This one is for the birds....

The running joke in my house the past couple of months is that the husband hears things (as opposed to seeing dead people). He asked me if I heard what sounded like birds chirping. I did not, and chalked it up to my husband loosing his mind earlier then expected (and who would blame him, right?) He said it sounded like it was coming from the vent above the microwave/stove and usually started when he turned on the fan while cooking.

While sitting in my living room this morning, I hear this big THUD above the microwave/stove. The sound of one, if not more, birds trying desperately to get out of an area they don't belong in. As if on queue, my 85 pound German Shepherd chimes in and makes his feelings of disapproval known by barking hysterically. I have birds chirping, a dog barking at a bird chirping, a bird banging itself into the walls. It had to be something out of a comedy movie.

So you might as yourself: "Who would I call to get a bird out of my walls?" No, not Ghostbusters. After Googling just that, I called a local pest place. They do not "do birds". I asked if she knew of anyone that did, she did not.

After another Google search, I found a semi-local company with raving testimonials on their website for the removal of birds in walls. I called and was able to get an apt. in the afternoon.

The "bird man" showed up,and we determined what vent the bird may possibly be flying into. He hoisted up on a ladder against the house and with a camera shoved down the vent, saw only minimal nest making material. He commented multiple times about how it's "early" in the year for birds to be nesting in vents of homes, and I was actually his first "bird" call. One thing I didn't think of to prove that a bird was indeed flying in this vent to make a home, while not paying rent, was bird droppings on the side of the house where the vent is. There was a little, which indicated that the birds hadn't been visiting long. We decided the best course of action would be to put some mesh wiring over the vent and that should be enough to keep it out (there was no evidence that a nest/eggs had been set up yet, therefore trapping potential baby birds).

Within 10 minutes of the bird man leaving, I hear pecking on the side of the house where the vent is. I sneak outside, very quietly, to try to catch said bird in action and sure enough..there was a bird trying to peck through the mesh which is now blocking its attempt at squatting in my walls.

Non-rent paying, squatting birds: 0 Owner of the Big Red House: 1

You may have noticed...no garden...

I've given up on taking pictures of the garden. We haven't given up on said garden, but not much survived "the flood" so we're making due with what we have. Some pumpkins, corn, maybe one tomato and peppers. So sad...next year we already have a good game plan!

Onto 3 day weekends (hooray!). Today was a busy shopping/cleaning day as Miss Amels is back from 5 days at Nana and Hampa's due to our sitter being out of town. Tomorrow is our annual 4th of July bb-que extravaganza. The husband soaks ribs, in his own homemade marinade, for 8 hours, then bb-ques them. I make a fruit pizza and people bring their yummy salads. We sit out back, drink, talk and be merry. Then fireworks in the front of the house at night. It's great to be a home owner, and as always, I'm fortunate to all that are fighting for my freedom! Let it ring!

Paying it forward....

Last summer my very good friend Kyla, who has 2 boys, wanted to get her garage clean and offered both a Little Tykes picnic and a Little Tykes swing/slide set. I thought this was perfect because these items tend to be expensive, and with how fast Miss Amels grows, wouldn't last long. I asked Kyla how much she wanted for both pieces and I was taken aback by her answer (only because, you don't hear this very often and I was overwhelmed with her generosity!) She said, "Nothing". I offered time and time again to give her SOMETHING and she just said she'd rather give it to someone she knows would use it. The picnic table worked perfect for her and cousin Henry at our annual 4th of July bbque/fireworks show. Amels also loved going down the slide and going "weee" on the swing. (plenty of pictures I have prove this!)

Now, my baby is growing up. She would much rather be a daredevil and go down the largest slide she can find at the park then this "Baby" slide...yes she'll still do it IF SHE HAS TO, but really she just looks at me like it's so elementary!

We tried to plan a garage sale last year, and failed. As you can imagine, the garage is now another year older, which has given us another year to fill it with CRAP. Old toys, boxes that....4 years later...still haven't been looked through. Ug! So when discussing getting said garage sale put together this year, we discussed the play set (the picnic table will stay, it still has use left in it). We have the perfect place in the back yard, on peet gravel and all, for a nice, large play set. Yes, those expensive ones that she'll use DAILY to justify the cost. (friends, feel free to come play!).

Our next door neighbors have an adorable little girl, P, who just turned one. I got to see P outside the other day, as with the weather we haven't seen her beautiful eyes lately! She's getting so big and is just walking! After talking with the husband, it was decided we would offer it to adorable Miss P before selling it. Would I ask for some type of monetary payment? No. Why? Because it would be going somewhere it would get used (and I'll have proof, we can see their backyard from our bedroom!) and it will be just perfect for Miss P by mid/end of summer when she starts walking more for the slide. To my delight, when offered today, Miss P's parents accepted and were washing it off this afternoon. It felt good, and I can't wait to hear the adorable little squeals from Miss P on her first trip down her very own slide!

"Damn it feels good to be a gangsta"-Ghetto Boys

The Glynn Family garden, year 2, week 2- The Flood.....

It happened. We're upset. THE Flood. With over an inch of rain in less then 12 hours, the garden is 95% under water. Some plants have not made it. Some, we will wait and see when/if the water reseeds. I read that it's 6 days into June, and we've already far exceeded the average rainfall for this time of year. Disappointing. So now we wait, to see if our seeds don't come up when the water goes down. And we see if like people that make a living doing this, our crops are ruined :(

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The Glynn Family garden, year 2.

We're at it again. Being sustainable. Last years garden was a lot of hard work, and a lot of success. We had amazing fruit salads, canned salsa all summer, cucumbers for salads daily and of course, our pumpkin patch. We set out for 3 pumpkins for the fall, ended out with over 20. A patch people. Some things have stayed the same, some have changed for this years garden. It was easier to till/plant this year, and we're hoping the harvest should get easier as well. Here is what we have to look forward to:

The same: Corn, Pumpkins (both big and mini's, for decoration in the fall mainly), tomato's (4 different types), cucumbers, zucchini, baby watermelons, green and red bell peppers.

Something different: We're using different types of tomato's this year, aside from the 2 bell pepper varieties, this year we're trying habanero and jalapeno, we've replaced the strawberries with cantalope, and not planted as many pumpkin starters. We also used pepper seeds last year and transplanted them into the garden, this year we by-passed that and are just using plants.

To add to our sustainable weekend without Miss Amels, we also pulled 2 out of control growing plants from the front yard and replaced them with beautiful Dahalia varieties. FINALLY some color in my front yard! (this with the tulips I planted a month or so ago). I'm going to see how tall they get and may put a couple more in come July to enjoy through the rest of the summer. We prunned and cut back our other plants out front and made things look quite orderly. We also have deviled eggs in the fridge for a bbque at my parents tomorrow and I made my mother in laws Lemon Jello Salad for the first time (I'm hoping it's a hit, I've never been a big Jello salad fan but this looks good!)

So tomorrow is "in-house" cleaning since the weather is supposed to go sour. Then a bbque at the parents to pick up Miss Amels. I have muscles I forgot exsisted that are sore from the planting/gardening but when all is said it done, it makes me love being a home owner! Like last year, mainly for my own records but also to share, I'll be doing a week by week photo gallery of the harvest. Here's to fruit salads, pumpkin pies and pancakes, and lots o' salsa!

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