BIRD WATCHING AND INSIDE PROJECTS

Spring is such a wonderful time to observe the variety of birds that live in our area.  When we were out fishing last week, we watched a couple of Bald eagles having air races and a few battles.  One of the eagles had a fish on shore that it was eating and wanted to keep the other one out of the neighbourhood.  So they chased each other in and out of the trees and then had their air battle where one of them flipped upside down to use its talons to attack the other bird.  They didn't hurt each other and we assume that the one that caught the fish was the victor because it eventually went back to eating in peace.  By the way, we caught a couple of fish but only brought one home for lunch.  We had a more productive day fishing the same lake a couple of weeks ago, bringing home five nice fish.

In our yard, Stuart built and mounted 2 bird houses on the garden fence a few weeks ago.  We weren't expecting any birds to move in this year as the recommendations are to put the houses up in the fall.  Then one day, we saw a pair of Western bluebirds checking out one of the houses and they seemed to be settling in even though the house was designed with a perch for finches.  Stuart clipped off the perch and we decided to enlarge the hole in the second bird house which was originally made small for chickadees.  Next day, the bluebirds moved into the other house and started building their nest.  Now they’re all settled in and there should be eggs in the nest soon, but we don’t want to disturb them by putting up a ladder and lifting up the roof to see what’s there.

We have had some colourful birds hanging around this week—Bullock’s orioles that are a beautiful yellow colour.  We've never seen them before but we have two pair that have been checking out the geraniums on our front porch and looking for bugs in the garden.  We didn't get our own photos but here’s what they look like:

One of our inside projects is to make some changes in our laundry room.  The plan calls for installing a pantry cabinet in one of the closet areas and to put bi-fold doors on the other closet.  I started out by painting the shoe rack behind the door to match the walls and trim.

Stuart adjusted the heights of the existing closet hanger rods and painted them a glossy black. 

Then he built the closet header, attached drywall, mudded and sanded it multiple times and then painted it.  

Next, he installed louvered bi-fold doors that will be painted to match the pantry unit that goes in the space beside the closet. 

We are getting the unit custom made in Kelowna and it should be delivered in a couple of weeks.

We've been golfing and playing pickleball and have finally started work on a fence along the east border of our property.  I've stained the 2 by 4’s and about three quarters of the fence boards.  We put up one fence “frame” yesterday and plan to work on the fence project in balance with yard maintenance and recreational activities.

By the way, the garden is growing slowly due to the wet weather—we need more sunshine!!