Come Inside, Said the Bird to the Mouse...

Just yesterday, we were reminiscing about the time when my son had birds in the attic of his house before he installed the soffit which barricaded the openings in his rafters. In and around the same time, he was minus his farm cat and mice were getting into his house...

At the time, I thought it was pretty amusing and Dr. Seuss' book "In a People House" came to mind:

I sent my son a picture of this page compliments of Dr. Seuss and thought I was pretty hilarious. It's payback time ...

My son has offered to take care of the removal of my old soffit and fascia and will replace it with a vinyl, no maintenance variety. I am paranoid we may get a torrential rain in the two week period before the installation of eavestroughs and downspouts so he assured me he had a plan which would leave the eavestroughs in place as long as possible.

Yesterday, he started removing the old soffit. It is an ugly, messy job and he squeezed it into a rather committed day so I was grateful for any little thing he did. As I looked up into the underside of the eave, I was pleased he didn't just do a cover-up job. He got rid of the old, before installing the new. What a good man!

I set out to clean up the debris after my son left and as I completed the job, I looked up again. This time, a little more closely:

This is one small section of the entire side of the house. There is definitely enough room for a bird to make its way inside. In fact, doesn't that insulation that is peeking out look kind of good for making a nest?

Don't be silly, I thought! What bird in its right mind would be searching for a good place to nest this time of the year? The nesting period is behind us, right? And there is nothing for them to perch on, to notice this view. Right? Right!!

I was talking myself down off the precarious cliff I was on and tried to imagine the phone call between my son and me if I was to call him with my concern. "Don't be crazy. You are over-thinking this, Mom!" I could hear my son say. Okay. Okay, I would just let it go. It will be okay.

I went about my business and tried to assemble the barbeque burner I was trying to replace ONE more time. 

Then I noticed a robin atop my neighbor's garage behind us. I've never seen a robin there before. He spotted our open rafters. I just know it. He sat there and sat there. He called out to his friends. I could translate his chirping just as clear as day, "Hey, Robins everywhere!! There is a new place to nest over here! I'm just waiting for the cats to clear out before I check it out myself..."

No, that is not possible. The robin couldn't see the underside of our eaves from that vantage point. I was being paranoid. The creatures of nature were not looking for a port in the storm and would not find this vacancy in the short period it is open for business. They have better things to do.

Then, I noticed our cat who was sitting atop the deck railing. He was turned around and the open eave grabbed his attention. Our cat, who is an avid bird watcher, was watching the underside of our eaves. Was it because it was different and it just caught his eye? Or ... had a bird already flown inside??

That was enough for me. I gathered up our cats and herded them inside. I could think of this no longer. Out of sight, out of mind. 

And it worked. I came inside and never thought of it again. But the rhyming scheme of Dr. Seuss' book continues to rattle on in my head in the light of day. I have slightly mis-remembered it and in my muddled memory, I hear, "Come inside, said the bird to the mouse. I'll show you what there is in a People House..."

P.S. Mice can't climb siding, can they???