Tuesday: Bird down (5/22/12)

This is the second time in two weeks that we've had a Downy Woodpecker fly into the same living room window.  The first one died very quickly, unfortunately.  This one I found sitting lopsided, but it righted itself after a few minutes and was blinking its eyes.  It was around 9:00 in the morning, so I didn't think I could call the wild bird store I frequent yet.  I went online and read that if it doesn't fly away I should do something to keep it warm and provide a certain water/sugar/salt mixture.  So I did.

We've had constant Downies on the peanut feeder, so I had wondered if we have nests around.  (I HATE the way this pole leans every which way.  Must figure out how to fix that.)

I had loved that when you drive around a curve approaching the house, you can see through the courtyard doorway to the trees on the other side where the birdfeeders happen to be.  Hello.  The birds can see from the feeders out the courtyard doorway.  Up go two bird stickers.  Bummer.  The windows being really dirty was not a sufficient deterrent.  The good news is that he suddenly flew away 30 minutes later.  And I had since called the bird store and got someone who had saved an abused pigeon and nursed it for four months before releasing it, so I obviously called the right place!

Friday: Rain chains (5/18/12)

A couple of days ago the gutter guy came with his carefully engineered box gutter for the skylight-opening in the porch roof.  These clips will support seven galvanized steel chains that will hang to the ground and serve as a substitute downspout.  He said that he held onto the clips and literally hung his body weight from them to ensure that they could support the weight of the chains.

On Friday, he attached the chains.  (The one in the center is darker because we bought a chain months ago and left it outside to see how it would weather, so they'll all turn that color.)

This is how it looks from the front door...

And this is how it looks from inside the kitchen.  I love it.  I can't wait for it to rain...

Oops, I almost forgot that the day before, the plaster guys were here reapplying coats of plaster to the courtyard walls that got ruined by an unexpected downpour last fall.  They've been so good to us...

Thursday: Furniture and rugs (4/26/12)

We're having a hard time moving back in.  For one thing, it's an enormous relief to be able to just live in the whole house again.  Secondly, the furniture we had was all bought for previous houses (only the sectional sofa was bought for this house, but for a smaller living room, and the black one - that needs more discussion) so we clearly need to be staged.  So we just threw some stuff in.

We totally can't figure out how to make these two couches work together.  They're both obviously really just dog beds (can't sleep comfy without a pillow...) and the section Reuben's on here has been pretty trashed by him leaping off it to go bark at...  anything.

We put one of the Gabbeh runners in front of the hearth, and I think the color works pretty well with the concrete.

We bought this sofa before the space in the living room was well defined.  Got it at an art deco/vintage modern sale at the local community college.  I still totally love it, and it's crazy comfortable, but it was purchased rather prematurely.  We're having a hard time making it work with the other sofa.  And my grandparents' rug is one of my all time favorites.  Have to find a place for that.

This doesn't show the runner very well, but we put the other runner (they both used to be in the bedroom hallway) in the new hallway.  Don't know, but that might work.

And we got three barstools.  The third had a finish issue and is going to be refinished or replaced.  And check out that barrel cactus in the dining room!  Thanks, Irma!