Birds of a feather...

We live on 2 acres in the country. Our house is on top of a ridge. My view is the middle and tops of trees. I generally feel claustrophobic when the trees are in full leaf.

I used to have a bird feeder until the squirrels decided to chew on our house in addition to the bird food. We still see looks of birds.

In our yard for the last week have been Antony and Cleopatra. That is what we have named Mr and Mrs Hawk. They live in a tree outside my bedroom window. We haven't seen a nest yet. They fly through the yard calling to each other. Their call is very high pitched and distinct.

We don't have a picture yet for several reasons. One is we are usually too stunned by their size and majestic flight to get a camera and the other is when we move to get the camera, they see us and fly away.

I think they are either Sharp-shinned Hawks or Red-shouldered Hawks.

How cool is this?

Carl, Get Me The Gun, Please

There was a song a few years ago that had a line in it that said " I'm like a bird, I don't know where my home is..." Kaitlin would walk around the house singing that song especially that line from the song. When said bird (keep reading) appeared Kaitlin calls its 'her bird'

We live out in the country. We have deer, roadrunners, raccoons, snakes, scorpions usually in the yard sometimes in the house ( not all of the above in the house just the scorpions so far but there have been lizards and tarantulas) anyhoo

About this time a year this certain bird family comes to call. I thought they were the Bob-White family until a guy Kaitlin was dating told us, in no uncertain terms, that it was the call of the Whippoorwill. I stand corrected.

When you look whippoorwill up in the dictionary here is what you read: a noctural ( just as you are getting to sleep) nightjar of cheifly No. America with a loud, repeating( that should read LOUD and I mean REALLY LOUD repeating over and over and over, you get the idea) call suggestive of its name.

Well, I believe that our said whippoorwill has it in for me. We will all be in the den of an evening and we will hear its faint call and Kaitlin will say "I hear my bird" and we will enjoy the faint sound of the song and then go about our business. Notice the word faint. Well, said bird is just waiting on me to go to bed and then I promise it jumps up on my deck (now I have never seen this happen yet but I will snap a picture when it does) just outside my bedroom and puts its little bird lips on the glass and changes its song to ARE YOU AWAKE, ARE YOU AWAKE, ARE YOU AWAKE until I am ready to get the gun and shoot the stupid bird. I hope it is not protected in some way by law so that I have to go to the pokey because of this stupid bird. The bird doesn't bother Carl or anybody else in family for that matter. What should I imply from this?

Because of the construction in our bathroom, Carl and I have moved down to John's room for the duration. I slept so well last night. Said bird doesn't know I've moved bedrooms yet. As I fell asleep last night I could hear the faint call...it was up on my deck, I'm sure, with its little bird lips probably using a little bird megaphone and I wasn't even there to be anoyed. I'll let you know if it finds me. I'll post of picture of it on my deck when I get one. If you want to hear said bird come over some evening, maybe you could even take said bird home with you!!!

Four candles are enough

A few blogs ago I told you about Carl's fight with the vermin aka squirrels, raccoons etc that have been enjoying our bird food. Carl has the birdfeeder so well secured that only birds can enjoy it now..... well

Before our Thanksgiving trip, Carl took our minivan in for it's check-up. He had filled up the washer fluid but still we had none. He had them look at it. Their verdict was it was rodents. They had chewed through whatever it is that hold washer fluid. The nerve of them!

In December my pest control expert found that vermin have invaded my house. He put poison in my basement and crawlspace under the house. They throughly enjoyed the poison. The pest control expert showed Carl some places where these vermin may have permeated our house. Carl got steel wool and spray foam. He went to it. He found lots of places where the vermin had chewed. Carl filled in the holes.

He did a good job. Such a good job that one was left in our house. I personally think they knew what Carl was doing and sent in a kamikaze. We heard the vermin on Friday as he scrambled to get out. Maybe he had second thoughts. We will never know. He died soon thereafter.

We have found that four candles when lit cover the smell for the most part. I guess the vermin are having the last laugh. Kaitlin says that we are lighting candles for the vermin's family. She thinks his mama will miss him. I can't wait til we miss the smell of him.

The birdfeeder

A few years ago Carl bought me a birdfeeder for Christmas. He hung it up so I can see it from my chair in the den. Two days later the squirrels chewed through the cord that held it up and it was down on the ground. The war had begun. We got a wire and the squirrels chewed through it. Next a coat hanger...no problem for the squirrels. Thicker wire and the squirrels jumped from the closest bushes to feeder. We moved the feeder further out and cut the bushes. The squirrels got the feeder off the hook and knocked it to the ground. Bought a squirrel baffle and thought we had won. No such luck. It was on the ground again. My brother John bought me a Yankee Flipper. We waited to see it flip off a squirrel. We are still waiting. It was knocked to the ground. Carl put a latch up so it would be harder to get off. We awoke that night to such noises like a terrible cat fight-- Raccoons. They can unlatch a birdfeeder, no problem. Carl wired the latch shut. They got on feeder or pulled it up and took the bottom off. So now the feeder has the bottom wired shut. I have enjoyed seeing my birds eating for several days now. I am sure this is just a respite.