Overrun by Feathered Beasts

The feathered creatures ruling my property these days bring beauty, song, and some annoyance to my existence. 

These last couple of weeks, I have been hearing a lot of bird song in the mornings. Songs that sound like spring... and we're a long way from actual spring. Odd.

Remember this crazy cardinal? I wrote about him back when he was hurling himself against my shop window--thinking he was chasing off a rival, apparently. All these weeks later, he is still slamming himself into both my shop windows and a garage window--pretty much daily. Crazy bird.

I recently discovered this on the back side of the JayBee. What?! When did this get constructed? Must have been back in the late summer. I have now knocked this down--before a new family moves in--and I'm thinking about creating yet another nest arrestor.

These last few years, the population of turkeys in Maine has exploded. Unfortunately, my neighbors (naive, former-urban dwellers) have been feeding the turkeys this year, so I frequently have dozens of turkeys in my yard at a time. (If anyone is wondering why it's a bad idea to feed turkeys, you must listen to this great This American Life episode--Poultry Slam 2011.) On this particular day, there were about 40 turkeys behind my portable garage--both on the ground and in the tree.

When they heard me, they scrambled up the hill in a long line.

Yesterday, my sweet George was sitting out in the sun in the driveway. When I opened the door, he surprised me by racing to get indoors.

Did he know there was a bald eagle in the tree over the yard and another raptor in the top of a tree further back in the woods?

The bald eagle took off from her perch and soared over to the other raptor. I thought she was going to join a juvenile bald eagle but that bird took off and, when I saw how big he was, I thought maybe he was a golden eagle. It's hard to distinguish between the two.

Here they're swapping positions. The bald eagle is landing in the tree and the other bird is taking off. See the upturned wing tips? That can be an indicator of a golden eagle. Bald eagles fly with horizontal wings. Technically, though, it's really in their soaring positions that their wings look different. Since this is more of a takeoff than a soar, I guess I still don't know if it's a bald or golden eagle.

This morning, I woke up to more bird sounds. I was afraid a huge woodpecker was pounding on the back side of the JayBee. Thankfully, he was drilling a huge hole in a tree on top of the hillside. Can you find him in the center of this photo? He's huge--at least a foot long.

The screeching overhead was two bald eagles sitting together in the tree that overlooks the yard.

This close to the JayBee.

Before the Snow Fell...

... there was this!

Explain This to Me

I was reading in bed early this morning when I realized I was hearing a weird sound. It was a dull thumping sound that came in groups of two or three at a time--with about 30-60 seconds between sets. I put the book down and focused on the sound. It was drizzling outside at the time, but this odd sound didn't seem related to that. Was it some kind of critter in the wall or ceiling? No, that didn't seem to explain it.

Then, it occurred to me. I knew what was making this sound! I bolted out of bed, slid my feet into boots, and went outside (still in my jammies) in the heavy drizzle. Sure enough--a male cardinal was repeatedly hurling himself against one of the windows of my storage room. I had caught this behavior in photos ten days earlier.

Here is the cardinal sitting in the bamboo...

Here he is fluttering his wings up and down against the shop window.

And again.

When I googled this behavior, I learned that, if a male cardinal sees his reflection in a window, he might think he sees a rival and feel compelled to drive him away. Supposedly this behavior occurs during mating season in the spring. So why is this cardinal relentlessly pursuing this "rival" for weeks at this time of year?

Hard Realities

Sorry, folks, for my lack of posts these last several weeks. Sadly, there is little to report.

Tomorrow morning, I should wake up to snow on the ground, and snow falling most of the day. <sigh> Seems a bit early in the season for such shenanigans.

By late summer, I had to face the fact that I was not going to finish building the interior of the JayBee nor have time before the advent of winter to tear down the old house and move the JayBee to its new location. This has meant that time I would have spent working on the JayBee had to be used on various winterizing tasks to ensure the old house survives another winter.

Before I shifted gears, I worked on the boards for the ceiling of the bumpout in the bathroom. After layers of stain and finish...

...the boards were ready for installation.

Installed!

As the fall weather quickly turned from pleasantly cool to crazy cold, I was reminded why it becomes daunting to work on the JayBee during the winter. The painting/staining/finishing stations that worked so well for me all summer long inside the JayBee don't function well in the bitter cold. I've had a few layers bubble up and peel because I didn't wait long enough for the electric heater to warm up the wood and the space before applying them. I've had to move all of the paints and finishes into the main house to keep them at the right temperature, which keeps me running back and forth trying to lay my hands on everything I need to do a project. The extension cords are no longer running across the driveway between houses; they are stored away (so the plow guy doesn't get tangled up in them) and have to be re-run any time I want to work out in the JayBee. Tomorrow, I will have to move the stairs away from the front of the JayBee--so the plow guy can maneuver in the small drive space in front of the JayBee. Everything just becomes more laborious and complicated the colder the weather gets.


Weeks ago, a racket down on the road lured me down my driveway to inspect what was going on. Railroad hobbyists were launching one of their rail cabs down the tracks. Stinky! Definitely no emissions-treatment devices on those things.

Interior Walls 15

I felt like I made good progress over the weekend. Two more rows of boards installed in the bathroom...

...and, then, two more rows.

Long boards for the south wall--almost ready to install.

South wall--started! (I will have to come up with a baseboard work-around to cover the exposed wheel well.)

I was feeling so good about my progress--until I realized that I'd completely forgotten about the west wall above the bathroom and the west loft. Shoot! Another whole gable peak to do.

Also see:
Interior Walls 1
Interior Walls 2
Interior Walls 3
Interior Walls 4
Interior Walls 5
Interior Walls 6
Interior Walls 7
Interior Walls 8
Interior Walls 9
Interior Walls 10
Interior Walls 11
Interior Walls 12
Interior Walls 13
Interior Walls 14


George, on one of his many visits to the JayBee.

And sleeping, of course.

Interior Walls 14

For awhile now while working on the interior walls of the JayBee, I've been pondering about what to do about my wonky electrical boxes. Typically, the boxes for switches, outlets, and light fixtures should be flush or recessed from the wall boards once they're installed--like the one in this photo below.

Unfortunately, though, I have a number of boxes that were installed so that they protrude from the wall due to the framing in these areas--like these in the bathroom (below).

Back before I insulated the walls, I should have yanked out these boxes and replaced them with specialty boxes that were shallow enough to fit correctly. I didn't do that then, and now it's too late to do it. So I had to come up with a solution.

My solution was to create some custom trim to install around the protruding electrical boxes.

When I created the custom trim piece for the bathroom, I also created one for the living room. I painted this one barn red because it will be installed inside my entry/office cupboard, which is painted barn red on the inside back. (It's not installed in the photo below, just temporarily propped in place in order to take the photo.)

While waiting for the various layers of finish to dry on those trim pieces, I cleaned and rearranged everything inside the JayBee in order to open up access to the south wall--so I can begin installing wall boards here.

My biggest challenge with this wall will be working around the jutting-out wheel well that will interfere with the first two rows of boards. I had a similar problem on the north wall but, since the wheel well did not stick out as far on that side, I was able to carve out the back sides of the boards on that first north row to fit around the wheel well.

I still have the closet half on its side as a paint stand for the longer boards...

... and I set up my other painting area inside the bed alcove.

Ready to roll!

Also see:
Interior Walls 1
Interior Walls 2
Interior Walls 3
Interior Walls 4
Interior Walls 5
Interior Walls 6
Interior Walls 7
Interior Walls 8
Interior Walls 9
Interior Walls 10
Interior Walls 11
Interior Walls 12
Interior Walls 13
Interior Walls 15

Turkeys wandered through the yard the other day. Hard to imagine that Maine was once so devoid of turkeys that they had to be reintroduced starting back in the 1940s, given how many I now see on a regular basis.

Interior Walls 13

Finished up two walls!

The north wall (with the exception of the small bathroom piece I'm still working on). I'm especially happy with the trim piece I installed around the vent for the air exchanger.

The east wall.

More progress in the bathroom.

Also see:
Interior Walls 1
Interior Walls 2
Interior Walls 3
Interior Walls 4
Interior Walls 5
Interior Walls 6
Interior Walls 7
Interior Walls 8
Interior Walls 9
Interior Walls 10
Interior Walls 11
Interior Walls 12
Interior Walls 14
Interior Walls 15


Georgie sound asleep...

...and only sort of asleep.