Critter House!

  The greenhouse is alive and kicking!  First, Mama Wren has hatched her little brood and is now as busy as can be trying to feed those hungry tykes.  She and Papa Wren dart in and out of the eaves as they come in with bugs.  At first, they were a bit leery of my presence but it did not take them long to realize that I meant no harm.  As I worked in the plants, they worked at providing a meal for their little ones.  Soon the greenhouse will be filled with chirps of the tykes.  Ahh, the beautiful music of wildlife!  I am in hopes that the wrens will continue to nest in the greenhouse.  This could be one of those win/win situations for both the birds and me.  They can have a safe place to raise their little ones since it will be out of inclement weather and also out of most predators' reach.  I can have a builtin insect control system!  A family of wrens can do a fine job of ridding the greenhouse of most of the destructive insects that love to munch my plants.

  Then there are the ickier bits of wildlife that inhabit such a place. Spiders!  I have no qualms about spiders residing in the greenhouse as long as they keep their distance.  They, too, do a fine job of keeping the place pest free. Like I said...as long as they keep their distance...a good, healthy distance!  Today as I was potting a few cuttings from the begonias, I found one spider that insisted on being a tad too friendly. No matter how many times I tried to shoo the critter away, he kept trying to hitch a ride on my arm.  That, my friends, is too close.  After several attempts to make him leave on his own, I flipped him out the door!  He was not overly happy with this new arrangement since it was raining and he landed directly in a puddle of water.  Unless this critter finds his own way back home, he now resides in the fig tree.  There, he will be ok until I have to pick figs!  We will most likely meet again and I will flip him into parts unknown!  He had better be careful and not push me too far as he may meet his demise in a not too nice way.

  And here I was under the impression that my greenhouse was for raising plants!  Birds and spiders...what next?