New Neighbors

Posted on June 16, 2013 by TJ

Last year my husband made a new pen for our dog, Danny. The new pen is bigger and shadier and it is made up of cattle panels so the breeze can get through on hot summer days. Not that Danny spends much time in it–he’s usually with us–but it’s there if he needs it.

EJ attached the cattle panels to long posts, which he intended to cut off even with the fencing, but we decided not to cut the posts off. Instead, we thought we’d put birdhouses on top.

Several weeks ago, EJ put up our first birdhouse. It is the only one we own so far. I am patiently and impatiently hoping to find more birdhouses at yard sales or thrift shops instead of buying them retail. Buying birdhouses is lower on our list of Things We Need to Buy, and we are frugal.

I asked EJ to put the birdhouse on the post just outside the kitchen window, positioned so we could watch the birds if any moved in.

A little more than a week ago, I was doing dishes and looking at the empty birdhouse. I know that it takes time for birds to discover new houses or feeders, but I was wondering if any bird would ever move in, or if the birdhouse would be merely an empty decoration.

Even as I was wondering, I suddenly saw a marvelous sight:

I was so very, very thrilled! I excitedly ran to tell EJ about the new neighbors. We stood and watched them for a long time.

Here is a video I made of the little birds building their nest and singing their beautiful melodies, which we get to enjoy all day long. My cat, Yafah, is in the video watching the birds. She was very excited. The cats (especially the younger ones) were very interested in the birds at first, but they have gotten used to them and mostly ignore them now.