Eviction

So my brother came up on Monday, his day off, and fixed up the hole in the corner of the patio soffit that blew off in the big East Wind a while (quite a while) ago.  A family of starlings had discovered the hole last year and apparently because starlings only nest in cavities (vents, attics, soffits, etc.) this was the perfect home for them! One batch of youngin's has already been raised but time ran out for them this week.  They've provided some entertainment for my mother, but she has also been anxious to get the hole fixed.  Anyway, when he was up here on Mother's Day (back when only I knew there was a lump under my jaw) my brother said he'd come up sometime and make the repair.  Well, his day off, and the repair, coincided with my 'couch potato day' so even though I probably made more trips than I should have up and down the back porch stairs and out to the garages a few times too many, I still felt bad not being able to assist him more.

This is the nest that was pulled out.
My flip-flops/big toe provide a size comparison.
Three little eggs.
Two were 'liquidy' but got scrambled when I shook them. The third was either non-viable or maybe had moved on to the next stage.

My brother inherited our Dad's mechanical and Mr FixIt gifts along with ingenuity for solving odd problems.  He arrived before I got showered and by the time I was dressed and outside, this is what I saw:

One brother.

One hole being fixed.

One shop-vac hanging from a ladder.

Priceless.

Apparently to clean out all the nest-making materials required one hand to hold a shop-vac AND the other hand to hold the shop-vac hose AND the other hand...oh, wait, there is no other hand.  So, rope was found and an 'assistant ladder' was called in to hold the shop-vac.  Genius.

Remember that scene in True Lies where Tom Arnold hides behind the lamppost while being shot at by the bad guys? And survives!  Well, for some odd reason when I saw this, it struck me funny and reminded me of that scene.  Fortunately the only one "shooting" here was me.

After the repair had been made I went into the house and a bit later hear a thuddy crash.  By the time I got outside the ladder had been put aside somewhere and this is what I saw:

Apparently the wrong piece of the rope holding the shop-vac to the ladder was loosened and the vac released itself unexpectedly and dropped to the ground.  No damage done, other than maybe the grass (and my brother's pride).

After he took my mother to her favorite drive-thru for lunch, and made a stop at the hardware store, my good brother decided to clean up those dead branches on the gamble oak tree you've seen in the background. Right or wrong, I usually wait until they are 2 years dead, and very brittle, then take my long handled rake and hook the business end of that rake over the limb and pull--they come right down, often shattering into smaller pieces.  Newly dead branches don't come down quite so easily but now I won't have to worry about that for a while.

No longer needed for picking cherries, one of our old 12-foot orchard ladders came in quite handy.  And yes, this is why everyone with a yard, especially with multiple ground levels, needs a tripod ladder.  (BTW, I have a few for sale!  $10 a foot is the used-ladder price. Sorry, couldn't resist a sales pitch with the perfect picture.)

Anyway, it was a great day and the weather was not too hot for physical work.  Much thanks to a wonderful brother who took his day off to work here instead of his own home.

As for the starlings.  Their service for eating grubs and insects from around the yard has been noted, but their lease has expired!


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