Weekend Project

I'm pretty sure we have a mouse problem. While they are adorable and I don't mind giving them a nice place to live, it's probably not sanitary, so we have to solve the problem.  I'm going to order some havahart traps for the garage and basement and take them miles away to release them if we ever catch any.  But first, we needed to remove all food sources from the garage (says our nice pest control guy) where we think they might be entering the house.  So.... since we were pulling everything out of the garage to clean up all the bird seed and thistle that has spilled all over the place out there, we decided to wallboard the walls and also put insulation in.  Here's the progress from Day 1:

BEFORE

AFTER

Next we have to tape and mud the joints and do the whole other side of the garage.  It's turned out to be a big job - not all that surprisingly. But hopefully it will be worth it in the end since we enter our house all the time through the garage....

Day 2:

Grouted Guest Bathroom Tub Surround

Not crazy about it with the shower curtain and yellow paint, but it's staying for now.  Can't face re-painting at this point...  we knew it wouldn't be great when we chose the glass border tile, but figured we wouldn't avoid a tile combo we liked just because of our paint color and shower curtain.  We can, fairly easily, change the paint and shower curtain down the road. 

Just Need Grout

And we need to paint and clean the tub, obviously....

Shower Tile

Camera Settings

I watched part of the dvd about my new camera from Christmas today and learned about some new "Creative" settings I could use.  Here are some of the pics I took when I practiced afterwards...

Cool Aerial View

Birds

Because there is no seed in the feeder, and just suet, the squirrels don't bother anymore.  And we are back to attracting some really pretty birds, like these guys.   I took these pictures through the kitchen window.  A friend from Nantucket who happens to be a bit of a bird expert has now told me what each of these birds are, so I am labeling each one...

Starlings

Cardinals (male and female)

Here are the birds that have laid eggs in a potted plant in our garage.  First there were two eggs, now we're up to 6 eggs!  They don't seem to mind our coming and going in the evening with the loud garage door going up and down.  Guess they figure it's the price they pay for a warm safe garage nest!

Carolina Wrens

Carolina Wren's nest

Common Grackle

Male Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Female Downy Woodpecker

Black Capped Chickadee and Male Cardinal

Blue Jay

Incoming Grackle, Outgoing Blue Jay