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Vent Covers

It's very important to cover your vent openings to the outside.  There are several reasons to do this, there is the heat loss, rodent access and then the following problem-birds.

Starlings nested here last year.  They were able to squeeze into the space above the bird block there.

   This year we got some hardware cloth put up before they got started.

It never occurred to me that they would go for the dryer vent.  Eventually I plan to have a washer/dryer in the master bedroom closet.  I didn't think about finishing that off since I don't even have them yet.

I have a towel stuffed in there now because I can't find the cover that is supposed to go there.

It's amazing to me that they thought that was a good idea as they went all the way down the pipe and put the nest at the bottom.

Those clothes were piled up over the opening so that at least kept them from coming in the house!

The babies could have never gotten out of that nest as the opening is 6ft up and out.  There were no eggs so I felt OK about blocking them.  They are really upset and are still trying to get in, they scold me every time I go out there.

So, go out and check your vents. it's spring and birds and rodents are looking for warm places to nest. 

Fence Building Part II

This fence building is really hard work.  We rented that power post hole digger for $75 a day but we still had to hand dig out all the holes, take out rocks and roots.  For this we used a shovel, manual post hole digger and a bull prick, a large metal pole that weighs 25 or 30 pounds.  Using that to loosen the soil and rocks will take it's toll on your arms.   We spent 8 hours today stretching fence and finishing posts.

This is a handy tool when putting in posts to make sure they are level.

When putting up wire fencing you have to have a fence stretcher like this. 

We rented this one from Hertz for $8 a day.  You can make one by using a board that you attach to the end of the fence and use a come a long to pull it tight.  This was pretty cheap and easy, we just attached it to the suburban.

The corner posts were set in concrete and cross braced.

Now, I can't stress enough that if you measure, measure twice and then again for good measure.  Either one of the rolls of fence was short or I measured it wrong.

We were using two 100' foot sections and it was going to be close but it looked like we were going to just make it. 

It's hard to tell here in the picture but the fence came just up to the post. There was no way to attach it.  We stretched and stretched and could only just come up to the post. 

We talked about putting a gate there, or splicing the fence but in the end we moved the post. 

It was dark by the time we finished so I have no pictures of the final east side of the fence.  I am starting to really stiffen up........I'm going to be sore tomorrow! 

Now we have the west side of the gate to finish next week. 

5k and Birdwatching

Technically I walked a 5k today.  It was around Green lake. Everyone else in our group beat me pretty handily but I did stop and take some photos along the way.  Since Green lake is always full of people the birds there get used to it and are not so quick to fly away.

There are a ton of Wigeon there. I came across several large flocks of American Wigeon grazing.  In one of the flocks there was a Eurasian Wigeon.  I had never seen one before.  That's him in the foreground with the red head.

This is a pair of Gadwalls.

Cormorant with a pair of Wigeon.

Female Shoveler

 

Wigeon Napping                                                                           

Preening

       

Male Red-winged blackbird first year

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Mallard

All in all we had a great time along with a little exercise.    We also managed to set the rest of the fence posts on the east side of the yard to the gate.  Tomorrow will be fence stretching day.