The Continuing Birds Saga...

Would you believe the birds are at it again? Yep.

I started noticing my clothes dryer was steaming up inside...like a sauna! Our dryer vent goes up the inside of the wall and out the roof. 

When I looked at the vent coming out of our roof, I could see a nest up against the vent keeping it from opening.

This is not our vent, but it's an example of how birds can clog up vents...

For quite some time, I've been trying to find a company that cleans out dryer vents. Now it was time to get serious and find someone.

We were discussing our nest problems with some friends at a restaurant and a friendly older lady told us "Try a Chimney Sweep!"

Polar Bear Chimney Sweep

A local chimney sweep company came out the next day and took care of the dryer vent problems. The chimney sweeper also climbed right up on top of a ladder and plucked down the nest the birds built in the outside chandelier. 

Polar Bear Chimney Sweep Took This 16-foot High Nest Right Down!

Happily we are "nest free" once again...for now. 

So if you find yourself in need of a dryer vent cleaning, or the removal of anything up high, try calling a chimney sweep for the job.

Thanks for dropping by!

Blame Debbie Dabble's Cute Filing Cabinet

Downsizing my late mother-in-law's things has been a long, drawn-out process due to the chaos in our life right now.  

My father-in-law is learning to adapt to being "Me" instead of "We" after a long happy 71-year-marriage. 

At 95, he's springing back...although that spring is a little too sprung more days than not!

Recently I brought home two drawers from their little filing cabinet intending to shred my mother-in-law's paperwork and then donate the 2-drawer file cabinet.

Debbie Dabble's Colorful Patio Furniture

Blame Debbie Dabble that the empty filing cabinet is still hanging around our house! 

I came across Debbie's post HERE and fell for the colorful cabinet she has on her patio...How cute is that little guy?...Well, cute enough for me to think I might copy her idea someday using my mother-in-law's file cabinet.

Debbie Dabble's Colorful Porch

I hope you'll hop over to Debbie's PLACE if you need to add a little shot of color in your life too...It's like she stole a rainbow and put it on her porch.

Thanks for dropping by!

Saturday Thoughts And Clarifications

The comments on my last post make me think I was not clear enough about where the birds (we think they are Barn Swallows) tried to build their nest. 

Right behind this high glass window is where the chandelier hangs. At night, when the chandelier is turned on, you can see it through the glass window...

I think some commenters thought the birds were nesting inside our house! They are actually up in the top of this area outside our front door.

I thought I'd show you how the outside entry is built and why it has a chandelier-type light hanging in it.

Our outside entry has a covered roof, but the doorway is wide open and so are the windows on each side of the entry. 

The chandelier is protected from rain and wind as it's positioned way up high.  When the chandelier shines through that high glass window it makes the house look very charming.

When we bought the house, there was a planting bed on either side of the enclosed entryway, and the walkway was straight with blocks of cement that made it hard to walk up to the house.

House In 2010

This is my father-in-law coming from the house when it was for sale. We signed the contract a few days later on New Year's Eve Day, Dec 31, 2010.

House and Walkway 2010

At the very top of our "To-Do List" back then was: "Replace The Dangerous Front Walkway" 

We had it done as soon as we saved up the money to do it, but after we put in the front patio. 

Small Patio Replaced Dying Planting Bed

The small flagstone patio got put in when all the plants in this area kept dying a slow painful death. It is one of the best things we did! 

Finally Putting A Safe Walkway In 2013

This east side of the house gets the morning sun and then is in full shade for the rest of the day. 

I Always Pictured A Curvy Walkway In Front Of The House

Our back patio, on the west-side of the house, gets full sun from 1 p.m. to sundown so you can find us on this shady little front patio on a hot summer afternoon.

Unfortunately, the nesting birds like this side of the house too. We couldn't step out the front door without them dive-bombing us!

Nest In High Up Chandelier In Outside Entry

I wonder which birdbrain it was who thought the crossbars in the chandelier was a secure place to raise their babies? I don't think it was the mama.

Thanks for dropping by!

Attack Of The Crazy Nesting Birds

When you open your front door and find twigs all over your welcome mat and entryway floor, you know that's not a good thing!

Looking up, I find the culprits are trying to build a nest right in the hanging chandelier!

It's so far up! The top of the front door is 8 feet tall...

...then another 8 to 10 feet from the top of the door to where the chandelier hangs...

That's too high for us to climb up and take the nest down. We'll have to call someone with a tall ladder and nerves of steel. Can you tell high places scare the bejesus out of me?

When I went out to water the plants in the pots, a couple of birds circled me overhead. Apparently they wanted to get back to nest building!

That's when I discovered one of those little devils even tried to build a nest in my Hydrangea bush and tore a side of the plant out. 

If you know how much I love and baby my Hydrangea bush, you know my first thought was...Birds, This Means War!

Wild Bill removed the nest from the flowerpot before I thought to get a picture of the mess.

I bought a large box of mothballs and spread them around in the pots. Wild Bill got out his pink Barbie BB gun and shot it off each time the birds flew into the entryway. 

Birds don't like the sound of shots (even little pink BB gun shots) and will learn to stay away. 

In some small rural towns that have problems with birds nesting in downtown trees during the nesting season, they employ "noise cannons" to discourage the birds from nesting there.

In regard to the mothballs, our last house was near a lake where 22 deer roamed freely around using our flower beds and flower pots as a salad bar.

The only thing I ever found that deterred the deer and other wild animals from eating our plants was mothballs. Hopefully birds don't like mothballs either.

Thanks for dropping by!

In The Potted Garden With My Thoughts

The bright colors cheer me up when I'm in the little potted garden out front. We have quite a few wild rabbits around that love to chew on anything in the ground as well as whatever hangs over the pots.

It's strange how the days past so quickly even though they're longer now than any other time of the year!

There's so much that needs to be done, but the heat of summer makes it hard to want to do much around Northeast Texas this time of year. Even the Hydrangeas seem to be hiding out...

We're learning so much about how you can be healthy one minute and the next you're not. 

Through the years you always hear, "Guard your health!" Now we know just what is meant by that. It truly does feel sometimes like it's being stolen away.

Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts for us. Life is slowly getting back to normal since Wild Bill's diagnosis and his mother's death the next day. 

We traveled to M.D. Anderson's Cancer Center near Houston the day after mom's funeral hoping for a better prognosis and possible treatment. Though the Center had nothing different to offer, the doctor was especially kind and through in walking us through the PET scan and explaining everything to us. 

 

Thanks for dropping by!