Where Are The Birds

 Normally, our backyard is full of birds.  We have a suet feeder where mockingbirds, robbins, brown thrashers, and small birds such as sparrows and wrens love to dine and carry food away to their nests.  Cardinals, bluebirds, and goldfinches explore our shrubs and plants looking for a snack.  Hummingbirds usually fight for a position on our feeder.

We love when the birds bring their babies out and feed them in our yard and do their best to teach them how to feed themselves.  We spend hours watching the birds.

This year, a pair of robbins eat from the feeder.  One mockingbird came and a robbin chased it away.  Nothing else.  We had two hummingbirds come a month ago and nothing since.  

This is our eighth year here and the first year without a lot of birds.  

Is it because of the bird virus?  Maybe other homes have a better menu for their feeders?

We don’t know but hopefully, we will be back to normal next year.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com

Just In Time

 The chair in my office was so low that I’ve had problems getting out of it for years.  Aloma wanted to buy me a recliner and took me to several stores, but I kept putting off buying one.  I saw a recliner with a lift to assist in getting out of the chair and it was on sale at Costco.  I ordered it and immediately loved it.  It’s comfortable, the right size, and the lift function lifts me up to almost a standing position.  The chair is higher than the previous one and I can easily get out of it without using the lift.  I didn’t think I would need the lift for a few more years.  Wrong!!

One night last week, I woke up in the night with pain in my right elbow.  It was the most intense pain that I ever had except for 10 broken ribs.  I woke Aloma and told her I needed to go to emergency.  They immediately gave me pain medication, took an X-ray, and did an ultrasound.  But they didn’t know what was causing the pain.  I was discharged and scheduled to see an orthopedic specialist two days later.  He didn’t know the cause of the pain either.

I rarely take more than one or two Oxycodone pills after surgery.  Not this time.  I took one every five hours for three days.  Finally, my elbow improved but my hand became swollen and very painful.

There was no way I could have gotten out of a regular chair.  I lived in my new recliner with a lift day and night for four days.  I have no idea what I would have done without the new chair.

Sometimes,  things just work out. Oh, my elbow and hand are almost normal again

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com

Storm Door

 Aloma has been asking for a storm door.  I kept putting her off until she said,  “Let's go to Lowes and pick one out.”  We did and brought it home.  She wanted to have it installed, but I said I would do it.

I got home and watched two videos on installing storm doors and then went to the website for the company that made the door.  I read the full instructions that came with the door.  I gathered the tools I needed and two sawhorses, and a ladder. The videos said it was a 30 to 45-minute installation.  Since I’m old and slow, I planned two hours to install the door.

I worked on it all afternoon and finally got it hung.  But it wouldn’t open all of the way.  I hung it wrong.  I started early the next morning, took it down, and caulked the holes I had driven in the wrong place.  I read the instructions again, but I couldn’t figure out how it should go.  I used to be good at projects like this, but I had trouble understanding the instructions.

On day three, I still couldn’t figure out the instructions, so I did a lot of trial-and-error but didn’t drill any holes.  No luck.  I started early on day four and one of the trials worked, so I drilled holes and hung the door.  It worked fine so I put the glass in.  Then I tried to insert the molding that keeps the glass from falling out.  No luck. On day five, I glued the glass in place with Gorilla glue and then glued the molding in.  So far, the glass hasn’t fallen out.  I installed the two closing units that came with the door and they worked.  But cousin Bob came by and told me I should reverse the top and bottom ones so we could use a foot to press the hold-open button.  I did that the next day.

One day before I put the glass in, I had the other door open and sat in the family room with Aloma.  Two birds flew into the house at warp speed.  One smashed into the patio door and knocked himself out.  The other bird stopped in time and just flew around the house.  I got the flying bird out and took the knocked-out bird to the patio.  An hour later he was gone.

It’s now day 15 and all I have to do is finish the latch and buy some molding to cover a couple of open areas around the top and bottom of the door.  I still have tools next to the door to remind me that if I ever buy another door, I’ll have it installed.

Seasoned Man

stevelem117@gmail.com