Just in the neighborhood...

  A while back, I bought a birdhouse from from a senior citizens' group that was having a garage sale as a fund raiser.  I was oddly drawn to this particular house even though others were much prettier and much better constructed.  After questioning, I found that the house had been made by an elderly gentleman and his seven year old grandson had painted it.  This bit of news made me love the birdhouse all the more.  It is not every day that you can get your hands on such a special piece of yard art!  Once we got the thing home, Mark helped me to poke it on top of the rose arbor.  There it sat for the entire summer, then on through the fall and even winter.  I did not expect any visitors at those time so this did not bother me.  Now that spring is here, I was elated to see two little visitors investigating the house.

  A pair of chickadees darted in and out of the tiny doorway of the house.  For two days, they did nothing more than check the surroundings and the interior of the house.  Then, on the third day, I noticed that the birds were bringing twigs and straws into the house. The sweet little pair had decided that this would be their home.  For the past three mornings, I have watched the birds as they worked.  Not wanting to scare them, I kept my distance and let them build in peace.

  This afternoon, I took a hike through the garden and under the arbor.  I could hear scratching inside the birdhouse but did not see the birds. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fluttering of wings.  Uh, oh!  That bird was a bit large to be a chickadee!  I stood still and stared into the rose vines.  Sure enough, a much larger bird was bustling about just a few inches from the house.  Well, my goodness!  A pair of mockingbirds was making a nest just behind the birdhouse!  In fact, the side of the nest actually butted up against the back of the house.  Well, that is interesting!  I have never seen two families of birds build right next door to each other!  I wonder how this is going to work?  Will the birds become enemies or will they both raise their broods side by side? This, my friends, should prove to be quite interesting!  I will be carefully watching the outcome of this birdie neighborhood with adjoining nests!

The New House

Sometimes that old saying about "beauty being in the eye of the beholder" rings so true!  There is a small town just north of here called Success.  My sister lives there and is a member of the Seniors of Success..a small group that is determined to better the community in all ways possible.  They have fundraisers to help purchase items for the area.  This next month, this group is having a booth to sell birdhouses.  I am one of the fortunate ones that happened to get a preview of the goods to be sold via a visit to my sister and brother-in-law's house!  There were all sorts of fanciful birdhouses being made!  Most were still unfinished.  They needed sanding and a good coat of paint.  Except one.  One stood out above all the others simply because it had a splash of color!  Granted all of the other birdhouses were a tad better constructed and granted this paint job was a tad..um.. "unprofessional" but I was immediately drawn to this birdhouse!  When I questioned my sister, she giggled and said that the house was made by someone other than my brother-in-law and the man's grandson had painted it.  That did it!  I knew then that the birdhouse was coming home to the Bayou!

Anytime I find something that a kid has painted, it tugs at the heartstrings.  Perhaps this brings back memories of doing things with my own kids or perhaps even goes back as far as when I did things as a child but there is a bit of nostalgia connected with this sort of paint job!  I questioned the price and bartered a bit until the birdhouse was mine!   I proudly toted the heavy thing home and informed Son that he had a job mounting the future bird home!  Now, my job is to find the perfect place for the house with the bright paint job!  I am supposing it is a wren house being as it has a teeny-tiny hole for a doorway.  I will need to have it near the Little Bayou House.  I love having wrens in the garden as they eat so many bugs!  I am sure Ms. Put would also like me to have it nearby so I have to take that into consideration.  There is no need to make it easy for her to catch little ones when they fly from the nest for the first time.  Ponder..ponder..I must find the perfect place for the new house!