I am so proud! We are newly minted bluebird landlords…
You may recall that I have been pondering a bigger commitment to my birding adventures. I had considered becoming a purple martin landlord. I did all the reading, scoped out the property, looked into houses and poles. I finally decided to postpone that commitment. The reason? The challenge of putting in the pole securely was one, given that we are not particularly adept at anything that involves tools and concrete. The bigger reason, however, was that I read because purple martins only eat flying insects, most purple martin landlords feed their birds in extended periods of bad weather by throwing mealworms and other tasty morsels up in the air near their house. Some have even mastered using a slingshot to get the worms really flying high and looking appealing. All of this in the wind and rain!
Now, you may already be able to tell that I would undoubtedly be one of these slingshot-wielding bird lovers because I have no desire to see any bird or animal suffer or even, for that matter, be unhappy. I would no doubt toss and turn all night long on windy and rainy nights worrying about how and what I would feed them and how I could possibly improve my slingshot skills.
So, I came up with a Plan B–Bluebird Landlord. Yes! The logistics are somewhat easier, even if the responsibility is on par with being a purple martin landlord.
Bluebirds had become seriously endangered because sparrows, a non-native species, were taking over their natural nesting places–the hollows of trees. Swarms of good-hearted bird lovers have rushed to the rescue by establishing bluebird houses and nurturing their little flocks. Sweet.
“We have a lot of space,” I said to myself.
So we installed our own Bluebird Trail! I bought several bluebird house kits from the National Gardening Association. Ben and I spent a Sunday afternoon assembling them, painting them and installing them strategically around the property. (Okay, Ben disappeared after the hammering part was done. The whole time I was working, Harry was in his office doing law stuff.)
Each week, you’re supposed to check the houses to make sure that sparrows haven’t moved in and to take stock of your bluebird situation. There are even societies and websites where you can report your bluebird arrivals, nestings and eggs.
Oh happy day! One day as I was doing my rounds, I opened up the sly little lock mechanism on the side and saw that we had a tenant! Whoohoo! What’s more, it appeared that ANOTHER bird was working on a nest at another box.
Now, I haven’t actually SEEN the birds, mind you. But I did check to see that these LOOK like bluebird nests and not sparrow nests. No twigs, feathers, string or other messiness of sparrows. So I’m THINKING they are bluebirds.
Nevertheless, the first reasonably warm day, I intend to stalk the bluebirds. I will carry out a stool, my camera and my binoculars and just watch the little house and see if I can tell who has moved in.
I bet you wish you could be with me, huh? The fun never stops!
Robin
There are certain things about gardening that do not change, regardless of where you live, on what scale you garden or what you are growing.
I call them Robin’s Immutable Laws of Gardening…
I know you’re familiar with some of them, because you’ve likely bumped up against them regardless of your level of involvement with the great outdoors. These include:
- Plants Die. Some die of old age. Some die of neglect. Some die of trauma. But eventually, all plants die.
- Weeds are Inevitable. Weeds rate right up there with cockroaches in their superhuman powers to overcome all odds to succeed. Witness the fact that weeds have been seeing growing out of rocks, in the frozen tundra…anywhere.
- Weather is Your Friend…and Your Enemy. The sun warms the earth and helps plants grow. Hurricane Katrina moves in and mows them down.
- Critters Will Inevitably Invite Themselves to Dinner. Remember Peter Rabbit?
There are some other Immutable Laws that you may be less familiar with. Let me introduce you to Robin’s Immutable Laws.
- Cats Think Newly Hoed Garden Beds Are Litter Boxes. You may never, ever, see a cat on your property. But if you spend a Saturday morning lovingly hoeing a square of earth, the earth somehow puts out a homing beacon that can only be heard by felines. And they come a calling with little presents.
- There is a One-Third Chance that Garden and Landscape Contractors will Show up As Promised. Part II of this Law States: There is a one-third chance that those who DO show up will actually show up when they say they will. There is an equation for this and it looks like this:
1 x .333… x .333 = .111…
That means that there is only about an 11% chance that you’ll get done what you had planned to get done.
- The Tool That You Absolutely Need Right Now Is Always In The Garage. Trust me on this. It is.
- Despite What Fitness Experts Say. You Cannot Lose Weight by Gardening. Depending on what source you consult, the experts say you can burn a significant number of calories by doing lawn and garden work. My sources tell me I can burn 170 calories just riding around on the old John Deer mowing the lawn for an hour. In that time I can also burn 292 calories raking leaves in the fall. Or 306 calories weeding. I’m here to tell you that your body in no way recognizes the efforts as work and, therefore, does not allow fat to melt off your body. How do I know this as a fact? Well, think about this. I figure if I work about 10 hours in the summertime on any given weekend at an average of 300 calories, that would be 3,000 calories burned. Over the course of the summer, taking off a couple of weekends for vacations and slothfulness, that would amount to about 40,000 calories, which divided by the 3600 calories to make a pound equals more than 11 lbs. I can unequivocally state that I DO NOT LOSE 11 pounds over the course of a summer. Ergo, my law is true.
- You Will Ruin Your Manicure. It doesn’t matter what hyper expensive brand of gloves you use, you will always look like a calloused farmhand if you even put a modicum of effort behind your gardening.
- The Japanese Beetle Invasion Forces Invade On Or Around June 1, Depending On When You Are On Vacation. Do not, I repeat, do not fall for the myth that those unsightly little collection bags do any good. (This is a topic for another day.)
- Just As the Lawn is Looking Truly Fine, the UPS Guy (or Fed Ex Guy) Backs Over It and Does a Wheelie. And do you REALLY want to make the guy who brings all your cool Internet shopping spree merchandise angry by yelling at him?
- You Will Never…Ever…Be Finished. I’m tired just thinking about it all.
Robin
Starting plants from seeds isn’t really difficult. But as with almost everything that should be simple, I find a way to make it difficult and stressful…
I fret, water, re-pot, worry about whether I started to early…too late. I feel guilty when a seedling dies. I feel guilty when I can’t start all the seeds I buy. (All that wasted potential!) I feel terrible when I have to thin out the seedlings so that some can survive. (Seems so cruel!) Obviously, it also takes up a lot of room. (My seedlings are threatening to take over my office!)
I “invested” (AKA spent a lot of money) in this light garden from the National Gardening Association. As you can see, I have a lot of seeds going–vegetables, herbs and flowers. Do I have a plan for where they’re going? I sure do. When the time comes, I plan to go outside, take look around and plunk them where they seem to want to go.
Once the seedlings move out of the house, I plan to raise a wider variety of exotic house plants from places like Logee’s. Today I adopted a chenille plant and a pocket book plant from Behnke’s.
The hardening off process for these seedlings has started. Right now I’m blowing a fan at the little babies to toughen them up. First warm day, they get to sit outside on the front sidewalk for a couple of hours. I’ll gradually build up their time outside until they can make it on their own in the big outdoors without trauma, lugging them outside, then inside, then outside, then inside.
Maybe I should talk to them? Play them music? Give them names? Nothing is easy.
Robin
