Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Nesting Birds and Slinky Cats

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Weekend. Our kiddos were out of town, so we had a really quiet, low-key weekend. We did go out Saturday night to our fave Italian spot, but that was about the size of it. About the most exciting thing going on around here at the moment is out on the back upper deck. There are a couple of noisy house wren's and they've been busy putting together an intricate little nest inside one of my derelict birdhouses. A while back I was trying to shift some vintage garden things around and a couple of these handmade birdhouses wound up right outside the kitchen window on one of my vintage wrought iron Etergeres. (don't ask me why it's now a shelf for birdhouses and not in the house)






One year we had bees decide to move into the birdhouses, so the bottoms of the houses were un-nailed and they were cleaned out, never to be put back together again. These birdhouses are in the direct full hot south-facing sun, so I've been worried that it might get too much like an oven in there with the galvanized tin roof.





I found an old outdoor pillow and wedged it on the top shelf in hopes that it might give them some shade from the direct sunlight. You can kind of see it in the above pic, but since it looks really dorky, I cropped that out. That's why the rest of the deck isn't being shown right now, either. I haven't had a chance to get flowers out, hopefully it will be a little more cleaned up and colorful in a few weeks. 




These little guys are one of my favorite birds because they're so stubby and compact, (love the sassy little tail). They have such a distinct voice, they are unmistakable; it's a cross between a bird chirp and a locust, which is sort of grating on the ear. It always sounds like they're scolding you, which probably they are. Of course I get a good cursing out each time I walk out the door, from the daddy wren since he's watching the nest. 







Hopefully the little nest won't get too hot and we'll have some babies in a bit. I really miss feeding and watching the birds and critters from the other house. We had a new deck built when we moved in here and bird seed on a deck is not conducive to keeping chewing squirrels and rodents away. Our deck was almost destroyed by squirrels at the other house. grrrr... mostly my fault for catering to Mother Nature.


February 2013


Our younger daughter has a little kitty gal who needs daily medication for seizures. Since Aly was out of town over Easter, we ran by her place to take care of that. They have a cream that you rub on the inside of the ear, so no pills or liquids. She has a vicious set of chompers so I'm glad there's no mouth opening necessary. As usual, sorry for the lousy phone pics... Just look at that scrunchy little face. She's some variety of Himalayan, um yeh, that would be the stinky kind.




This is Nelly, and she's really smart. You can tell she's thrilled to see us. We were ready for her hide-and-seek antics under the bed. You have to reach under and literally drag her out. We trapped her; that's when she turns into a wet rag/slinky little feline. 




I haven't shared the latest on what's been happening with my health fun...in particular an update on my Thyroid woes. I think the last time I talked about that my Hypothyroid state had been thoroughly yanked inside out and thrown around the room backwards, as I found myself on the other end of the scale which is just as bad, with an overactive thyroid. I had to wait 6 weeks to get retested and get a handle on what had happened. That was late February, and I've been dealing with the fallout since then. Going through all that has caused me to do a lot of research on the subject.

I had a lot of unanswered health questions as I ended my Series. I'm going to share all this in a separate post, because I've learned alot since Christmas. Information that I didn't even realize was out there, and it all  can be a huge interconnecting factor in our health. Especially women, and as we age the possibility that we might be affected rises alarmingly. I'll get to work on that post this week, and it will be part of the Series on Regaining Your Health which has a link below my posts, in the blog footer. Be watching for it...

Hope you're having a good week,
 I'm making progress... xoxo

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11 comments:

  1. I just prepared a post on my bird problems, but I'm not as nice as you. We've learned to nip the nest in the bud right away or we can't use our front door at all. It is sweet of you to provide them a home. Hope it works out better for you than it did for us.

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    1. have to laugh, my front door basket gets lookers each day. we have a loud buzzer that goes off if you come up or on the front porch, so the poor birdies back off quick! I'm not as nice as it seems, at least in the front!

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  2. Looking forward to your health update, Debra. I have lots of birds, mostly in my magnolia right outside our bedroom, and can't tell which ones are nesting. The mockingbirds are so good at others' songs, you'd think I have robins, wrens, chickadees and cardinals all in that tree from the sounds. I do see all of them in my yard, just haven't spotted the nests yet. Too busy supervising contractors indoors!

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  3. I am so afraid of birds but I find myself sitting at the kitchen table and watching then steal the peanuts I put out for the squirrels. And I enjoy it.

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  4. Oh I love your birds - and love when birdhouses are used. Can't blame you for being worried about hot metal - but, well, hopefully the birds are smart enough to leave if they smell burning tail feathers, right?

    My finches are back = they've been missing in action - which is VERY SAD for someone who named her home Finch Rest due to having so many goldfinches. Whew. I can breathe again.

    That scrunchy face kitty is beyond cute - so so so so adorable - they are the cutest ones of all - not necessarily the nicest - but omagerd they're CUTE!

    Sorry about your health scaring you again. Keeping you in my prayers. Big hugs. ♥

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  5. We usually have the same problem, but our finches set up home in my wreath on the front door. Last year I moved the wreath from the door to the wall of the house so we didn't scare them every time we opened the door. I want to get one of those bird feeders that you attach to a window so you can watch them. My granddaughter will love it. Hope your thyroid problems are resolved soon:(

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  6. Oh I as laughing at the "wet rag feline". My weiner dog does the same thing and we say in a screechy voice "Oh no! He's paralyzed. Poor little weiner dog." :) Can't wait to see if you have baby birds. May you enjoy a beautiful spring and a wonderful week!

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  7. Hope your health issues get resolved very soon Debra!.....As soon as I put the hanging ferns (10 of them) on the lower back porch, within days, there are nests in each one! Just hope those pesky black birds do not come and steal the eggs!

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  8. I hope you have a house full of baby wrens soon, Debra! They were my grandmother's favorite bird.

    We spent Easter without our girls, too, so it was a quiet day for us. I hope your grandkitties appreciated your visit!

    I'm interested to read what you have to tell us about your thyroid disease and I hope you're feeling better soon. Take care.

    xo, Vickie

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  9. I love that you have little wrens. They are my favorites. I get cursed out when I get too close to my birdhouse too. I'll be back to read about your health update.

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  10. The bird houses look super cute, let's hope the wrens think so too. When I was young we always had birds nesting in the garden hedges and trees but now I live in a city they tend to come to visit our little garden but not to live sadly. I hope your thyroid can be brought under control soon and you start to feel better.

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