The Dance of My People

Earlier today I got out some power tools and did the tribal dance of my people. To the untrained eye, this looks exactly like walking in circles muttering fractions.

The "American Robin and Barn Swallow" nesting shelves went together smoothly. I wouldn't say they were easy, or expletive free, but I'm out of practice working with wood and power tools in general. Before putting together our soap molds late last fall, I hadn't touched our power miter saw in almost a decade. Today I took a skill saw that I received as a present five years ago out of it's box, likewise my jigsaw. Are you disappointed in me?

I grew up with a father who had a fully equipped shop in our home. I don't remember not having the sound of power tools in the house, and I was comfortable with most of them, though maybe slightly less deft than I would like to think I was. After a couple of decades of apartment dwelling, I am maybe slightly more cautious, but still comfortable - even content - putzing in the garage. I'm still not confident of my skill level, but then, I have not exactly been practicing...

So it took me five hours and the customary cussing, but I can cross one item off my lengthy master list. I also cleaned out one of the birdhouses that...wasn't strictly designed to be cleaned out. Luckily the person that made it only used 1" brads to hold the bottom onto the frame of the house. I pried the bottom away, and cleaned out about five years of nesting materials. Then I removed the brads, drilled a couple pilot holes and screwed the bottom back into place. Next year, all I need to do is loosen the two screws and clean it out again. I also fastened a wooden cleat to the post it was haphazardly screwed to with 3" screws, and then secured the birdhouse to the cleat so that it's now properly mounted to the post. I'm not naming names, but some people just aren't handy. Those same people, often think they are...

Tomorrow, with hubby's help, I'll be hanging the Robin shelves, and cleaning out the other birdhouses, all of which, thankfully, were designed with a trap door for easy clean out.

Good news, I've remembered to take pictures of the project. Bad news, I can't figure out how to post them.

Edit: I did it!