Outwitting Doves and Bats

Some days I should just stay in bed.  See this round thing hanging in the kitchen right next to my door?  It's decorated with Indian drawings and is called a Thunder Jug.  Not the one you're thinking about however.  Pull or tap the wire coil hanging down and it sounds just like thunder. 

I've no idea what possessed me to buy it and right now, it's lucky to still be hanging around.  Yes, I'm awake at 3:30 every morning, but that doesn't mean I'm AWAKE.  Unfortunately I got up before actually WAKING up.  

While balancing a dog bowl full of dry food with one hand and trying to get the door open so the kids could go outside, the coil hanging down caught my hair, causing a thunderous noise that scared everyone.  Jessie backed up hitting my leg causing me to be off balance, and step right into the dogs water bowl, the result of which sent dog food flying everywhere.  BIG SIGH!!!!  Why me???

Once the mess was finally cleaned up, I had TWO cups of coffee to be sure I was awake.  It was definitely a two cup morning.

Then it was on to removing the doves nest from the rig.  Honestly, I don't know what possessed her, other than it is high.  That black paint is so hot in the sun you can't touch it.  Just so you know, doves are terrible nest builders.  There are barely enough twigs to keep eggs and babies from falling out.

I grabbed the ladder and crawled up as high as I dare.  I'm hanging on for dear life to the awning supports as I reach up.  My ladder is not tall enough.  Momma flew away ...  but rats!!  The nest is so wimpy that any movement resulted in it completely falling apart.  

I'm sad to say there WAS an egg inside and it fell to the ground through the bottom of the nest.  There was no construction there at all ..... just a big pile of twigs.  I did the best I could to scrape it all off, but could barely reach it with two fingers.  Hopefully she'll go find a TREE.

With that job complete and after the failed attempt at lobster enchiladas the other day and the not so great taco bar, I decided to make my own fish tacos.  I've been looking for a delicious taco sauce recipe, but they all required a blender.  Okay then .... Walmart provided this nice Oster blender that will also work for Italian Ice (my next project).

After roasting tomatillos, jalapeños and garlic, I ended up with a nice sauce ... not my favorite and a tad bit HOT ... but it will do.

On to the fish.  That part didn't work out quite so well.  Rock cod was on sale.  Time to try out that new barbecue mat.  Right off the bat I figured out it was too big and not letting enough air through.  Luckily, you get TWO.  I cut down the second one and transferred the fish over.  

Look at that!!  You really do get grill marks.  There probably would be MORE but they stuck to the mat in spite of PAM spray.  By the time they were done, they had fallen apart into small pieces.  No problem ... perfect for tacos.

Sorry, there are no taco pictures.  I took that first big bite and got a mouthful of bones.  They went straight into the trash.  You see when I was a kid, I choked on a fish bone.  If anything even remotely resembling a bone gets in my mouth, I'm history!!  All that work for nothing.  I had lean cuisine for dinner.

Next up ... figure out how to outwit the bats.  Here I thought my hummingbird feeder was leaking.  Nope ... it was the bats that come out at night.  They must have really good noses because they found that feeder every time. 

I caught them doing fly-bys, hitting the feeder and making the nectar run over the side and drip to the ground where they lapped it up.  Dozens of them!!!  Every day for three days I refilled the feeder.  

Finally, when Miss Patty heard me complain, she said "well everyone else takes their feeder in at night".  Okay then!!!  I now have a big sticky note sign that says BATS hanging on my sliding glass door so I remember to bring it in.

I'm happy to report it's working and I'm saving a fortune in sugar.   If only the spiders and scorpions were as easy to repel!!!