Impact

 The three of us, having chored and cleaned for hours, sat down the other day to have a few minutes peace and quiet (and maybe a snack). We were all engaged with our electronic devices, enjoying the downtime.

Wham! A big bang like a bomb, then a cascading jingle of falling glass.

Somewhere.

It sounded right next to us in the living room, but it wasn't. Kitchen and dining room windows were intact as well.

The boss checked the stair landing. There was no window there any more.

A big Cooper's Hawk, immature, and probably a female by the size, had evidently hit it in mid-swoop. Alas it perished.

The mess was incredible.

Both the flight of stairs leading up to the landing and the one climbing beyond it were bathed in glass fragments, from big pointy shards to sharp crumbs barely visible even under a bright light. There was glass in my bedroom, and glass in a downstairs bedroom that opens off the downstairs hallway. The hall was thoroughly dusted, mostly with micro-bits, as well.

Becky picked up the indoor pieces, and I the outdoor stuff-two boxes worth altogether.

I vacuumed behind her up the stairs and around the rest of the glass field, while Ralph horsed the big shop vac up the stairs behind me. Did I mention the indoors is carpeted and the outdoors weedy? Yeah, it was a beast of a job.

Not much else got done for several hours.

Fortunately he was also able to find a place that would repair the window immediately on an emergency basis. (We are having a nice fall, but not nice enough to leave a two by three foot window open.)

The new window is nice and clear, the old one having been deliberately left grubby to help prevent just such collisions. You can see above how we are dealing with that.