expirationdates

Decorating Switch Plates

I saw some really cool switch plates at the store the other day. They ranged from $12 to $32!  I just can't justify that price so I decided to make some of my boring old switch plates exciting.

My kitchen has a chicken theme so I picked a fabric with chickens on it and put it on the switch plates with mod podge.  Mod Podge is wonderfull stuff.

They turned out really cute. You can see my step by step instructions here  at Refurber

The colors match the other chickeny things in the kitchen and look like tiny bits of art.

 

Windows and Bird strikes

When you build a house in the middle of the woods with a wall of windows you have a responsibility to do something to keep the birds from flying into them.

You can see here in this picture why they do, the reflection looks just like the woods to them.

  Prow windows are the worst too because they can see through the prow if they fly along the front of the house and smack right into the windows.  Luckily we have trees very close to the house so they don't usually have much speed and don't break their necks.  There have only been three deaths in the last three years but as far as I'm concerned that is too many.

I bought some decals for the windows.  These happen to be in the shape of hawks.  It's not really the shape though that works it's the reflection of ultraviolet light that flashes at them and makes them avoid the windows.  These particular ones are from window alert and they do not obstruct our view so I am hoping they work.

The birds haven't been coming around as much since I had to stop filling the feeders this summer because of rats and squirrels.  Now that they have moved on and it's starting to get cold I cleaned them out and filled them back up again.  So far the Juncos have come back and the Stellar Jays.  I also saw Flickers, Yellow bellied sapsuckers and Hairy woodpeckers checking out the suet this morning. I'm still waiting for the grosbeaks, nuthatches and chickadees to come back.

First Frost

It seems so early but we had our first frost last night.  It got into the 20's!  It made for a gorgeous morning.

I just love these  tiny pine cones.

It's hard to tell here but there was a frost line around the edge of every leaf.

The salmon are starting to die now. It's easy to tell because the neighbors dogs have been rolling in them but it also  brings lots of eagles, herons, gulls and otters to feast on them.

 

Things have been slow around the house.  My "to do" list is getting long.  The first thing on it now is a new hen house, then we have to get our fence up.  We are really going to work towards getting some walking trails established once the blackberries die down.  Inside we need to work on trim and staining, tiling and the loft bathroom.  The guest room is ready for flooring..........I'd better stop there or I'm just going to go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.