The dryer is working again

Part 1: For days now, my dryer has been working less and less efficiently. I've had to run some loads 2-3 times to get them dry. Its been buggin the heck out of me because my appliances are not old enough to be going out on me already!

Part 2: Since spring is here, I've been enjoying listening to the birds and hearing their little chirps and scratching going on outside my house. While sitting in my catch-all room, I can here them quite clearly! Almost like they've made a nest in the rain gutter. I thought- hmm, no problem. I'll tell the HOA and they can clean out the nest so it doesn't clog. When I started working outside and getting my patio put in shape, I noticed ALOT of sticks and leaves and crap in one particular spot... funny how it works that spot is RIGHT underneath where I keep hearing the birds scratching like they're in my house! I finally looked up to see this:

Yep- that's a bird's nest in my dryer vent. Lovely. Now you see how Part 1 and 2 go together! So I gave it another two weeks and decided that any little baby birds that may have been in there have long since gone and I cleaned it out yesterday. That was no small task! The nest, as you can see, looks deceivingly small! Now look below and see HALF OF A 5 GALLON BUCKET filled with bird's nest! And I'm still not convinced I got everything but enough to where my laundry is functioning again. :)
Now I understand why Hitchcock made a movie where birds are evil!