemed to be alive, but I fully expected a regiment of irritated insects to pop out at any minute.  So I got a bowl of water and I tried soaking out the clogs, but they'd been cemented in place with bug spit. Eventually, I had to use an air pump to blow the things out.  This was also gross, because it was like blowing someone else's nose -- all sorts of mud, pollen, bug carapaces, and some gooey waxy stuff came out and silted up the water so that it was yellow.   The last chime, the longest, required reaming with a screwdriver before my little pump would work.

But it was worth it, because the chimes are gently ringing in the breezes.  I just won't think about the price when I hear them sound.

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