I got a wild hair last week and decided that I couldn't deal with our junky porches any longer. It was really starting to look like a dump! There are still some items to resolve but for the most part things that continued to hang out on our porch that were not used for at least a year or two headed for the dump or the give away. There is still an old ferret cage (*sniff* I have a hard time letting that memory go) on the porch that I think I'll be able to use as a strawberry house to keep the squirrels and birds off my strawberries.
There is a Radio Flyer wagon that I had piled gardening things in (old pots, a bag of gravel, trowels, and gloves) that had sat stationary for the past two years. It was a wonderful gift from an old boss of mine who unknowingly enabled my hoarding habit. I cleared out and stored the pots and we used the gravel to fill in the continuing ruts that pop up in the driveway. In cleaning out, I found a treasure I had forgotten about. In every crevice of daylight a Jenny Wren had stuffed leaves, animal hair, MY hair, wrappers, paper, and other flotsam. I remember this poor little wren as we saw her busying herself with her partner trying to find somewhere on or near our porch to build a nest. They initially tried several times to build a nest in the joists of our porch roof but decided this was not right for some reason or another. I worked the Schyuler Farmer's Market once last year and decided to check the fluids of my truck upon returning simply because it's an old truck and needs monitoring. To my dismay, I found a nest with 5 eggs stuck in the radiator. There's no way the eggs didn't get cooked and I felt bad because I couldn't figure out why the bird was squawking at me from the nearby dogwood that morning. She gave me an ear full upon return too. A few days later we saw her hopping in and out of my Radio Flyer but the bad thing was so did the cat. I unearthed two nests last weekend with 5 eggs in each and I just know they were hers. Poor little unhatched eggs. They were so speckled and perfect I didn't have the heart to throw them out. I kept them. After all, they had been through 3 snows and are probably pretty well petrified.
This spring I will make things right. I have already hung one small bird house and it has a 1" wide hole but I don't think she'll fit in there. I'll get another bird house for her. Poor thing laid 15 eggs with no results. Maybe we'll have some baby Jenny Wrens this year.
Very often I will document something in my journal or with my camera and come back to it later. VERY often. Life is just busy that way. After all, this is the Journey to Middle Earth. Haven't gotten there yet but I plod along just like this turtle here. I shot pictures of her/him last fall. I had gone out to jog and there is was trucking up the driveway towards the house. Its shell was a brilliant paintbox of yellow, gold, brown, and black. I was take though by its beautiful deep and bright ruby eyes. It considered me for a while wondering what I was up to but was content to be photographed, picked up, and turned over.
I spy with my little ruby eye!
