Happy Ending To Our Bluebird Summer

Every summer I write about the bluebirds in our yard.  Every year is different and every year I learn a lot.  As many of my friends know, this year has been a struggle.  It all started in early Spring when a pair of bluebirds came to look at our property.  As I have mentioned several times, we have two houses about fifteen feet apart.  Every year the Tree Swallows occupy one house and the Eastern Bluebirds occupy the other.  For thirteen years it was always the same.  Apparently this bluebird couple is new to the neighborhood and didn't get the memo.  After a lot of deliberation, they chose the tree swallow house.

Mrs. Eastern Bluebird

Mr. Eastern Bluebird.

This pair arrived in March and began building their first nest on April 14, 2016.  The weather had finally gotten warm enough.

Building a nest in the Tree Swallow house.

She laid only two eggs.  Bluebird eggs usually take 12-14 days to hatch.  She wasn't very good at sitting on the nest, and I thought it was strange particularly when the weather was still cool.  Maybe she knew they weren't viable.  Then, a couple weeks later,  I began seeing her bringing in more nesting material.  I had not removed the old nest and unhatched eggs but she started building a new nest on top of the old one.  She took a lot of time making this nest perfect and eventually laid five eggs.

Then early in the morning on May 30th, the bluebird pair were unsettled. The male would go into the house and pull out pieces of nesting. They were chattering.  I went to look and all five eggs are gone. They weren't on the ground like they would be if a wren had gotten to them. They had disappeared completely.  We speculated as to what happened.  It could have been a raccoon, a snake, a chipmunk, a red squirrel or a cat,  but we really didn't know. 

For six days, the bluebirds remained in the area. They would sit on the house and briefly go in. They would chase other birds away. Eventually they were more active and stayed nearby. I checked the house for a new nest because I had removed the other two. There was no nest but one lone egg was laying on the wooden floor of the birdhouse,  I really didn't know what to think at this point.  I left it for two days trying to decide if I remove it or just see what happens.

This egg sat unattended for two days.

On June 10, before I got a chance to remove the egg, she started building another nest.  Five days later she laid the first egg.  This time she also laid five eggs.

Things were going well for a few days.  After the first egg was laid, we put the wren guard on the birdhouse.  Wrens have been a problem for us and other years this guard protected the nest from the nasty house wren.

Then disaster struck again.  This time the eggs were pulled out of house and destroyed.  The wren guard was actually ripped off the roof.  The house is old and the roof wasn't very sturdy.

Again I cleaned out the old nests,  and we repaired the house.  At this point a bluebird expert suggested we put a Noel Guard on the house.  A Noel Guard protects the birdhouse hole so a larger predator can't reach into the house and a wren can't fly directly in to pierce the eggs.  It was worth a try. We have never had a bluebird lay more than three batches of eggs in a summer, so I thought this was the end of the season.  Maybe we would have better luck next year, but we installed a Noel Guard just in case.  http://www.sialis.org/noel.htm

Much to our surprise, around June 27th, our bluebird pair tried again for the fourth time.  She worked hard building a nest.  By this time she was a pro.  She got used to the Noel Guard quickly and laid four eggs.  I held my breath for the first few days, but things went well.  On July 16 all four eggs hatched.

Newly hatched Eastern Bluebirds.

Both parents worked very hard keeping the babies fed.  I don't know how they got this big fly into bite size pieces.

Four day old babies

Nine day old babies.

Twelve day old babies.

Today is August 2.  The Bluebird babies are seventeen days old.  They were ready to fledge.  The parents are usually very tolerant of me peeking into the birdhouse, but this morning they actually dive bombed me when I walked across the yard.  They get very protective when it is time for the babies to leave the nest.  I watched and saw one little bird peeking his face out.

I knew the time was near so I grabbed a chair and started watching.  On my way outside, I saw one leave.  I had my camera with the zoom lens on.  The mom went in for a little encouragement.

I watched for a while and then the baby bird flew directly at me.  He landed on the tree about two feet away.  Too close for my zoom lens.  I took a couple photos anyway.

What a wonderful ending for us and this Eastern Bluebird family.  I think the Noel Guard was the secret.  Next Spring we will start out with it on the house and maybe we will have even more success.

Growing Your Own Lemons

Every time you turn around these days there are articles about the benefits of lemons.  Many months ago I started making lemon water for my husband.  I wrote about this in previous blogs.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2016/01/dont-throw-away-your-lemon-peels.html  He suffered from acid reflux, and I read that lemon water helps.  People who have acid reflux and take acid reducing medicine are actually shutting down the acid receptors in their stomach,  Acid is necessary for good digestion and health.  Recently these medicines have been linked to kidney problems and other side effects.  We decided to try to get off the acid reducing pills.  The drink I make is easy.  I just buy organic lemons.  I peel them and cut them up in slices.  The seeds come out easily slicing them this way.  Next I put about three of them in my high speed blender with one peeled orange.  I add 4 -5 cups of filtered water and blend for a couple minutes.  This is like juicing, but you are also getting the benefits of the fiber.  I also wrote about making raw lemonade (http://www.thecabincountess.com/2016/01/raw-lemonade.html) and an electrolyte drink  (http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/02/home-made-electrolyte-drink.html).  It is about the same recipe without the honey or salt.  The added orange takes a little of the sourness away.  Within a short a amount of time my husband was able to discontinue the pills completely and now he very seldom has a problem.  He warms a cup of prepared lemon water every morning and drinks it first thing.   There are many theories as to why lemon water works.  Some of them don't make sense if you aren't a scientist, but it works for him.

Last winter I planted some of the seeds in a little flower pot.  Apparently they germinate easily because now I have a bunch of plants to re-pot.  If I lived in the south I could plant these plants outside, but I will have to settle for indoor plants.  Hopefully I can actually grow my own lemons eventually.  I saw this method on Facebook recently.  http://theheartysoul.com/growing-lemons/?t=DA&W=BEN

These lemon plants must be easy to grow.  Recently I went out with some compost.  I throw all the lemons seeds in my compost bin.  This is what I saw.  There are tons of little lemon plants growing in my compost.  I know they won't make it through the winter, and I won't be able to re-pot them but it was fun to see.

I have friends who have been very successful growing their own lemons.  Stay tuned, and we shall see if I can also produce some.

How To Build A Chipmunk Trap

A little more than a week ago, on June 23, 2016, we noticed broken bluebird eggs.  This was the third bluebird nest that was destroyed this summer.  The other bird nests in the area have thrived.  The tree swallows fledged yesterday, the mourning doves fledged two young ones and the Baltimore oriole eggs have hatched.

Male Baltimore oriole feeding young ones.

The bluebird pair is trying for the fourth time.  She has been busy building yet another nest.  The next few days she will be busy laying another clutch of eggs.  She only lays one egg a day and the last two attempts each produced five eggs.   Hopefully in another week she will be incubating more eggs.  Today she has three eggs in the nest.

In order to help reduce a predator problem, we installed a Noel Guard.  It is designed to reduce a predators ability to reach the bird eggs through the birdhouse hole opening.  You can see a pattern on how to build one from the Silas.com website.  http://www.sialis.org/noel.htm  We have used a wren guard in the past, but we are trying this Noel Guard because the Wren Guard wasn't successful for larger predators.  I wrote about the Wren Guard a year ago for my 600th post.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/06/angel-number-600-suggests-that-all-is.html

A Noel guard installed over the birdhouse opening.

We tried to decide what had caused the problem with our bluebird eggs.  Some people suggested that chipmunks or squirrels could be the problem.  The predator is usually a wren or a raccoon, but we saw a Red Squirrel in the vicinity.  When researching this little squirrel, it appears to be quite aggressive and capable of stealing and destroying bird eggs.

Looking somewhat like a chipmunk, this is a red squirrel.

No matter who the culprit is, we decided to set live traps.  Our main goal was to relocate some chipmunks and hopefully the red squirrel.  A few days ago we set out the traps.  We had purchased a small animal trap and had one made by my husband many years ago.  He had a co-worker who gave him a pattern, and my husband made one over thirty years ago.  We used it off and on until it got too weathered and rickety.  He made a new one and made a couple more for family members.

The purchased small animal trap

The homemade trap.

In the past few days we have caught twelve chipmunks.  We caught one in the purchased trap and eleven in our home made trap.  Obviously our own trap was the most successful.  After we catch one, we put the trap in our vehicle and take it five miles away from our house to the other side of the river and release them.  If they return, I will just catch them again.  Many people believe we should drown them or kill them, but I just can't do that.  Yesterday we took the journey, opened the trap, the chipmunk jumped out and ran across the grass, I closed the lid and put the trap back in the truck.  When we got home, I took the trap out and set it down.  I heard some scratching and looked.  There was another chipmunk in the trap.  Apparently we had caught two at once and only one jumped out.  So we got back in the truck and made another trip.  Twenty miles total to relocate two chipmunks.  It's a good thing gas prices aren't as bad as they were last summer.


If you want to make one of these special traps, I think it's time for me to bring in the Count of our Cabin.  What would a Cabin Countess be without her Count?  He agreed to provide a small tutorial on how to build this chipmunk trap.  Here are his instructions for the small animal trap in honor of my 700th blog post.

How To Build A Chipmunk Trap

By the Cabin Count

Since blog writing is a little bit foreign to me, I will try to make the instructions as clear and concise as I can.  My wife tells me not to use too many unimportant little details, so I will try to get to the point.

The first thing you need to do is gather some supplies.  I just used scraps of wood and supplies I had on hand.  You can always go to the Habitat for Humanity Restore store.  They may have everything you need at a good price.  If you want to go to the lumber yard and buy cedar boards and fancy hardware, that is up to you.

Pieces of plywood, small boards and some wire mesh.

The measurements are not set in stone, they can be adjusted to what materials you have.

If you don't have scraps on hand, the trap can be made from one 1" x 6" x 6' board.

Additional materials needed:

Screws (or nails), hardware cloth (or some type of screening), a hinge, a weight, a drawer pull, 3.25" x 3.25" piece of masonite or stiff cardboard, and a dowel cut to size for your trap (stick).

Directions using a 1" x 6" x 6' board [Actual size is .75" x 5.5" x 6']

Cutting:

1. Cut three pieces @ 15" in length [two for the sides, one for the bottom]

2. Cut one piece @ 10" in length [top]

3. Cut one piece @ 5.5" in length [door]

4. Cut (Rip)  four strips @ .75" in width and 11" in length

5. From the four strips cut six @ 5.5" in length and two @ 4" in length

6. The remaining strip should be approximately 1.5" in width  Cut one piece @ 4" in length

 Assembly:

1. Attach the bottom to the sides [Screw (or nail) through the bottom into the sides.]

2. Attach the .75" x 1.5" x 4" piece to the sides [Screw (or nail) through the sides into 4" piece.]

3. Attach the top to the sides [Screw (or nail) through the top into the sides.]

4. Cut hardware cloth ( screening) to size to cover front and back [These will be different sizes]

5.  Attach the hardware cloth to both ends using the six 5.5" strips and two 4" strips

6. Attach the door using the hinge [Allow for opening and closing of the door]

7. Attach a weight on front end of door [Holds door down so critter can't escape.]

8. Attach a three inch screw or nail to the bottom [Should be placed in the center of the door opening]

   Set the trap [This takes patience and practice]

1. Place some bird seed on the bottom of the trap

2. Balance the piece of masonite (or stiff cardboard) on the screw

3. Place the dowel (piece of stick) on the masonite

4. Lower the door onto the dowel [A little notch in the underside of the door may help.]

How it works:

Through the open door the critter will drop down tipping the masonite, dislodging the dowel, slamming the door shut.

Hats off to the Countess for 700 blogs. The Count finds this blogging difficult to do, so this may be my first and last guest blog.

We hope you enjoy your new surroundings little fella.

Prince's Pine, A New Plant For Me

The other day when I was walking out to the mailbox, I noticed a patch of greenery growing under a pine tree.  As I looked closer, I saw it was a plant I hadn't noticed before.  I don't think it was there in other years.  You would think I would have noticed if they had appeared before.

I had no idea what these plants were.  I downloaded an app called MyGardenAnswers.  It is an app where you can take a photo of a flower with your phone, submit it and supposedly the app will tell you what the plant is.  I tried it, but I got no results.  I looked online at several flower sites but I couldn't find the answer.  My next step was to post the picture on a nature facebook group I belong to.  A kind person identified it for me.  It is called Prince's Pine (Chimaphila umbellata).  He said "It's a native species of relatively high conservatism that prefers drier wooded habitats. It most likely arrived through natural dispersion or may have been present in the seed bank."  I was so excited to discover something new. They have spread quite a bit, and I am hoping they will come back every year. Wikipedia says it is a small perennial flowering plant found in dry woodlands, or sandy soils. Perennial means it should come back every year.  It has green leaves year-round, and it receives a significant portion of its nutrition from fungi in the soil. By keeping the green color,  they should be easy to keep track of.

Some Indian tribes used to boil Prince's Pine to treat tuberculosis.  It also has some antibacterial properties they used to treat infections.
  
It is also used as a flavoring in candy and soft drinks, particularly root beer.  I picked some leaves and they didn't smell like anything unless the oils need to be extracted somehow. Interesting but I won't be using it for flavor or medicinal purposes.  I will just enjoy the plants and the flowers.

The plants are spreading this summer.

I was waiting to see if the the little buds were going to bloom into a flower.  Today I went to check.  They are just starting to bloom into a small little unique flower.  

Hot Air Balloon Crew is a Great Summer Job

We can all remember our first job.  These jobs serve two purposes.  It is a way for a young person to earn some extra money either to save for further education or to save for a special item.  The other purpose is to reinforce what you DON'T want to do for the rest of your life.  I worked in the hot kitchen of an A & W root beer stand.  I didn't have the fun car hop job, but instead worked in a small area with a grill and warmers with barbecue and hot beef.  It is probably the reason I don't like confined spaces or being hot.  At the same time I worked as a cleaning lady in a nursing home.  I had to wear a uniform which was a yellow dress with sensible shoes, and I had to wear my hair in a bun. Quite the look for a 18 year old.   Cleaning in a nursing home has some challenges which I won't go into, but needless to say I can still remember the smell of the toilet bowl cleaner.  Wait!!!  Summer jobs are training for what you don't want to do for the rest of your life, but that is exactly what it was.  I was training to be a wife and mother and didn't even know it.

My husband washed dishes during his high school years and became very proficient at it.  I am always so happy when he practices his skills in our kitchen.

Our two oldest grandchildren are going to be sophomores in high school.  They each have their first summer job.  Our granddaughter is doing filing at a local car dealership.  She is enjoying it, but I am quite sure filling hamburger buns or chasing turd balls under beds wouldn't be for her.

Our grandson has the best job of all.  He obtained a job on the crew of a hot air balloon company.  Last week we observed the process.  He will never forget this experience.

The trolley picks up the riders and the workers.

They proceed to the launch site.

The equipment is unloaded and set up.

Ready!

Set!

With a big powerful fan the inflation process begins.

The propane flame heats the air.

Pretty soon the balloon is inflated.

The riders get into the basket.

Then it's Up, Up and Away.

At this point, as the hot air balloon disappeared into the horizon, the balloon crew packed the equipment into the trolley.  We waited to follow them.  The trolley tracks the balloon, and I imagine they are in communication at all times.

We spotted the balloon across the lake.

Then the landing begins.  This time it was in a field.

The crew had to pull the balloon into the proper position.

Deflating the balloon.

It is amazing to me how quickly they can pack up the balloon and put it away until the next flight.  I don't know the technicalities of the flight, but I imagine it is complicated and mostly depends on the wind and weather.  I did notice that they put up small test balloons to see the wind direction and probably other things.

I noticed the flight we witnessed seemed to fly really low.  I don't know if that was by design or was dictated by the winds.  I am just glad I witnessed from the ground and not from that basket. I have never claimed to be brave.  I agree with the motto of the balloon company, but I just want both of my feet on the ground.

The motto of the balloon company.

A Special Mother's Day Surprise

Happy Father's Day.  Even if it's a made up holiday, it is still nice to honor all fathers and father figures.  My husband got his token gift which he picked out himself.  It was a 26 piece screwdriver set he found at Costco.  Now all his screwdrivers will be in one place.  A place for everything and everything in it's place.  Something we have been striving for.  Today we went to a breakfast on the farm with some of the family and then later almost everyone came over for ribs, sweet corn, mashed potatoes, 7-layer salad and strawberries on pound cake.  I think all the father's and mom's for that matter had a good day.

I can't remember what I bought for myself on Mother's Day, but I'm sure it was something I wanted or needed at the time.  We aren't much for surprises, but I may have to change my mind.  I can't even convey how surprised I was last Mother's Day.  I have been waiting to blog about this surprise gift.  My daughter also gave one to my sister.  I didn't want to spoil my sister's surprise because she did not receive hers until recently.

It all started in April.  My daughter asked if I had any recipes hand written by my mom (her grandma).  I didn't think a lot about it, she is a very sentimental girl.  She wanted a recipe that we remembered mom making.  Several days later I thought I should look for one.  Mom made up recipes or changed them so I couldn't really think of any off hand.  I have a whole box of recipes, but the ones I use most often are in a kitchen drawer.  I opened the drawer to see what I could find, and there on top was one written in my mom's handwriting.  I had never really noticed it before.  When I looked at it carefully, it was a recipe for her Cinnamon Rolls.  It was dated 10/21/53.  It was called Delicious Rolls so I may have thought it was a recipe for dinner rolls and didn't ever read it.  It also said she got it from a Mrs. B.  I don't know who that could be.   We know a few possibilities, but we will never know for sure.   My mother made hundreds of pans of cinnamon rolls in her life.  It was kind of her signature food.  Whenever we had a family brunch, she always made cinnamon rolls.  When I married my husband, she would make a pan with raisins and a pan without raisins for him.  To this day, we make a pan of cinnamon rolls for family breakfast meals.  They are never as good as we remembered mom making.  I had ask her to show me a few times, but she never gave me an actual recipe.  I think she even forgot she had this one.

I found a couple more recipes written in mom's handwriting and the next time I saw my daughter I gave them to her.  That was the last I thought about it.  I thought they would go into a scrapbook and that would be it.  When it was Mother's Day, she gave me a present from her and her sister.  When I opened it up, I couldn't believe it.  There, laser engraved onto a cutting board was mom's recipe.  It was a very special gift, and I will treasure it always.

This is the finished cutting board and the original recipe card with a cinnamon thumbprint included.

*I am updating this blog I wrote a couple years ago.  I finally got around to making these rolls.  They turned out very well.  The first pan I made, I followed the directions exactly.  I squeezed them into a small pan and they turned out well.  I cut them into 12 pieces instead of 24 so I thought that would work.

I didn't think this was enough rolls for our family brunch because I always overdo things.  I decided late in the day to make another pan.  This time I put all the ingredients into my bread machine and set it for the dough cycle.  They turned out the same or maybe a little better.  This dough is very easy to work with.  It isn't sticky at all.  I am so happy to have finally made my mom's special cinnamon rolls.