The Creations of M. Nicole van Dam ®

My husband has been hard at work – harvesting today’s crop, making me smile, and putting up two blue bird houses, and being all around wonderful! I have seen a few bluebirds – beautiful red-breasted Western Bluebirds – in our neighborhood, so I decided to try to set up a few blue bird houses for them – which actually means my kind husband set up the houses! Here is what we did:
We purchased two houses – each with a hole towards the top, a hinge AT THE BOTTOM (so you can check for nests) and absolutely NO PERCH outside (that protects from predators and egg thieves). We also purchased two 7.5 foot lengths of 1″ copper plumbing pipe (will get a beautiful patina as it ages, at least that’s the plan!), 4 brass brackets (2 per house to bracket the pipe to the back of the house), and two 1.5 foot lengths of 1″pvc (test to make sure the copper pipe fits INTO the pvc and can turn a bit). The idea is dig a hole and put the pvc pipe into it, and then bolt the birdhouse to the copper pipe (using the brass brackets) so the house will be at least 5 feet off the ground (again to ward off predators), and then slip the birdhouse-copper-pipe combo into the pvc that you already put into the ground and – PRESTO- you’ve set the first house in your blue bird trail. It’s especially easy when your husband does all the work! Here are some photos:

Close-Up of front of bluebird house - hinge is at bottom.

Closeup of how copper pipe gets bracketed to birdhouse using two brass brackets. We hope to be able to see the babies learn to fly from our windows.

Detail showing how copper pipe fits into the pvc that you first set into the ground. This enables you to turn the bluebird house away from the wind, etc.

Our "bluebird trail" - we set two birdhouses along this trail - I've read that bluebirds like to nest over open spaces and yet within some ten feet of a tree for when the baby birds learn to fly. I hope this bluebird trail of two houses is set in an open enough area!

Our Leonberger dog waiting for bluebirds! "For Rent - Two Bluebird Houses with great security system!

Because I have a bit of a cold, my sweet husband also did today’s harvest from our garden – rainbow Swiss chard and fresh tomatoes. Made for a great dinner! My husband came up with a great line – he called harvesting the fresh veggies from our garden going “Grocery Chopping!” I love his sense of humor – no one makes me laugh like he does!

Today's Harvest, Thanks to Hard-Working Hubby!

-And a few photos of our rare black-headed grosbeak – he’s still here!

Our Black-Headed Grosbeak in the Trees - you can see how his one wing hangs down slightly, but he can still fly!

Here is our black-heaed Grosbeak in his favorite resting place and cafe! I think he is waiting for his flock to return from Latin America, which should happen around March I think. I wonder what will happen then?!!

A fun HAPPY update to this post: On February 23 at 8:30am I looked out my window and saw… a beautiful, perfect FEMALE black-headed grosbeak! HURRAY! Our little fellow isn’t alone anymore! I hope to have an opportunity to photograph her soon. It’s wonderful when things end RIGHT!