Free Rodent Control!

   Since the Little Bayou House has been officially void of cats for nigh on a year, rats have decided that the out buildings are free housing.  The greenhouse, shed and pump shed have literally been invaded by the varmints since Hurricane Zeta chased them out of their homes in the palmettoes.  Recently, the pump shed has become somewhat less infested by the critters since a large snake has taken up dwelling there.  The snake is welcome to stay.  It is a gray rat snake that is just doing its job.  Hopefully, next year dozens more of the snakes will be around but, in the meantime, that snake is going to get gigantic! The other two outbuildings still have the resident rats.  I have emptied the greenhouse of everything and set traps.  Three fat rats have met their doom so the traps will continue to be set.  But until some of the other hiding places are cleared, the rats will continue their reproducing.  Ugh!

  I had just about made up mind to go cat-hunting in hopes of finding another rat-catcher but in came another predator.  For the past few weeks, several large owls could be heard at night.  This gave me an idea!  All table scraps are now placed in an open place down by the wild persimmon trees.  Aha!  The owls are feasting upon rats as the rats feast upon scraps.  The free rodent control group is definitely doing its job as there is a lot less "evidence" of rats in the shed.  I am thinking Mother Nature knows when to send in the "big guys" to level the odds.  

  For the past few days, the owls have even started coming to the yard during the daytime hours.  This gives me hope that soon the rats will be gone for good!  I am tired of fighting them so let the predators have their fun.  While they are about it, the predators need to take a few squirrels along with the rats!

Every Owl Needs a Tree and Daughters are Treasures!

  This evening, I was talking to my daughter about possible topics for tonight's writings.  I had been pondering this since with the torrential rains keeping me inside, I had no photographs.  The good thing about all of the rain is that I have been able to sort a good bit of the items given to me by Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Stanley. (They just recently completed a move to be with their daughter.)  While talking with my daughter, she mentioned that I should write about treasures.  Well, I have done that many times in the past.  Still, her words of wisdom rang clear.  "The most valued things are the ones that have the most sentimental meaning."  She is so correct.  Her statement made me proud.  I have long tried to instill in my kids the true meaning of riches. Wealth lies not in dollars but in love.  Don't get me wrong, those dollar bills come in mighty handy but there is a certain beauty in things or actions given purely out of love.  I have gifts from people that have no monetary value whatsoever but they are priceless.  I am rich far beyond comprehension.

  Last night I talked about how owls seem to be collecting at my house in all forms and from all sorts of people.  The owls make me happy.  Not that any are worth a red cent but they are some of those priceless items that fill the Little Bayou House.  It was then that I spied another of my recent treasures from Aunt Sylvia.  This is a wall plaque that features a tree..I am supposing it is a "Tree of Life".  This is crazy!  I just received a beautiful bed cloth decorated with a tree.  (My daughter and her husband bought this for my birthday!)  Add these trees to a sort of funky tree that I painted and I seem to have a fine start of homes for my owls!  You have to agree that owls and trees do, indeed, go well together!

  Trees, owls and other unique items fill the Little Bayou House.  All of these things are treasures merely because of the sentimental value but there is another treasure that fills my heart.  The fact that my daughter holds the merit of things given with love over the number on a price tag makes me one happy mom!  Elizabeth, indeed, is a treasure and she holds my heart forever!
 
 

The "People Watchers"

Darling Daughter, Elizabeth was here this weekend.  It is always a delight when she visits as the time is filled with non-stop chatter and giggles.  Somehow we always manage to find time to some sort of creative project.  This time, we went shopping for Halloween decorations and then we planned how our goodies would be put to use. We also worked on her costume.  My beautiful daughter is going to parties as Medusa this year.  Our creativeness was called into play making that head full of snakes!  Pictures of all of the decorations and that "wig" will be featured in the blog a bit later.  While shopping for decorations, we were a bit disappointed that the local dollar store had only a few ragtag decorations that appeared to be leftovers from last season.  It amazed us that there was a full aisle of Christmas decorations but only one small bin of Halloween and Fall decorations.   Anyway, we went on the search for other items to "transform" into unique pieces for our Halloween houses!  I did, however, buy six small owls to be used in some way..three for her and three to stay with me.

Back at the Little Bayou House, we checked our purchases.  The owls were a bit tattered but we were happy with their strange appearance.  She was trying to clear the fluffy feathers from the owls' eyes and was teasing about them watching us.  "Better to see you with, my dear!"  This jogged a memory from my childhood..not from the "Little Red Riding Hood" tale but from my grandparents' house.  Their house, like most here, had a most lovely porch.  For a while it was screened but later, Granddad installed windows so Grandmother could enjoy the view year round.  It was one of her favorite places in the late evening.  I can remember going out to sit with her in the large wicker rocking chairs and listening to her tell tales of long ago.  Suddenly, she would put her finger to her lips and silence us.  "Shhhh!  The "People Watchers" are coming!"  This would always send a bit of nervous chills up my spine!  After a few minutes, she would point to the ever present Boston Fern that was hanging from the eaves of the house.  There, three small owls could be seen nestling in among the fern fronds.  Their big golden eyes would glow in the soft light from the kitchen just beyond the porch.  These little guys would never miss a night of coming to watch whoever was on the porch.  Ahhh.."People Watchers"!  The little Screech Owls were no bigger than a pint jar and were always so well camouflaged that it took me a great while before I could see them at all.  They would fly in on silent wings and sit for hours staring at us!  Occasionally, one would let out a warbling trill just to let us know they were there.  It was strange, in a way, as I always saw three..never more..never less.

I told Elizabeth the tale of the "People Watchers" as we sorted our loot!  She made the comment that she was going to somehow use that in her decorations.  Then she reminded me of some long forgotten owls that were hanging in my laundry room.  Over the doorway leading out to the back porch are three small castiron trivets.  These are shaped like owls!  Back when we first built that room, Mom had hung the owls above the door..they are still there..never moved.  People Watchers in their own right!  Again..three.  Three tiny black owls from the store..three owl trivets hanging over the door..three wee Screech Owls of family lore...hmmmm?  Hidden meaning or mere coincident?  Probably..just fun!

Birds and a Feather.....

The hallway is finally fully decorated for Halloween!  This makes me happy as I was beginning to think I was going to totally miss the holiday!  At the rate I was going, my decorations would not be up in time to enjoy!  Then, last night I could not sleep so I took advantage of my restlessness and decorated! I was elated but perhaps my neighbors were not as I kept pounding away with my hammer!  I hung all sorts of pictures and items on the wall...all sorts of things that needed lots of tiny nails!  Pounding away until the wee hours of the morning!  Now, I am happy to say..the hallway is decorated!

Since the walls are cedar planking and the ceiling is red (yes, red!), I wanted to go with mostly black with the decorating theme.  The hallway is rather narrow so adding anything that would impede traffic was entirely out of the question.  I had to stick with pictures and such.  Last year, I had started making black prints and framing them with black mats.  These were things such as owls, ravens and bats.  I just found pictures on the computer, printed them, aged them and the matted the finished pieces.  I aged them by dipping the printed pages in coffee!  Which, by the way, was quite delicious!  The wall looked a mite empty and unfinished so I had to think of some way of adding interest!    A wire berry branch (artificial) was spray-painted black...yes, at two in the morning, I was outside spray-painting a branch!  I nailed the branch to the wall.  Since it was wire, I was able to bend it this way and that until it was sort of gnarled around the pictures.  Two black crows were perched high on its branches.  There was still one spot that needed some small point of interest...what to do? What to do?  Hmmmmm.......  

I plopped down on the sofa.  It was now three in the morning and I was still determined to finish this project!  When I hit the sofa, a feather blew up into the air and came softly floating down into my lap!  That is it!  A feather!  This particular feather is actually rather ancient!  It was a from a bag of trims that my great-grandfather used in his hat-making business!  I had come across the bag while cleaning the sewing room and evidently one feather escaped my attempts at repacking them!  So...the feather was nailed to the wall!  It is a tad large to have come from one of my crows but...well, use your imagination..for goodness sake!  Anyway, at just a little before four in the morning, I was finally finished decorating the hallway!  I was satisfied with my efforts and I am quite sure the neighbors were happy with the silence!  (Not that they will complain as their seven little fluff-balls of dogs yap all night long!)  Ahhh...sleep...peaceful rest!  I have accomplished something and so now I could rest easy!  Daybreak came quickly..two hours later, Ms. Ez and I were on the pier watching the sunrise!