Recently, I’ve been finding myself referring to our fixer upper as “the farm.” You might recall this post I wrote about the numerous groundhogs and raccoons we caught and released from the property.
Well… they’re baaaaaccckkk.
Not only are groundhogs back but we kind of have a bird infestation as well. Maybe infestation is a strong word but we do have 5 bird’s nest and 4 of them seem to be active.
(The thing sticking up from the center of the birds nest is actually the dove’s tail!)
The picture above is of the dove that has made a home on top of one of the pillars on the front porch. She almost dive bombed me – while I was on a ladder painting the ugly green trim – trying to get back to her nest. We’re starting to wonder if she’s sitting on eggs because she almost NEVER leaves.
On top of the second pillar on the front porch lies yet another nest, I have yet to see a bird land there so that one might be an easy fix. Come to think of it, I’m not sure why I didn’t just move my ladder and pull down the nest before another bird swoops in and is like “oh cool, a nest that is already set up for me! Let me just move my things in and get to egg sitting!”
The next bird problem we have is up in our future master suite.
Last week, as I was doing my usual rounds of checking on our temporary waterproofing of the dormer I noticed fresh bird poop on the window ledge at the top of the stairs – yes the stairs inside the house. I immediately thought to look up and saw not just one, but two birds nest. I stood in the attic for about 15 minutes trying to figure out where they came in but to no avail. I was curious because if these birds were to have babies, how the heck are the babies going to know how to get out?
(In the picture above I was trying to show the two birds nest, you see them where the two sides of the roof meet?)
Anyway, when the boyfriend came to check on my progress after work, I walked him around the property and showed him all of the birds nests. He immediately figured the birds in the future master suite had gotten in where we opened up the soffit to add our dormer on. Ugh… if we could only get things done a little faster we wouldn’t have these problems! But it’s with anything, your own home projects always get pushed off for other things.
Now for the groundhogs.
While I was visiting friends in South Carolina a few weeks ago, I got a call from the boyfriend informing me that when he went to water my plants, he found a small hole dug out underneath our back porch. If you remember, we had a gigantic hole there last year so he figured it was a small groundhog that had done the damage this time. So he filled it in and urged me to check on it when I went to the house in a few days.
(The hole the boyfriend covered up while I was away.)
When I got to the house 3 days later I immediately noticed that the hole the boyfriend was talking about was still filled in but there was a second hole! This second hole was also really small and located right at the end of the driveway pad.
(The second hole under the driveway pad.)
Long story short, I filled that hole in as well and now, after 2 weeks, both holes are still filled in and no new holes have appeared. But! I need everyone out there to keep their fingers (and toes!) crossed because it’s only the beginning of the season.
By now you might be wondering why the title of the post is “Welcome to the Farm.” Not only does a farm usually have animals but I think another requirement for a farm is that is produces food…
(The garden’s almost done. It just needs fencing and some plants.)
We borrowed a tiller and made a 12’x21′ foot garden at the very end of our backyard. We eat a ton of fresh fruits and veggies and figured why not grow our own! (Can you say organic, non-gmo, nutritionally better for you fruits and veggies?)
I know it’s a gamble setting up a garden where it seems like the entire population of the town’s groundhogs live so I’ll have to be extra vigilant and on guard for critters in my garden. We’ve spotted some huge ass groundhogs going in and out underneath the neighbors shed which is only about 100 feet away from our property line… and only 120 feet away from the new garden which will soon be filled with all the delectable treats a fat groundhog craves.
And I almost forgot to mention the last birds nest! I forgot to get a picture of it but believe me, it’s there.
Up where the two sides of the roof meet is yet another birds nest, maybe even two! It’s incredibly hard to see and I only noticed it only because I saw a bird fly over head and then disappear!
So as you can see we have our hands full with critters and gardens and birds nest galore! But that just comes with the beauty of spring.
