I was working on this new canvas the other day and I added a little spider because I have spiders and all of their creeping friends on my mind.
I am having a front porch redone and this weekend we were pulling down the soffets on the underside to get a headstart.
There had been a hole in the soffets for a few years so I was pretty sure I’d find that bats had set up house at some point, but it turns out I’m not really sure what that would look like. There were no batty welcome mats found but there were lots of signs of other things sharing the same address. A big nest of dried grass maybe held a mouse family? Nothing bigger. Definitely not that bigger thing.
A couple of big bumble bees were a bit fussed about us and squeezed their way between the underside of the porch and the house. It reminded me last year that they spent a few days doing little bee dances on the underside when it got hot in the afternoons. They would all come out and sit beating their wings in time. And then they disappeared for the rest of the summer. So they don’t seem like horrible guests.
On lots of the joists there were little mud condos that had been nurseries to something buggy. This was one that fell down and still had the castoff blankets of something.
There was a great big bee or wasp nest. The part I could see wasn’t looking very fresh. When I look at the mud housing above or the paper creation below I’m struck by how boring I am in the building department. Imagine if for this new porch top I had to look around and source out some mud puddle or bunch of something papery that I would tear off and chew up and carry back to spit out, one little mouth full at a time. When friends were checking out the finished job I’d be saying , “Oh , come see this little corner over here. I found a sheet of green paper in the recycling and I’m really pleased with how there’s a beautiful streak of lime down the middle here. Boy it didn’t taste great though. But in the end I think it was worth it, what do you think?”
We haven’t gotten to the part that I think ants have been making themselves at home in yet. I’m looking forward to that! Total bug nerd!!
The actual big work is supposed to start next week, by someone who will not be chewing up things and spitting them out. I’m pretty sure about that. I’m hoping to get it well underway before the swallows show up and start looking their old nest over. Look, more spitty stuff.
Last year’s family wasn’t quite so sweet as usually, the mom felt like she should swoop and yell at us every time we went in and out of the house and that’s just not been something this little family line has done. They’ve been a gentle, peaceful little succession of families. Last year there were also tense times when the old nest cracked and most of it fell down before the babies were old enough to fly. They patched it up a bit but there were worrisome days of looking at the big brute babies hanging on to the teensy bit still there, and I was always dreading finding someone on the ground, pushed out by the bullies who benefitted by being the first ones hatched and having a bunch of days of growth on their little siblings. I don’t have a picture of that nest drama because it was just too dramatic and anxious!
Usually there are two batches a summer but no one moved in for the second round last year, and that felt OK after the swooping and the worrying. That nest has been used pretty solidly for about 10 years and I think it could probably benefit from coming down and starting fresh, so I’ll just cross my fingers that they come back and build a brand new one. I feel like I’m not supposed to be wishing for that as a homeowner but I do love my little swallow families.
The mud daubers are milling around looking to start a new nest somewhere. I don’t mind them either, except when they find a knot above the cars and drop mud all over while they build. I guess even that isn’t such a big deal is it? Yesterday one spent the day hanging out with me in my office. We played a wicked game of peekaboo, but to be fair he had quite a size advantage.
I feel bad that I always name my visitors with boy names so I tried to make this one Gloria, (a Van Morrison Gloria, not a Vanderbilt) but she seemed to morph into a George as the day went on. Early summer temperatures hit yesterday so we both got more and more anxious to get out as the stuffiness level rose. We eventually waved a goodbye to each other and then beat it out of there.
I so love this time of year. It feels like this time of year I could do anything. Everything is green, and fresh and possible.
I added another year and my birthday sushi sent me a little wasabi love. That felt pretty lucky.
Scouty still looks pretty stressed though. Someday I hope she learns how to relax.
So sending hellos from the fairly peaceful but buzzing (for so many reasons) home office. We all wave hello, but a heck of a lot of us have wings.
