Saturday, May 21, 2011

New home

The barnswallows are wanting a new home.

Unfortunately, they wanted to make a nest right above our welcome mat.


And the mat didn't look too welcoming with all the bird poop.

So we taped some foil on the perch above the front door. It flapped in the wind and the swallows decided they didn't like that. (Part of the foil got ripped away by the wind)
Oh, and do you see the metal mesh in the light? That was to keep the sparrows out since they started making a nest in our light.



Don't get me wrong. I LOVE birds. I am a bird watcher. Our yard is full of them and I feed them too. But not right above our front door please.


Since the front door wasn't a good spot, they have decided they want to make a new home on our back deck, right above the door that goes into the house. On top of the speakers. Not a good spot, birdies!

I tried putting on some loud music, but that didn't work.



We had read that a fake snake might scare them away.





Nope.


So Al decided to add foil to it too since that worked on the front door.


Looks scary to me!





When I looked outside this morning, they had roosted on top of the foil all night!
Al put more foil on there.


We are at an impasse. They haven't decided yet what to do with us.

While I was on the back porch, I looked to the east. Got to love those Kansas thunderstorms!




Wish it would take those barnswallows to the land of Oz. Or at least to our neighbor's porch.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

School's Out!

Hannah graduated from kindergarten today.




She had a gift for her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Burkhart (they learned her name at the beginning of the year as "brrr + cart").


We went to Adam and Jill's for grilled brats and chicken, corn on the cob ( or as Sophia says, "toan on the tob"), fruit and spinach salad.

And I got this wonderful drink.
From my personal barista! (he used to work at Starbucks in Chicago, putting himself through school)
We had some gifts for Hannah. Grandma Lois had some spending money for her.

"The next thing I need is to go to the store!"

Jill fixed a sand pail dessert.

It is a trifle:
Tear apart an already prepared angle food cake or pound cake
Prepare 2 small packages white chocolate instant pudding
Carton coolwhip or whip some real cream
Peaches
You layer these things 3 times (you probably won't use up all the cake)
Crush vanilla wafers on top to make it look like sand.
While we were eating, a family of little baby birdies were also eating. Hannah wanted to name the birdies Flitty and Twitty (after the book Mary Ellen wrote) and Sophia wanted Olivia and Rosetta. So they were named Flitty Olivia and Twitty Rosetta.
There was no Itty Bitty - only 2 little birdies in this nest.

The girls are ready for summer!