Repurpose Birdhouses

This old wren house now sits on my deck table as a flower vase. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Repurpose Birdhouses

Do you have a favorite birdhouse birds are not using? Or maybe one that is starting to fall apart but you want to keep it around a little longer. That’s what happened with this small grey wren house that now serves as a flower vase on my deck.

The birdhouse had served as a home for birds for many years. One spring, though, I noticed the roof was disintegrating and I didn’t want to risk having baby birds being unprotected from the elements.

After removing the resident nest, I washed the birdhouse in hot water with a dab of bleach to remove any remaining undesirables.

Wear gloves to protect your hands from the bleach.

An old toothbrush works well to scrub out both the inside and outside.

Once dry, I sprayed it with a light coat of a clear poly satin to slow down the wood deteriorating.

It is stored over winter and brought out in the spring time to hold flowers.

The missing roof piece is wide enough to squeeze a small plastic cup. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

To use the birdhouse as a flower base, I added a small plastic cup that would fit through the missing roof line.

Spanish moss fills in where the flowers run out.

This year the birdhouse has extra decor. Did you see him?

This tree frog is also making the birdhouse a home. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A Missouri tree frog seems to have moved in and decided to make the birdhouse home. He’s been greeting me every morning now for almost a week, watching me from the old birdhouse entrance.

I suppose frogs don’t mind when it rains although he has a good half of the birdhouse that stays dry.

Guess it’s time to give him a name!

Charlotte

Gourd Bird Houses

The bee birdhouse was purchased ready made and on sale. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Gourd Bird Houses

Whether you buy ready made or make one yourself, gourd bird houses are a fun way to provide your natural pest patrol with homes.

Contrary to some assumptions, gourd bird houses can last for several years. The trick is to clean them out in fall and store them in a safe place over winter.

You can grow your own gourds or buy gourds at your local farmer’s market, usually at the end of the growing season. Kids can have fun decorating the gourds. Once dry, apply a coat of clear acrylic to help preserve the art work.

Do not spray the inside of the gourd.

The biggest question I get about my bird house gourds is what size is the entrance. Different birds like different sizes. I like having Carolina wrens around my garden so my gourd entrances are 1 1/4 inch, which is their preferred entrance size.

That tends to be the size in pre-made gourd birdhouses because it also attracts titmice and chickadees.

The gourd bird house entrance is a 1 1/4 inch circle. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you want a simpler painting scheme, start by painting your gourds fruit colors. Apples are fun and provide a quick pop of color. I painted these home grown gourds red and added painted leaves on the top and back. They now hang from my dwarf apple trees, housing a resident, and very vocal, wren.

This homemade apple gourd has the same sized entrance. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Also remember to add a hook at the top so that you can easily and safely hang the gourd.

I screwed in an eye hook and then glued around it to ensure it safely holds the gourd’s precious cargo.

Remember to plan for hooks to easily hang your birdhouse gourds. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Homemade gourd bird houses also make for nice garden gifts. When painting yours, make sure to make a few more to share with family and friends. Your birds will appreciate it and they will help keep garden bug populations under control.

Charlotte

How to Set Up Home Office

This was my first home office set up in a vintage desk in a guest bedroom. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

How to Set Up Home Office

As many people scramble to set up home offices, here are some tips from my experience setting up, and having, a home office for some time now.

When you first set up, you are going to make do. Do not, I repeat, do not place your coffee, tea and water next to your temporary computer space.

As you find what doesn’t work, you will adjust so don’t expect to get it right the first time, keep adjusting.

If you don’t have a computer and are buying one, get a laptop, it’s more portable and easier to place. You can always add a larger monitor or two if you need them.

1. Set up your work space separate from other home activities. Good places for home offices are guest bedrooms and a corner of your unused living room.

2. Wherever you set up, make sure you have electrical outlets close by. If not, thread the extension cord under rugs to make sure the work area is safe.

3. If possible, set up close to a window. Having a connection to the outdoors is spirit-lifting, even if you spend all day on a computer.

4. Move dictionaries and other reference material to your work space. Be creative about how you make them easily accessible. Boxes make excellent temporary files assuming the cat doesn’t find it first!

5. You will need a printer so plan space for one, and a good lamp to minimize eye strain.

6. Include a safe area for your cup of coffee, tea and water. Keep as many of your office routines as you can and bringing a cup of coffee back to your work space is a common one.

My writing work space in a living room corner. Took me a couple of weeks to find a way to fit my reference materials in the small wire book case underneath. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Quick and Dirty Home Offices

Those home offices are well worn and established but what if you don’t have a desk, or space.

It took me awhile to settle into those home work spaces so here are some of the other ones I have successfully used in the interim:

Sofa tables make handy temporary work spaces if you don’t immediately need a printer. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

With portable laptops, a sofa table will work quite nicely as a temporary office to hold your laptop, phone and glasses. The sofa table makes it easier to establish a working spot in the middle of the usual family chaos. Make sure kids know not to touch what is on the table.

Sofa tables do not have enough room for everything listed plus a printer so this is a working space only. Helps to have a coffee table nearby for your other necessities including pens and a cup of tea.

I sometimes use this sofa table for online conference sessions. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If you don’t have a sofa table, try a bed tray with legs. You can set these up at a chair or sofa corner to give yourself an even platform.

These are only good options if you are not setting up monitors and printers, these work well for portable laptops.

This bed tray has been an excellent portable home office. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

While you are shopping for a sofa table and bed tray, your dining room table will work quite well especially if you have a larger monitor.

Just make sure you have your basic office necessities close by. I use an old tray and ceramic vases to hold pens, pencils, paper clips and a small stapler.

Dining room tables can easily be set up for temporary work spaces. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Other Home Office Considerations

Some other things to consider as you set up your home office.

1. Get up and dressed for work; then go to your work area and appreciate that you don’t have a commute.

2. Discuss with family that when you are in your work area, you are only to be disturbed in an emergency. A friend has set up a little office area for her daughter so that both of them can “go to work” together.

3. If you are set up in an area with a door, walk out when you are done for the day and close the door or you may be tempted to go back in and work more.*

   *This is an advantage, and the challenge, of working at home. It took me several weeks working at home to identify stopping points on projects so that I could in good conscience put off the project work until the next day. In other words, having the work at home can make it easier to just keep going but try for balance.

4. Set up your work hours and stick to them with colleagues. Realize you have some flexibility with your individual work hours but start first with the hours you are accustomed keeping. Then move to a flexible schedule as needed and appropriate.

   Who Are You Going to Call

Discuss with co-workers how you will communicate:

1. Agree on how you will keep up to date on projects; end of day email summaries work well.

2. Collaborative platforms like Slack, Zoom, Free Conference Call and Google will work only as well as how comfortable the people are using them. Agree to try them out and then decide what works best for the whole group.

3. Keep your weekly meetings as much as possible; it will make the changes seem more normal.

Impact You Will Have on Pets

You know this will impact your family but it will also have an impact on your pets.

My two cats had an established routine when I worked away from home. Once I started working all day at home, it took them awhile to settle into a revised schedule, most of it of their own making.

Shirley Honey keeps me company at one of my desks. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One cat files herself away in a desk drawer whenever she gets the chance. The other cat periodically cruises by for some attention and lap time before heading for a nap in a chair. Frankly having pets close by is one of the biggest perks of working at home!

Charlotte

Plant Pussy Willow Branches

Pussy Willow branch flowers look like tiny magnolia flowers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Planting Pussy Willow Branches

If you ever come across, or are gifted, cut pussy willow branches for home decor, enjoy them for a couple of days and then find a place to plant them. By getting them to root, you will then have a source of pussy willow branches for years to come.

There are a number of different pussy willows. Any willow (Salix) with relatively large or striking furry flower clusters is likely to be considered a pussy willow. The “fur” is usually silvery to white hairs, likened to a kitten’s fur. The furry nubs are called a catkin, a word derived from old Dutch for kitten.

Unlike most flowers, catkins have no petals. Their covering of dense hair is designed to protect the delicate flowers inside. In this case, the flowers are white resembling magnolia tree blossoms.

A few more blooming pussy willow flowers on cut branches. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I discovered these lovely flowers last fall when I found a stash of cut down pussy willow branches. Not knowing they would bloom once cut and brought inside, I would check them every day to see how and why they were blooming.

That means I was hooked. And I have a number of good reasons. Besides this being a plant often associated with cats and the vintage post cards my grandmother used to send me, willows are also excellent bee food.

After a few days of enjoying the white blossoms, and after a good soaking rain, I headed outside with my vase of pussy willow stems to get them in the ground.

Pushing pussy willow branches into soft ground to grow. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I grouped three branches per spot, gently pushing them into the ground until the lowest growing node was covered. Pussy willows have both male and female plants. Since I don’t know which is which, I increased the chances of the two different plants being close by grouping them together.

A good dose of water and I was done. I love planting in spring, most plants started this time of year nicely make it with very little effort.

And before I headed back inside, I enjoyed looking at the lovely white pussy willow flowers one last time.

Another lovely white flower on these cut Willow branches. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I am counting on being able to have the next flowers blooming on rooted pussy willows!

Other favorite home decor plants that are easy to start through cuttings include forsythia and berries.

Charlotte