What’s Your Pigeon Poop Threshold?

Brian, Jefferson, Lucretia Cox, landscaping

Recent self-observation lesson: I have less tolerance for pigeon crap. This is an unexpected revelation in the city-to-country transition. You, too, probably have some internal line regarding the runny end of “rats with wings”. This much is acceptable. This much is, well, crap.

The Jefferson home has a number of pigeons upstairs. At first I wasn’t too concerned. Then they multiplied. And then it got hot. So today Brian took time to shoo them out of the attic, nail up a screen over the offending broken window, and mow the yard. (Lest we get another violation!).

Which brings us to another point: maintenance.

In every major project or transition there is a certain amount of unexpected maintenance. Without these actions you cannot reap the larger rewards. It’s great fun to see the end results but I’m frequently reminded that “end results” are followed thanks only to numerous nearly-invisible chores.

You could say that’s applicable to quite a bit in life….!

Here’s a snippet of recent, silent goings-all which will make fixing the cottage and Victorian possible:

Cottage

• Adding a layer of soundproofing to the bedroom wall so you can’t hear the shower as much
• Gaining permission from the neighbor to plant some flowers we can both enjoy (off the deck)
• Helping said neighbor remove a bat from her living room - as in the flying kind (developing good neighbor relations and all…)

Victorian

• Mowing a difficult, uneven lawn
• Killing as many foundation-choking weeds as possible (this chemical-free thing isn’t working)
• Removing pigeons, and their crap

Mind you, I’m not complaining. (After all, Brian is doing almost all the physical work, ha!) I’m just noticing how frequently I want to move past all the small steps that make the bigger steps possible. I’m a big-picture thinker. Thank God Brian thrives on details!

katie @ July 14, 2008