Creature Comforts

I woke up on Wednesday morning to the sound of tiny feet pitter-pattering near my bed.  It sound like it was coming from inside of our heating vent.  So of course, I immediately pictured this (except less cute and more rabid):



A mouse in my house?!?!  I might be an animal lover, and I do think mice are pretty cute, but I don’t like the thought of my house being infested by any kind of creature.  We’ve never had any rodent problems before, thank goodness, so I figured it was just a stray mouse that had somehow gotten into our vents.  I wasn’t too concerned until I realized that a mouse could cause damage to our heating vents.  But then I did some Googling, and read other stories involving mouse droppings and their terrible odor when the heating or air conditioning is turned on and that’s when I started to freak out!  We bought a mouse trap right away (a no kill trap of course, we got the Victor Live Catch release trap from Home Depot, which doesn’t kill or use painful glue).  But a few days later, we still hadn’t caught anything.

This morning I heard some movement in the vent and was listening closely to it when I heard some chirping.  At first I thought it was just some birds outside, but then I realized they were coming from the same place as the “mouse.”  Then it dawned on me, there is no mouse in the vent!  A family of birds has taken up residence in our dryer vent which is right below our bedroom window.

I went outside and sure enough, there was plenty of bird “evidence” around the vent. 



And this also explained why our sliding glass door, which is directly under the vent, has been “marked” by birds as well.



After a little while, I finally spotted the culprits when I saw a couple of these birds nearby.  They are pretty cool looking with purplish-greenish iridescent looking feathers.



Luckily, I just bought a bird watching book at a garage sale last weekend!  This excited me for two reasons, first, because it meant I could use the book and secondly because I could prove my husband wrong for saying I’d never use that book!  (See, aren’t the illustrations cool, that’s why I bought the book in the first place.)



Sure enough, the book had just the bird I was looking for.  It’s a starling.  I did some more Googling and confirmed that starlings like to make nests in strange places, including dryer vents. 



See the resemblance?



At this point, we’re just going to have to wait for the baby birds to leave and then remove the nest once it’s gone.  I guess we’re going to have to avoid using the dryer in the meanwhile.  After they’re gone, there’s a netting that can be installed on the vent to make sure no other creatures make a home there in the future.

Any other tips for what to do when birds settle into your vents?  Have you had any brushes with nature inside your own home?

Yard Sale Trickery

I had another great weekend yard sale shopping...for the most part.   Two nice neighborhoods near me hold a community yard sale each year and they happened to fall on the same day this year.  Although I wasn't looking for anything in particular, I managed to find some cute loot.  But as you’ll see, I was swindled by one purchase.  Luckily, it wasn’t quite as traumatic as my experience at the same community yard sale last year when I got a flat tire!

First, I found a pair of filigree candle holders.  Although I don’t really need another set of candle holders, which is exactly what I said last week when I bought a different set of candle holders, I bought them anyway.  Funny thing is, I rarely burn candles!  But I like how they look, and in my defense, I thought they’d match well with my filigree utensil holder, so maybe I’ll keep them in or near the kitchen.  At a different house, I found a gorgeous photo frame.  I need another photo frame about as much as I need another candle holder, but this one is just beautiful.



At a different yard sale, I picked up a few books.  Two to read for fun and a bird watching book from the 1950s just because I liked the illustrations in it.  Underneath of the books, is what I thought was a very nice tray.  But I was duped!  Lied to, scammed, swindled, I tell you!  See that white patch of missing paint on the left side of the tray?  Well, I didn’t see it when I bought it because it was covered by a price sticker the seller had put on top of it.  Who does that?!  This is a friendly neighborhood yard sale, but the sellers felt it was necessary hide a very noticeable spot on a tray worth only a few dollars and trick someone?  In reality, it’s not a big deal because I was considering repainting the tray anyway, but I’m mad out of principal!  Good thing I only paid half of their asking price for it!


But the day ended on a positive note for me when I found this cute wicker carrier.  I thought it would be a cute and convenient way to put cups holding utensils or condiments in it and carry them onto our patio for barbeques.



Did you score any yard sale finds this weekend?  Have you ever been tricked by a purchase like I was?

DAP DryDex

After an unfortunate curtain hanging incident that left my kitchen wall with an inordinate amount of holes (don't ask!), I had quite a lot of spackling to do!



That's why I was so happy when DAP reached out to me about a very cool product, DAP DryDex. Sometimes it can be a little tricky to know how long you have to wait after spackling before you can sand and paint over it. This product takes the guess work out of it because it has a dry time indicator - it goes on pink and dries white! Perfect for inpatient people like me who tend to jump into the next step of a project too early.  When it's white you're ready to sand and paint!

DryDex was easy to find at the Home Depot.  The Home Depot near me had two different sized tubs.



If you haven't spackled before, it's very easy to do. I even enjoy doing it, there's just something satisfying about making a hole or crack disappear. First, clean and dry the surface to make sure there isn't any dust or other debris on it. Then mix around your spackle a little bit with a putty knife and then apply about a quarter sized amount onto your putty knife. Push the spackle into the hole or crack you're trying to fill and smooth the spackle on top. That's it! The spackle will dry within one to five hours, and the convenient part about DryDex is that it will change colors from pink to white when it's done! Once dry, larger holes/cracks may need another coat of spackle, but smaller ones may be ready to sand and paint after just one coat.

Dap DryDex is available in the little tubs (like the photo above), in a tube, or as an entire kit that comes with a putty knife, sandpaper, and adhesive patch made for repairing larger holes.

Have you tackled any spackling projects lately?  Or ever had a crazy disaster hanging something that left you with an insane amount of holes in your walls?  No, just me? Ok then, lets pretend that never happened.

Note: This post was sponsored by Dap, but the content of this post and all opinions are entirely mine.