Not For the Birds HNT

Still working on catching up from not accomplishing anything from last week. Sitting on the side burner has been the music writing (almost done, though) and work on the OsShirt site. The big project to really fall behind was Operation Scrubdown. So I've been working on that to some degree and hope to really get a lot taken care of this weekend (I have to!). One of the first projects I took care of was my balcony.

For those who have followed me for awhile might remember that the birds around here like to fornicate outside of my bedroom window. Generally between the hours of 4:00 - 8:00 AM, but there's no time that isn't good for them. This year, I got proactive about curbing their procreation. There's a man-made hole in the ceiling of the balcony that serves no useful purpose, other than it makes a great nesting place. I duct taped that sucker shut in March, so that there was no access. The birds didn't like that at all, as you can tell that they've been pecking at it, trying to get in. When that failed, they started to build a nest in the corner of the awning just below that. I've torn that down twice, and I think they realize they've been defeated. I haven't seen any evidence that they've tried anything else.

However, the balcony was full of twigs, grass, leaves, bird poop, dead baby birds (you can read about them in the archives too), and whatever else the wind might have blown in. Making it totally gross to walk around barefoot. Even wearing shoes wouldn't help, as I'd end up tracking all that stuff inside. So I've reclaimed my balcony! I filled an entire big trash bag with the twigs, grass, leaves, bird poop, and dead baby birds. Then I took a vacuum to the really tacky astroturf carpet. And now, I can enjoy my balcony all day, if so desired! Half-nekkid in my bare feet! Enjoying a morning cup of coffee...


As a side note--I'm glad I took this on Monday, as we've had rain ever since, with days more to come. The good news is that it washes the bird poop off the ledges!

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"You're written in her book
You're number 37, have a look
She's going to smile to make you frown, what a clown
Little boy, she's from the street
Before you start, you're already beat
She's gonna play you for a fool, yes it's true

'Cause everybody knows (She's a femme fatale)
The things she does to please (She's a femme fatale)
She's just a little tease (She's a femme fatale)
See the way she walks
Hear the way she talks"

excerpt from "Femme Fatale"
- Lou Reed

This week's Mystery Guest isn't going to be revealed here. But if you do some looking around at this week's HNTs, you won't have much trouble finding out who it is. Think of it as a treasure hunt!

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Another good week over at "...the Other HNT". Definitely NSFW this week, too. But don't let that stop you from dropping by and leaving a few comments! Your fellow HNTers always appreciate it!

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See that empty white box over there in my sidebar? Go ask me a question! Anonymously!

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Have you seen the new thing that Blogger has done for templates? They've finally given more template control over to the user! You should go check it out on your Dashboard. Of course, I won't be doing it any time soon, as I'm still using the "old" Blogger (some of you don't even know that there was an "old" Blogger!).

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