PM 19 November and Timka begins travels...

Timka's awol. I eventually find our littlest chick walking up our complex road towards the main gate. One minute Timka was playing on the Pilot's wall with Merlin. The next minute we see Merlin on the neighbour's roof, and no Timka in sight.

It's impossible to turn your back on these little stinkers for one minute and expect to find things the same when you return. The result of this "what-can-go-wrong" assumption is a chick on the loose that is up to no good.

I herd Timka into our open gate. The chick runs down the driveway towards the garden. Our garden is free of domestic animals, cars etc so no harm can be done to our chick.

That doesn't mean, of course, that Timka can't do harm itself. Moments after watching Timka practice sprinting down the driveway, I go inside, only to hear a metallic CLUNK coming from the garage.

We rush outside to investigate, and find Timka standing proudly on Allan's car - tell-tale talon scratches on the body work of the car.

Soon after 'decorating' Allan's car, Timka finds our garden shed. I half-expect the chick to go inside and hammer around with things, but thankfully Timka leaves this to the humans of the house. Instead, Timka hauls itself to the top of the shed roof and waits expectantly for food deliveries from PPO and Pappa.

The good parents feed their chicks a smorgasbord of king crickets, flying ants and small rodents.

The thought of where I may find Timka when I wake up makes me nervous...