He's Baaack! (Part 2)

Just finished covering up the last of this week's woodpecker holes.  I decided to count how many pieces of aluminum and cat food lids I have stapled onto my house in the last 4 years - the count is close to 500!!!  And each piece of metal is covering at least one hole if not more.

Despite the fact that my woodpecker is now working  side by side with his lovely wife to destroy my shingles, I do believe the strips of garbage bags, holographic ribbons and rotting windsocks are beginning to have an effect of actually keeping them away.  Plus the house looks so gay festooned with these streamers!  Like it is decorated for some weird holiday dreamed up by Tim Burton or Gahan Wilson.

He's Baaaaack!

In the last couple of days I have made the discovery that my little feathered nemesis, the SOB (son of a bird) woodpecker has been back and very busy drilling yet more holes into my house.  I fill them in with fiberglass insulation, cover them up with can lids and he drills more.

I have tried to reason with him, pointing out the 32 acres of woods and trees which surround my house, filled with many dead and decaying trees - perfect homes for many tasty insects and many snug housing possibilities for himself and his kin. He simply twirls his way up a nearby branch, giving me that smug look and I know the minute I leave my house he will be back at his appointed task.

I received a letter from my insurance company last week - my house insurance evaluation and thus my premium has doubled.  They added a paragraph at the end of the cover letter that there was a possibility that my house may be "overinsured."   Wait until I show them the hundreds of little round holes that my little SOB has drilled into my siding.  Overinsured - ya think?

The Woodpecker

I could have nailed a cover over this hole - done an Edgar Allen Poe number on his little feathery butt - but no - I annoyed him enough trying to take this photo that he flew away and then I nailed up the can lids!!!

Welcome to my Blog

I have been threatening to start a blog for many months now and now the elements have finally fallen into place so here it is!  I will probably be tweaking it for a while before I settle down, so don't be alarmed if the look changes from time to time.

The title of the blog, and the photo in the header, reference that dear little bird lovingly referred to as "my woodpecker."  This creature has drilled the cedar shingles on my house full of holes for three winters in a row now - and with the chill in the air I am expecting his return any day now.  I am not really sure if he is a "him," of course - it just seems like he is a "he."  I would also like to point out at this juncture that I live in a big woods full of many dead trees.

Why this little ###### has decided to ruin my real estate is beyond me.  I must have some lousy bird Karma left over from a previous life (not to mention that my kitties, in their chicken-wire enclosure no less - with a polycarbonate roof  - manage to capture, kill, eat and regurgitate the occasional bird) - here is a sample photo of what my siding looks like with can lids nailed and old CDs slid over the woodpecker holes.  The second photo shows the scene on my closet shelf with the huge pile of (thankfully) dry dirt, twigs and leaves (found at the beginning of the October Surprise Storm).