Home repairs

It's that time of year to check out and clean nesting boxes, if you didn't do it previously! I cleaned out the wren boxes in the fall, as well as the bluebird box, which I took down. I ought to refinish it. Non-mental note!

The design of the blue bird nesting box is amazing, with a plastic piece to keep in debris nesting material on one side for easy viewing! The other side doesn't have the plastic, and you can easily clean it out from that side. The House Wrens took it over last year. It was great!

 

I made a mistake! I should have fixed the wood duck nesting box before we rehung it. I forgot about the falling flap, which is supposed to keep the bedding material (wood shavings) inside the box. This is the old set up.

First I tried bark, then after tromping up and down from the location, I remembered to cut a piece of wood to keep in the nesting materials.

The newer boxes (below, left) have a lip, with a shorter door. The oldest one, this one, was built with no lip and the door closes.

Having cut a piece of wood to snugly insert, it is no longer staying in firmly with a nudge. I'd need a hinge, or eye hooks. You can see the little grooves, whereby the ducklings run up the wall and fling themselves out onto the ground to see Mama.

I gathered my tools. 

Hauling it all down there on the sled, I was hoping I've thought of everything. 

The wetland is thawing nicely.

The box is a wreck, the wood has bowed.

I worked out a couple of strategies, but finally landed on the notion of a hinge. I was going to put in a little hook and eye, but realized that might prevent the wood piece from opening to clean it. When the door closes, it keeps the piece in place. There is a screw that secures the door. I had to put in a longer one, since the warping extended the gap.

After stretching up, and failing, I hauled myself back to the garage to fetch the ladder. Clover watched over my tools (those raccoons will play with anything!), but didn't she help otherwise.

I covered it with the tin, stapled firmly, hoping it will hold up for this year. I'm fairly certain our bears can get at it.   

When I made it back to the house, after going up and down the ladder ~10 times, I could feel it in my legs! That was a marathon.  

Dratted Red Squirrels!

 I think spring will be early this year. I spotted mosquitos down by the frog pond. The brown creeper was another sign. I decided to work on the nest box. The ducks come and check out the wetland. I want to be ready.

I went back to the rehung nest box Sunday, and screwed in the hex, and stapled the baffle to the tree. The wood across the face of it is looking pretty rotten. There is a slit all the way down from the top to the bottom. I'll have to remember to try patch it somehow. Although truthfully, they nest in dead trees otherwise! The hole is carefully sized for wood ducks. I hope the piece doesn't fall out. 

 

The baffle is supposed to prevent squirrels, weasels, and raccoons from getting into the boxes. The bears are another story. The weasel hopped across the canopy and destroyed the eggs one year. I may regret the placement, but we shall see. Soon, I'll put a trailcam up in front and watch the actions.

I noticed a red squirrel who appears to be pregnant. There were 4 of them out front, and she chased another one away. A 5th squirrel was out back near the deer feeder. They are prolific but, as JB pointed out, they have a lot of predators. 

  

pregnant squirrel from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The squirrels are also eating things like leaf buds. This was a Bala squirrel from 2009.  They really are pretty little things. Also, aggressive!

This is the nest they created in this nest box, called a drey, in July 2015. They got into the wood duck boxes. The wood ducks are finished nesting in July. The squirrel moved in.

 

You can see the babies deep down in the nesting materials. They are furless!

Finally, I thought I needed a haircut. Ya think This was after I'd been tromping outside, getting sweaty in a ball cap. 

I am on hair stylist #4 since COVID. It's always a crap shoot. I was quite pleased! It was a nice, quiet Tuesday in the salon. That was a bonus. 

I had a new respite client in the afternoon. That went fairly well despite having some chest pains from stress.  We brought dinner in. I was pretty fried, mentally, physically, and emotionally. 

We had weekend visitors!

💕 Happily, we expected the kids. We were having a sleepover! I'd asked for help rehanging the wood duck nesting box. You'll recall I took it down, with great effort, over several days, ready to move it. [More work to do!] I'd walked the perimeter of the property in snowshoes, and found the only likely tree away from the frogpond. The wetland is wet with our warm temperatures. I'll bet the ducks return home sooner rather than later.

We hauled it down on the sled, with the ladder, and the drill. We are ready to go. 

What a lovely day! It was so nice to see the sun.

This old sled, still sits by the tree. I'd found it in the wetland one year when the wetland was frozen, not wet! I've been leery these days. Winterlude in Ottawa isn't exactly Waterlude, but we haven't had cold enough temperatures for people to skate.

Next, we watched Jeopardy. Josee kept score for us. Caitlin was the hands down winner! 

After watching two Jeopardy shows we'd taped, we watched some old YouTube kidlet videos Chromecast on the TV!

We had a concert.

Cinnamon was confused. He took off!

duet from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

It was a yummy dinner. I'd watched them create a Potato Bacon Roses dish on a talk show <= click there for the recipe. You slice potoatoes thinly, sprinkle olive oil and seasonings on them, lay them out on a couple pieces of bacon, roll 'em up and bake in a muffin tin. My SIL and I made that. It took an army. He prepared carrots, green beans and beef tenderloin on the BBQ. It was wonderful! 

Dessert was wee Valentine cupcakes JB picked up. Mini ones! Just yummy, although there was one missing. Snitched whilst working hard at making us dinner! 

On the way back to the house, an Isabella caterpillar.

More work to do!

Welcome to February! It's -17 C., and time to snuggle indoors with a blanket! Spring is coming. For sure!

🦆Wood duck nesting boxes <= I've been tracking and reporting nest production over the years. I put up my first nesting box in 2014: Wood duck on the nest. They were successful duckies, and I managed to go down to the pond when they were taking off out of the nest: Miracle of nature: wood ducks.

You have to put a baffle around the base. One year the weasel took all the eggs out of the nest. I think it must have jumped from the surrounding trees onto the dead elm. The ducks did not come back. The other nest with eggs was untouched.

The poor tree was on its last legs, shedding bark. Time to move the nest box. The box is attached by a roofing nail on the top, and 3" screw and a strap on the base kept it firmly attached. At the time, a step ladder was involved.

Another year, I had dratted red squirrel make a drey, a nest, in this box! Red squirrel usurps wood duck nesting box:

Since then, I now have a total of three nesting boxes, but the first one has been empty for a couple of years. Essentially, after the weasel incident. We had ducks nest last year, but only in the one box. People around the nearby lake have put them up, and I think they prefer being on the lake. The ducks, not the people! Well, the people, too.

Here are nest boxes #2 and #3.

Attempt #1 – Jan. 24

I was determined to move it. I was much less determined last year! I only thought about it. I should have done it when I had helpers. Anyway, I was having trouble getting it off the dead tree. The screwdrivers wouldn't do it, I took three down with me and finally managed removing the lower screw, using the cordless drill. I remembered that the top 'screw' was a nail. Back to the drawing board. Having gone down January 24th to work on it, and making little progress, I thought I'd better fetch some other tools.  

Attempt #2 – Jan. 29

There were a couple of days of snow removal. I put it off this project for a couple of days. Suiting up, snowshoes on, and managing to get the screw out with the drill, I only had a roofing nail to deal with. Or so I thought. My hammer bent. That elm is a hardwood! 

Attempt #3 – Jan. 30

Down I went with the sled. It was snowy, and I ought to have finished the job before more snow fell. I knocked the dead tree over, it was ready to go. Much easier to take it off when I can reach it. But it had uncovered. I found it!

First I had to brush off the snow. I had several tools, but used the hacksaw to cut off the nail. That worked. Except, there was a hex bolt of some sort, a third attachment for which I was unprepared. I had forgotten how I'd attached it! Back up to the house. A shower and feet up ensued.

I left the box there, and hoped we didn't get too much more snow. One of these might work. I shall try it another day. 

Attempt #4 – Jan. 31

It was a lovely walk. I'd been down with snowshoes the day before, and it was easier going. The snow is shin deep. The deer follow my tracks. 

I like looking at the pond, and imagining all the critters safely tucked into the mud, protected by ice and snow.

Finally, the tool of choice were the small vice grips. I loaded the old box onto the sled and dragged it up to the house. 

The next thing to do is to choose another tree on a different part of the wetland. I have time, as the ducks won't be back for awhile. I'm thinking putting it at The Point. My first camera, a PlantCam, was pretty bad, but it did show me where the ducks hang out, as well as on the frogpond. 

This is the middle of the wetland, I did a 360˚ view. As I said on the video, it was so peaceful and quiet. Jan., 2019. There are lots of trees, but the ducks need air space in which to fly to the nest, and I have to be able to clean it out. 

 Wetland in winter from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.