Intro
I entered middle age a few years ago...okay, a little more than a few. Our daughters are 28 and 26. After they left, I cautiously redecorated their bedrooms. I did the usual, donated "Lucky" brand jeans (left from 3rd grade) and stuffed animals to a local thrift store. Next, I threw away countless plastic bags from "The Gap" and other retailers. Some of them included various amounts of change, which of course I took as my housekeeping fee. Every $6.40 helps!
I slowly bought new furniture items that I liked - a futon and frame, small roll-top desk, area rugs and lamps. One room was starting to resemble my new "office" which would double as a guest room when necessary. One morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, I heard (and felt) a very large boom-crash. I cautiously walked upstairs to find the dust clearing and about half of the ceiling of my new room on the floor. Ah, the joys of owning an antique house...
Uninvited houseguests
Well my nest has become a rescue mission to a family of homeless sparrows.
It began in the early spring, when an annoying flicker made it his life's work to peck at the plug that was inserted after "blown-in" insulation was applied sometime in the last century. Whenever we heard his rat-a-tat on the wall, we would chase him off and we thought that was the end of it. Well, here in the frozen North, early spring is marked by heavy snowstorms. That side of the house (beyond the driveway) was relatively inaccessible until sometime in May. By that time, the evil flicker's damage had been done - a 2" hole in our wall was the result of his maniacal task.
One morning as I was leaving for work, I noticed a small bird flying out of a hole near my kitchen with something in its mouth. I thought, "well crap, she's gathering my insulation to make her nest - I wish I could wade through 3 feet of snow, stand on a ladder and plug up that hole." I decided that it could wait until the snow was gone - big mistake! By the time we realized that the birds (a happy couple) were actually using the wall of our nest to make their nest we were afraid to seal it up and let eggs spoil in the wall of the kitchen.
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| Mama Sparrow |
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| Dad |
So today, we are surrogate grandparents to a family of little chirpers. We don't know how many babies there are, but we are hoping that they will leave the nest within the nest soon, so that we can fill up that hole in the wall and get back to a relatively normal life.
2 comments:
They are too cute!!!!
Look at it this way - it could be woodpeckers! LOL
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