Monthly Archives: June 2021

Gone birds

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Two species of birds decided to build nests on our house this spring. One built a nest on top of an electrical box under the porch. The other built on a pair of floodlights on the garage. They were both good sites, because they were sheltered from weather. Neither was a good site, because we have outdoor cats, and one in particular (that would be Sylvester) is a little killing machine.

They were probably the same birds that nested, or tried to nest, on the house last year. Last year I was able to keep one from nesting on the floodlights by climbing a ladder and destroying the nest before it could be completed. Unfortunately, with a bad knee and a bad shoulder, I couldn’t do that this year. So we had a successful nest construction on the floodlights, and a successful egg laying.

I don’t know what happened to the birds under the porch. If it was like last year, the baby birds were killed on the ground. But I think the birds that came from the nest on the floodlights might have made it.

I’m not sure what kind of birds they were. I tentatively identified them as swifts, but I never got a close enough look at the adults. Here they were a few days ago.

There are three birds big enough that they barely fit into the nest. From what I can tell, swifts fly directly out of the nest when they fledge. One day they were chirping away in the nest, and the next day they were gone. I looked for feathers on the ground, a sure sign that a cat had found them on the driveway, but there was nothing below the nest but bird droppings. So I am hopeful that they made it safely away.

I don’t mind the mess they make on the floodlights, or on the driveway, but I worry about them too much to let them nest there again. Once I’m sure enough of my physical condition to climb a ladder, I plan to tear the nest down and put up some kind of screen to keep them from nesting there again. Same with the nest under the porch.

And, speaking of my condition, my shoulder has improved greatly. I don’t have the full range of motion that I used to have, but the physical therapist thinks I will eventually reach that point. My knee is slowly getting better, but it’s not there yet. The therapist thinks my knee will get back to normal, or very close to it. Apparently the two most difficult recoveries for injuries to the knee at a broken kneecap and torn quadriceps tendons. Fortunately, I didn’t break my kneecap, but I did a good job tearing the tendons. The limiting factor for me may be arthritis in my knee.

As for Leah, she is now scheduled for L4-L5 spinal fusion on July 19. She is ambiguous about the whole thing; she dreads the surgery, but she wants to get it over with. Several people who have had similar surgeries have told her that their surgeries significantly reduced their pain. It’s surprising how many people we run into who have had spinal surgery.

Some photos

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I haven’t posted for a while, so I have a backlog of photos. Here are a few of them.

There was a nice shower over town a week ago (or so) that produced an almost complete rainbow.

Later, some clouds got in the action.

Some of the flowers in the flower bed beside our house were in bloom. The irises are impressive, but they don’t last too long. This is looking towards the thick tangle of trees across the driveway. The crape myrtles are just starting to bloom.

Looking back towards the house.

Here are some closer shots.

More recently we have had an invasion of Japanese beetles. This is the first year they have been a problem, at least above ground. I looked at our crape myrtles a few days ago and saw a few of them. I couldn’t reach the tops of the plants where the beetles like to do their business, so I sprayed some pesticide. It scared away a lot of beetles, but probably didn’t do any good. Yesterday I noticed them on the yellow flowers you can see in the foreground of the third photo above. I think the flowers are irises.

My preferred method of control is to get a container of hot, soapy water and drown them. They have a defense mechanism that makes that approach work reasonably well. When the beetles are disturbed, most of the time they simply drop from their perch. I place the container immediately beneath them, so they drop into the water. The detergent reduces the surface tension, so they sink and drown. Here is my first harvest.

I didn’t count them, but I estimate more than 50 and probably less than 100.

On Sunday I found more. I got around 30 this time. I hope their numbers continue to decline. They are seriously destructive. The crape myrtle blooms that were visible in the first shot of the flowers are no longer visible; they have been eaten, along with a lot of the upper foliage. They have also eaten away a lot of the irises, and some of their foliage.

I surprised a lot of them in the throes of passion. That was particularly satisfying because of what the offspring do.

I was not aware that their larvae damage grass roots and can cause visible damage to the grass above ground. I have noticed a few places where my grass is not doing well. I don’t know whether Japanese beetles are responsible, but I spent enough time, money and effort on our front yard that I don’t intend to let the little bastards damage the grass. Traps for the adult beetles apparently cause more harm than good because they attract far more beetles than they trap. Biological warfare against the larvae seems to be an effective course of action, although it can take years to work well. I will probably get some of the bacteria that are used (a bacterium called Paenibacillus popilliae.) Then I will poison them.

Driveway wildlife

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I saw this little beauty when I took the dogs out a few days ago.

It’s a green anole (anoles carolinensis), climbing the downspout on the corner of the house. They are active in warm weather, which we have been having, and live in trees. And, apparently, houses. I wasn’t sure I remembered the name, so I searched for “green and red lizard in Georgia” and immediately found it. The photo is not great because I took it with my phone and had to enlarge it quite a bit to see the red throat.

This was the scene two days ago when I took the dogs out (I don’t seem to go out unless it’s to take the dogs for a little walk).

Zoe did not notice the snake. Zeke was familiar with snakes and reacted strongly to them, but maybe Zoe has never had any experience with them. I took both dogs back inside so I could get closer for a photo.

This is a black rat snake. It didn’t move while we were outside, but when I went in for a moment, it got a little closer to the edge of the pavement.

I went back into the garage after taking this shot, but I peeped around the door. As soon as I went in, it slithered up against the liriope and disappeared.

This is from the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory:

“Rat snakes occupy a wide variety of habitats including rocky timbered hills, hardwood forests, river floodplains and swamp margins. They are commonly found in abandoned buildings and barns and are often the most common large snake in suburban areas.

Habits: Adult rat snakes primarily eat mice, rats, squirrels, and birds, as well as bird eggs. They are a common predator on wood duck eggs. Juveniles eat small frogs, lizards, and small rodents. Rat snakes are constrictors, and adept climbers that can scale brick walls as well as tree trunks. When frightened they often assume a “kinked” posture and remain motionless. They will vibrate the tail and expel malodorous musk.”

I like having snakes around, although the cats do a pretty good job of controlling rodents, as well as birds and lizards.

Health update: I continue to improve. I have regained a lot of the range of motion in my shoulder, despite a foolish attempt to get down on the floor to help Leah look for a pill she thought she had dropped. My knee is taking longer. I can walk with an almost normal gait, but I can bend my knee only a little past 90 degrees. I can walk up steps, but going down still stretches me calf a little more than is comfortable.

Leah has an appointment with her surgeon next week. She dreads having surgery again, but is ready for some relief from her almost constant pain. I think she’s as worried about how well I take care of the cats as she is the surgery itself.

Driving again

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I saw my surgeon Wednesday. He said I could get rid of the sling I had been wearing after my rotator cuff surgery seven weeks ago. He also said I could get rid of the knee brace I had been wearing since my quadriceps tendon repair six weeks ago. And he said I can drive.

I had given him something close to an ultimatum: I have to drive because Leah needs back surgery, and she can’t have back surgery until I can drive. I’m not sure whether that had anything to do with it. He said his general rule is that if you can take the sling off, you can drive. So Leah drove us home from the doctor’s office, but I drove us to dinner.

I still have a little trouble getting into the car, and my leg seems to get tired after a short while, but I feel like I am as safe as I ever was.

The range of motion in my shoulder is good, but there is a still a long way to go to complete recovery. My knee is swollen and stiff; I can’t bend it very far. The doctor said that’s to be expected with tendon surgery. It takes a long time to recover.

So now we can try to get Leah’s back fixed. She dreads surgery, which I understand, but I don’t think there is any alternative. Her condition is getting worse. She has been having a lot of pain in her back and legs. Now she is having some numbness and weakness, and there is a real risk of her falling. She is afraid that since her first surgery, a laminectomy, was not successful, her second, spinal fusion, might not be either. But, still, I don’t think there is an alternative.