We enjoy having birds build nest and reproduce in our Pole Barn – especially the barn swallows –  but the pigeons must go. I waited too long ot make a fuss about it, and Maria loved seeing the babies in their following. But soon, nests and pigeons were all over the barn, especially the upper floor, sometimes used for hay storage.

And we must follow Maria’s rules – baby and adult pigeons must be left alone until they can and do fly.

Pigeons are filthy, which is not their fault, and they breed like rats. This doesn’t work in an empty storage room in an old attic barn.

Zip came and went to work right away; he chased the pigeons out of their nests downstairs just by being there and staring at them. The babies were ready to fly, and they did.

Then Maria climbed up the side of the barn and replaced the window glass the pigeons had flown through and broken. She returned the glass, taped the windows (so the pigeons knew they were windows), and then bought hardware store cloth to put up behind the new and taped glass.

The pigeons stopped coming in through the broken windows (the floor was a hideous mess), and I bought two plastic and lifelike horned owl replicas.

Horned owls love to eat pigeons, and pigeons don’t like to be eaten, so the flock up there went from about 30 to two, and those are hanging out in the tree next to the pole barn; as far as we can tell, the pigeons are gone. The two refugees are hoping the windows will be open again.

Thanks to Zip, Maria, and two plastic horn owls. We’ll give the barn a good scrubbing next week after Dan comes to fix the broken slates.

Hospital bills have radically altered our maintenance plans, but we are going ahead with important, more minor things – Ted Emerson is coming to brush hog the pastures once he recovers from a nasty tractor accident; Dan Rogers is coming to build an enclosure upstairs for our new odorless and waterless toilet. He’s already put in a new and blessedly quiet water pump and will fix the small hole in the big barn ceiling; rain is already dripping through it.

I’ve found the perfect size slate for $6 apiece. 24 pieces. There are things I can’t do and things I can do. And I do them.