Dinner at the Tokyo Steak House

The neighbors and I gathered for a fun dinner at the Tokoyo Steakhouse in Lewes Delaware tonight. We're all retirees from other states. Bob and Barbara are from New Jersey. Rich and Mary are from Florida. Bob and Josie are from New York. Jane and Tom are from Pennsylvania. Ray and Frances are also from Pennsylvania. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have such good neighbors. That was not the case in Pennsylvania. Of course you cannot chose your neighbors, it's the luck of the draw. Well, this time I got very lucky. Pictured in the You Tube video are my house guests for the weekend, Jack and Judy. Their son is getting married this weekend on the beach in Lewes and their children and grandchildren have taken over their house. They are welcome guests in my home this weekend. I can now repay their kindness to me when they let me stay in their home when my house was being built in early 2006. Pictured in the video is Judy and Jack attempting to catch a flying shrimp from the grill. Right before I took this video, Igor (yes, that was his name - his father was Russian and his mother Asian) flipped a shrimp at me and I caught it! That was a first. I guess that proves I have a big mouth. Even though I work part-time, I consider myself "retired." To me, this is what retirement is all about. Enjoying a night out with friends. Even better, these friends are my neighbors. It just doesn't get any better than this.

House Guests

This weekend Bill and I are welcoming our first house guests. No, the house guests will not be the Determined Sparrow and his mate. Our house guests will be Jack and Judy, dear friends for a long time. Judy and I graduated from Downingtown High School in 1959. We renewed our friendship at a class reunion 10 years ago. When I was building my house in Delaware in 2006, Jack and Judy graciously offered me the use of their lovely house that is located right on the Rehoboth Bay in Lewes, Delaware. Jack and Judy told me that when they were building their house some years previously, friends of theirs had offered them the use of their house during its building process. They said how useful it was to be able to monitor the building of their house without the added expense of renting a hotel room each time they visited. They were spending the winter at their Florida condo and they told me I could use their house anytime time I wanted. What wonderful friends. I was so appreciative because it did help me a great deal during the building process of my house that I offered them the use of my house anytime they needed a place to stay. That time has come. Their son is getting married this weekend. Jack and Judy have seven children and numerous grandchildren, so it didn’t take long to fill up their house, as big as it is. I am so glad that we can offer our hospitality to such a wonderful couple and dear friends. When I built this house I specifically wanted a guest quarters. That’s why I took the option for a bonus room upstairs to this ranch house. My previous house in Pennsylvania was large but did not offer guest quarters. It was a Dutch Colonial house with four bedrooms. However, there were only two and a half bathrooms. There was one bathroom off the master bedroom (my room), another bathroom in the hallway for the other three second floor bedrooms. Downstairs there was another half bath. My partner occupied one of the bedrooms at the end of the hallway and used the second bathroom as his personal bathroom. Thus, if we had company, they either had to use my bathroom or my partner’s bathroom. We did not have good accommodations for company. That configuration was one that I definitely wanted to change when I built our new house in Delaware. Now we have a bonus room that has its own bedroom, bathroom and living room. This bonus room on the second floor affords privacy from the rest of the house for both guests and hosts. This works. Tonight Jack and Judy are going to join me and several of my neighbors for dinner at the Tokoyo Steak House in Lewes. What a great way to introduce my neighbors to my house guests! Tomorrow Jack and Judy “move in.” In the meantime, I’m still keeping a wary eye out for my uninvited guest, the Determined Sparrow.

St. Francis

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the ecology, is in my yard. This weather beaten statue of St. Francis also had an honored place in my yard when I lived on seven acres of hilly wooded land in Pennsylvania. Many birds have perched on top of his cement head, while taking a brief rest from building a new nest or foraging for food for their new nestlings in their nest. When I moved to Delaware from Pennsylvania in 2006, I left many landscape structures behind for the new owners of the property. I built my house in 1981 in a clearing on that wooded Pennsylvania hillside (see the slide show on the upper left of this blog page). One of the first things I did was ask my father to build some more of his birdhouses for my new property. My father had built birdhouses for years and had much success in attracting bluebirds and other beneficial species of birds to his three acres of land nearby. Each year without fail, the house wrens would arrive from their winter quarters in the south and take up residence again in those same birdhouses. They did this for the 25 years that I lived on that property. When I sold my house, I didn’t want to disturb the landscape too much for the annual visit by the wrens and all the other birds that called my seven acres in East Brandywine Township, Pennsylvania home. However, one landscape item that I brought with me was my St. Francis statue. To me, it is a symbol of how I would welcome the many new Delaware birds that would call my one acre of land in Sussex County, Delaware home. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you know I’ve had some difficulty with a few determined house sparrows who insist on nesting in my four blue bird trail houses and my Purple Martin birdhouse. The sparrows are determined to take over all of my birdhouses. While I have empathy for the sparrow, my property is opened to all and not just one very aggressive species of bird. After several frustrating attempts by me to completely ban the sparrows from my property, I have set aside one blue bird box for the sparrows to nest. They’re building a nest in it now but their hearts are still on that one apartment in the Purple Martin house. I’ve tried cleaning out their nest only to see them rebuild it. I’ve left open the door to the bird house apartment. The Determined Sparrow built an even more elaborate nest, to protect its eggs from the elements, even though the birdhouse apartment had no front on it. Yesterday morning, after tearing out that nest, I filled the apartment with a plastic bag from Walmart. As soon as I left, Mr. Determined was up there checking out the new obstacle. His lady friend joined him a short time later. They spent most of the day up there, on the ledge, wondering what to do. Talking to each other in quick little chirps. They continued to build their nest in the blue bird house I set aside for them, but I could tell they really wanted The Penthouse apartment. This morning, after breakfast, I went out to see if they were building another nest in the Purple Martin house. The white plastic Walmart bag was still visibile in the hole to the apartment, blocking entry. I checked the blue bird house where they were building a nest. It appears that they have put more nesting material in there. I looked across the back yard; I saw a pair of blue birds sitting on the other blue bird house. The third blue bird house between these two houses was still empty. Apparently, this bird house is located in No Man’s Land. I suspect Mr. Determined Sparrow is only reluctantly building his nest in the remaining blue bird house. Thus, it appears that the birds that populate my backyard are living in harmony now. Robins, and Grackles roam the thick green grass in search of worms and grubs to feed their young ones located in some secret unknown placethat only they know. Once in a great while a Peregrine Falcon makes a screeching swoop down from the sky, hoping to get lucky and snag an unsuspecting bird in its sharp talons. However, I haven’t seen the falcon for several weeks now. Perhaps it has found an abundant food supply elsewhere to feed its young. I will continue to monitor my back yard to insure that all of the birds have a safe home, with the help of St. Francis.

Mortified

This morning I arose from my slumber at about 7 AM. As I sleepily stumbled into the kitchen, my partner tells me “The Inn called.” I thought “who isn’t coming in today?” I work two days a week (Monday and Thursday nights) and every other weekend, once during the day and once during the evening, in order to give the two fulltime front desk clerks at least one weekend a month off. Sometimes I’m called in on short notice to fill in for one of the other front desk clerks due to illness or another different emergency. This morning I assumed I got the call to come in and fill in for someone. I called my voice mail. The owner of the Inn left me the message “Where are you?” Quickly, I look to my calendar. Yep! I was due in today! How did that happen? I thought I had a fail safe method for recording the times I was due in for work. I checked the copy of the schedule the manager gives me. I keep that on top of my bedroom bureau where I conduct almost all of my business. There it was in black and white. “Ron – Sunday morning, May 18th". Quickly, I pick up the phone and called the owner. I told him it was my mistake and that I would be in as soon as I got dressed. He told me the manager was covering for me until I got in. Now I’m really embarrassed. The manager’s wife recently had a baby and this was the first week home for mother and child and husband. Ron, the OLD MAN, changed those plans today. Faster than Clark Kent changed into his Superman costume, I was dressed and ready to shoot out the door. I didn’t have breakfast, didn’t do my morning exercises, nor did I take my fiber medicine. I will be off track all day, that’s for sure. Route 1 traffic was light. The morning mist was lifting from New Road. I pull into the parking lot of the Inn. I gather myself and go around to the front door. Walking through the lobby and down the corridor to the front desk I see the owner and the manager waiting for me with bemused looks on their faces. This is something they’ve never seen before. This is something I’ve never done before. In all my 60 plus years of work, I have never missed a schedule. Well, there are always Firsts. This was a very humbling experience for me. Now I will be oh so more tolerant of anyone else I know who oversleeps or misses the schedule completely as I did today. I accepted all responsibility and told them I just missed it. I had even brought in my wall calendar and schedule to show them I had not marked the shift on my calendar. No excuse. Later, as I was talking to the head housekeeper, she told me that whenever she is late her whole day is not right. That was the way I felt all day, off track. To put it simply, I was mortified.

One Determined Sparrow

There has been a compromise of sorts between me and the Determined Sparrow. As soon as I would bring down the pole to the Purple Martin house (a tricky operation, lowering two metal poles without slicing a finger off if one of the poles slips), and tearing out the beginnings of the sparrow nest, the Determined Sparrow would wait until I put the pole back and he would again begin building his nest. He wasted no time. Not a Shy One, this sparrow. After the last nest clean out, I left the door to the apartment opened. The Purple Martin birdhouse has six apartments, two on the bottom and one on the top on the side facing east. On the other side (west), two apartments on the top and one on the bottom. Mr. Determined Sparrow preferred the one on the bottom facing west. I raised the pole again and went to the shed to observe what Mr. Determined would do now. He shot right up into that now garage door opened apartment. He looked up and down and around and then sat there, contemplating his next move. His mate joined him. Both of them sat there in the apartment without a front. Today was very windy. Any nesting placed in the apartment without a front would surely blow away. For most of the day, these two would flit back and forth between that open apartment and the post of an old blue bird house. I left them to do some yard work. As the sun was setting I heard a perky “Chirp! Chirp!” What do my eyes see? I see a little sparrow head peaking out of the blue bird house, looking in my direction, as if to acknowledge that he has accepted my compromise. A few minutes later, I saw a pair of bluebirds sitting on top of the blue bird house across the way from the sparrows' new home. Maybe we all can live together after all. Just not in the Purple Martin house.

Bill Chases Barbara

To take a lighthearted new direction from my recent blog postings, I am posting this video I took about a week ago of my partner Bill playing a joke on our neighbor Barbara. He waited until she took a turn around her and then fell in behind her, walking closely. Look carefully and you'll see Barbara coming around the turn, waving at me taking her video, realizing that Bill is right behind her. Thank goodness she didn't fall off the mower! Now that would have been a video.
As a follow-up to the sparrow drama, this morning my Determined Sparrow was again rebuilding his nest in the Purple Martin house. I, again, tore it out. After I got back from breakfast at Zorba's Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach with Bill, I looked out my sun room window and saw that my Determined Sparrow was now building his nest in one of the blue bird boxes. In fact, it was the box that I found five dead sparrows last week. They had probably died from the heavy rains of the nor'easter. I decided to compromise and let the sparrow build his nest. A few minutes later I saw two sparrows on the landing at the Purple Martin house making whoopee. Obviously time was of the essence. Later, I checked the blue bird house and discovered that the sparrow's nest was almost finished. I will monitor the progress of the nesting sparrows and keep the readers of this blog informed. Again, I have to thank "Happy in Nevada" for her thoughtful suggestion to "make room for all" in my backyard. Thank you Diane.

Eviction Day

Pulling the curtains back from my bedroom window this morning, I could see the sparrow fly up to the Purple Martin house with a couple of strands of straw in its beak. The little bird was determined to make a nest on the southern side of the multi apartment birdhouse. The previous two days I had taken out the sparrow’s nesting material only to see it immediaely fly back to the opening with more dried grass and stalks of small weeds. The Purple Martins swirled about its head, chattering in protest, but the little bird continued building its nest. The determined sparrow was not to be deterred even though it was out numbered. However, I had made my mind up to evict all the sparrows in my birdhouses today, especially the Purple Martin birdhouse which is a communal bird house and not conjunctive to sharing their apartment complex with an outsider like the sparrow. In the morning mist, with a light rain falling, I checked the other four bird boxes that border the acre of land behind my house. Two of the bird boxes had full nests. Both nests contained the brown spotted eggs of the sparrow. Another bird box had the beginnings of a sparrow nest. The fourth bird box, the original bird box that the Birdman had tossed nest and eggs out last Monday, continued to be empty. Perhaps the original occupant of that bird box gave up building its nest in that bird box. Yesterday and early this morning, I saw a pair of blue birds sitting on top of the bird box. Perhaps they were considering making a nest and raising their young. I put on my gloves, and pulled the sparrow’s nests out of both bird boxes, being careful not to break the eggs. Why, I don’t know. My actions seemed contradictory since I was destroying the sparrow's nests. Frank, the Birdman, said to throw the eggs in the brush “for the snakes to eat.” If there were baby birds in the bird boxes, I would have left them alone. After cleaning out the bird boxes I went back inside my house to observe. It didn’t take long until the sparrows came back to the empty bird boxes. I left the doors to the boxes opened, so they would not have the opportunity build new nests. In the misty rain, the sparrows perched on top of the boxes, and hopped down to the now open front of the box to look in and wonder in puzzlement what happened to their nest. I left the fronts of those boxes open the rest of the day. Later in the day, when the rain had stopped, I observed two blue birds dive bombing a furious sparrow who was now trying to make a nest in the original bird box. I immediately went out to that bird box at the far end of my yard. Upon my approach, the sparrow the blue birds flew away. I opened the front and saw the beginnings of a new sparrow nest of straw and dried grass. I tore it out and tossed it aside. I closed the front of the box, and went to the other bird boxes and also closed the fronts. I looked up to the Purple Martin bird house. The Purple Martins were sitting on the ledges outside their apartment bird house, contentedly chattering away. I did not see the sparrow of yesterday who was so furiously determined to build its nest in the Purple Martin house. Maybe they got the message. They are not welcomed in this neighborhood. They will have to go elsewhere to make their nests and raise their young. I came to this conclusion after reading about sparrows and their aggressive nesting habits. Sparrows are not native to the North American continent. One story has it that an Englishman brought over sparrows, along with non-natives birds like the European Starling, in the 19th century to New York City. His purpose was to introduce as many bird species to America as were mentioned in William Shakespeare’s plays. Another story has it that these non native birds were introduced to this continent to control certain insect pests. Of course what happened was the Law of Unintended Consequences. There are millions and millions of sparrows in the North American continent today. Their aggressive nesting habits have almost wiped out the less aggressive American blue bird. I think what really convinced me was the fact that sometimes the sparrow will even kill the bluebird and will build its nest over the top of the still live baby blue birds in their nest, thus killing them. As harsh as it may seem, I made a decision that my acre of land will be a home to the native American species such as the Purple Martin, Barn Swallow and American blue bird. Sparrows, starlings and other non native American species can come to visit, but the blue bird houses that I installed will only be a home for blue birds. The Purple Martin bird house will only be a home for Purple Martins. The gourds that I have hanging from the Purple Martin house will only be a home for Barn Swallows. I equate the sparrow’s aggressive behavior in taking over in the same league as the European explorers who entered the North American continent over 500 years ago and took over from the native Americans. An even more extreme example would be like a biker gang arriving in the development where I live and taking over my house by force just because they are stronger than me. While I believe everyone and everything deserves to live, I do believe there are limits as to where they will live and how much their aggressive behavior is rewarded. On my land I am creating a habitat for certain native American birds. The sparrows can rebuild their nest as many times as they want. In the end, I will prevail. I am bigger. Those birdhouses will either house blue birds or they will be empty. I will be a good landlord. The Birdman would be pleased.