Just to start the week off in grand fashion I think I'll blog about things around here and scare you all into a state of boredom and stupidity... just to get you in the mood for the rest of your week. Never accuse me of being inconsiderate.

First off__the wren. She built a nest in a bucket which I had hanging from a post on the porch-rail. This proved problematic as it began to attract every predator in the neighborhood when she laid a large clutch of eggs.

I love wrens. They're cute, hard-working, tenacious, curious, intelligent. They're just neat little birds but they are not up to defending against an entire forest of attackers. So, how to move the nest w/o damaging it, scaring off the mother, allowing her to find it again__etc., etc.  This actually became a large obsession, and when one is retired obsessing in general can become an obsession, if you get my drift. Well, I finally buckled under and hefted the ladder around back, gently [oh, so very gently] lifted the bucket off the post and carried it sideways up the ladder and perched it into a small Honey Locust tree just off the back porch. The tree is not much more than a sapling but is strong and I am hoping it will work through the nesting season. And after looking around and calling frantically for an hour she did locate the nest. Waiting until some of the chicks had hatched turned out to be the best idea as a barometer for timing to move it as she could hear them. Apparently smell isn't a sense most birds can rely on but sound is. Then I went down to the rose-briers and cut swaths of thorns and wrapped the trunk of the tree to try to keep at least some of the nasties from getting up to the relocated nest. So far, so good. They've been up there for a couple of weeks now and she's still carrying in bugs so at least one or two chicks have made it. And at one point she came down and landed next to me while I was sitting on the steps on the porch and just perched and cheeped. I took it as a thank you.

Then there is the ongoing kitchen reno. This is a very big deal. We started building this house back in the late 80's. We had saved and bought the materials we could afford and then the recession hit. We only got part of it finished. I have never had a completed kitchen. For nearly 20 years I cooked for a family of four on a 2 burner hot plate or on an open fire. We had a tiny frig and no oven, no cabinets just shelves. I haven't had a dishwasher since, well it's been a very long time. Yesterday Matt finished installing the last of the wall cabinets, and putting in the new kitchen sink and installing my new DISH WASHER!!! I really never thought I would get so excited about a dish washer but my hands don't work too well any more and to be honest, it made me cry when he turned it on for the first time. This is how my son spent his vacation time. And he really needed to relax. But instead I am getting the kitchen I haven't had in 25 yrs. Wow. I get so blown away by the generosity of loved ones sometimes__it leaves me speechless. Oh, and a micro-wave/convection oven which I said I didn't want/would never use. Well, he got one and I use it. I have only boiled/blown-up a couple of things so far but give me time...I may turn the Blue-ridge into __well maybe we better not think on that too much.

There's more. I've been a busy old bat. But I'll bore you with all that stuff later when you think you're safe.