An Entry in the Chapel Log

This was a weekend for the record books. This morning I arrived at the chapel at 9:30 and went about my business. I hadn’t turned on the big overhead lights yet; I was just setting up and unlocking doors. At 9:45 some older women arrived for the wedding and walked into the chapel. A few moments later they asked, “Um, do you know what is being done about that bird?” This struck me as odd, but I looked around for a dead sparrow or something that might be on the ground. The women seemed very concerned, and said, “No, right there.” I looked up a bit, and quite to my surprise, saw an enormous HAWK perched on one of the pews. After several gasps of, “Oh my gosh!” and with my head reeling from what to do, I immediately called building services and explained the very odd situation. They called work control and animal control. We soon discovered a broken window near where the bird was perched and realized that he must have busted through it diving for a squirrel or something.

Meanwhile, a woman from work control showed up and had no clue what to do with a hawk. She opened up all the doors and threw paper balls at him to try to get him out the door. This, of course, only upset the bird and caused him to fly all over the chapel and hit his head on the ceiling and organ. He perched in the vestibule, then flew back and forth several times before deciding that he really liked the vestibule and went to the bathroom. I left to make some more calls and came back to find the work control lady throwing a mic cord at the hawk. This secretly infuriated me, but I calmly asked, “Oh would you please use something else? Those are really expensive!” We finally gave up on these methods (much to my relief) and the bridal party found the whole thing hilarious and were completely dear and gracious about it!

The memorial service for Vagn Flyger went wonderfully. They were actually THRILLED to have the hawk because not only was Flyger a wildlife biologist, he was an avid bird watcher. His family was convinced it was him watching down! Really, the situation couldn’t have worked out any better.

The organ is still ciphoning and it’s getting awful. I feel like we shouldn’t offer it for use anymore it’s so bad.

Also, the sound system seems like it’s down way too soft. Maybe it needs to be looked at?

I called everyone who will be in the chapel tomorrow and notified them of the hawk situation. I also hung signs everyone informing people that the situation is being handled and to keep doors shut. What a day, but it turned out awesome.
Taylor

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