Unwelcomed Boarders

UNWELCOMED BOARDERS

         Spring starts. The ground labors to bring forth new growth, and nature comes alive with living things. The squirrels and birds have made their homes in trees, bushes and other suitable places. But my house is not for rent!

         I woke up this morning to noise emanating from one of the corner bedroom windows. I peered out the window, which was facing the back of my property and noticed that the overhang under the gutters was moving up and down and making such a clatter of noise. I opened the window and I addressed the clamor with “Get out of here”, and a large black bird struggled to free itself from within and flew away with a piece of nesting material still in its beak. How wonderful! But my house is not for rent.

         In the meantime, at the front of the house, little birds, maybe wrens or finches, were busily chirping away and debating who gets to nest under the two front windows of my house, which bring light into a middle TV room and the side bedroom. The birds had already stuffed twigs and dried grass into holes behind the vinyl siding causing the coverings to hang precariously. With the windows closed, I did not notice the construction going on. Ah, spring! How wonderful! But my home is not for rent.

         If that were not all, I had to contend with an engineer-minded squirrel, which had sought to climb up the telephone wires attached to a side corner of my home. He/she bore a hole at the top and into the side, hopefully to gain entry into the attic, but miscalculated and entered the bedroom wall instead. This industrious rodent tried to add atmosphere and light to its lair by gnawing a hole to the outside air, but opened the bedroom wall instead. “Ooops!” it said in the way of squirrels, and proceeded to try again and again. Now we have four little holes, which we have stuffed with cotton. Before we can close up the entry hole and make permanent repairs, we must evict the squirrel from our home. In the interim, we made our guest uncomfortable by making its habitat unbearable with an invasion of mothballs and making as much noise as possible. However, this little creature can be just as stubborn as we are, and he/she has my admiration for that. But my home is not for rent.

         There is no end to squatters in my home. I entered the kitchen this morning and found little babes of black ants, two or more, scouting about my countertop. Hopefully, their entry came from a crack in the weather stripping between the kitchen window frame and the sill. I can take care of that, but somehow I feel it is not the end. I had hoped I had solved that problem with ants last spring. How wonderful! Here we go again.

         I love the spring and all God’s little creatures. The sound of birds, bees and crickets are much a part of thriving life on earth. All animals and other living creatures have the right to share this earth that we live on. They can reside wherever they wish, but my house is not for rent.