Owl house up date

The sun was setting and I went out to check on the Owl house. We had quite a storm blow through here. It took down trees in the area so the wind was very strong. The Owl house was still bolted to the tree about thirty feet off the ground. All of the bees were back at the house and as you can see it is over flowing. The bees so far have not bothered anyone. I can walk around the yard and under the tree without any problem. I have mowed the grass and even used a chainsaw without incident. I will leave them be for now. If they become aggressive then I will have to do something about them. I wonder what happens to them in the winter? Do they stay put or do they die off like a wasp? I will have to do some Internet searches to find out. I had asked Melanie to go out and check out the Owl house. She said, "Why, do they have little honey bear bottles lined up for us?" Obviously she isn't as excited about the guests as I.

Owl House Guests

After what seems like forever I have guests living in the owl house. Hundreds, maybe thousands actually. I was in the back yard today looking at a tree that I cut up last weekend and just happened to look up at the owl house. It had been several weeks since I had looked at it. A picture says a thousand words but these pictures do not do the bees justice. The bees are very thick in the opening. I am not sure if that is honey comb that I see or just bees swarming to keep the inside cool. You can hear the hum of the wings beating back and forth. Very cool. I just hope they are not the African honey bees that will chase me around the yard when I mow the grass.

Owl House Update

Well, it has been almost a year since my project was completed. It was quite a chore getting the house to the top of the tree. It was a big production getting it attached to the tree limb as well. Looking back, building it was the easy part! I keep looking up at the box but I have not seen any signs that anything has moved in. The perch looks the same as does the paint job. I even keep looking on the ground under the house to see if I can see any droppings or even an owl pellet. Nothing. No visible signs at all.

Then, the other day Christopher tells me that the owls are too loud and he can't sleep at night. I said "Yeah, right." "No, really Dad you need to pull the house down." he tells me. I have been listening but I didn't hear anything. We came home late on Thanksgiving from my dad's house. As I was walking up the walkway to the front door I heard it. "Whoo.....Whooo". I opened the front door and let everyone in and then went back outside to see if I could see anything. I heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the tree on the side of the house. I stayed very still looking in the dark to get a glimpse of what was making this sound. ( I researched the sound on line and it sounds like a Horned owl.)

I waited but could not determine where exactly the sound came from or what had made it. It is still a mystery. I now have a new past time in the evenings, looking for owls. I may have to just sit up on the deck for an evening. I will see if I can get a picture. If not then maybe I can get a sound track to post.

Moving at the speed of life!

Summer has to be here because the temperature is staying near 100 and water restrictions are entering stage 2. I had to mow my newly planted grass today. I am pleased at how well it is doing. I hate to see my water bill though. I have been watering every day as the web site recommended for the first two weeks. Now I need to water only once a week. Good thing, I leave to California tomorrow for 5 days and I know nobody here will water it while I'm gone. The Owl House remains empty. I am sad about that but I have read that it can take several years for the owls to find it. We had high winds here several times and it remains steady in the tree. The woodpecker family has moved on as well. The nest is empty and it is all quiet back by the fence. The squirrels have pissed me off and I removed the bird feeder. I need to find a squirrel feeder before I put more food out. That feed has gotten expensive and the squirrels can empty a feeder in a matter of minutes. The humming bird feeder is doing real well on the end of a long coat hanger. The squirrels look at it but can not reach it. I have several hummers that buzz around it and are amazing to watch. The pond is doing great. The lotus is doing real well as you can see from the picture. Still no flower and no flowers on the lilies. The Koi will come over to feed now but are still very skiddish. Christopher got his gituiar and is taking lessong once a week. I hope he sticks with it. If not maybe I will learn how to play. Well, thats about all that's been going on in my neck of the woods.

Spring Color and update

It was a beautiful weekend here in San Antonio. We had some much needed rain last week and now everything is green and in bloom. I mowed the lawn and trimmed some of my trees back. Looking around the yard I realized that I had several flowers in bloom. I took a few pictures of the color that is starting to show. It wont be too long before color is throughout all of the front beds. The Koi pond is looking good as well. The lotus has several shoots coming up and the water lilies are looking good as well. I can't wait for them to flower. I have had water lilies before but never had any blooms. If you look closely at the pond picture you can see the Koi by the water feature. I still have 2 Koi and about 8 gold fish. I still can't get them to come when I feed them. One day. I still have a vacancy in the Owl House. After all the work that I put into it,I will be disappointed if it stays vacant. I have read that it can take a while for the owls to find it. Then I was thinking, if I bait it with corn I can get a squirrel family to move in. This way when the owls find it, the pantry is full! Just a thought.

Tree Top

Thank you for pointing out that I did not post a picture of the house in the tree. There is no activity just yet.