chapter 521
5/4/2019
Best Woodpecker Birdhouse
Air B & B
When I retired 16 years ago they asked me what I was going to do. Had no plan so I thought about it and conceived the idea in my head that I might like to build creative birdhouses to sell for fun and profit. Did not build one until this year. Grandson & I won a Ballston Spa Mayor's Cup Award for the Best Woodpecker Bird House along with this plaque and a certificate. This was the second year of the competition and there were hundreds of entries. They put the entries up around the Village (some forever) so it's a great idea for community involvement and for the birds.
Thought grandson Lucas & I could beat a bunch of kids but I had no idea I'd be up against behemoth Amazon.com . Two of Lucas' friends also won. The library had been giving out 250 birdhouses but had run out of them so their mother got a couple on Amazon for decorating.
State Senator Jim Tedisco was happy to participate and meet grandson. The Jim Tedisco Fitness Trail in the Village is lined with bird houses from these competitions.
Oh, I know you are going to say Terry built it and just used Lucas' name on the entry form. No, Lucas did some of the heavy lifting. Here he is screwing down the top with the use of a cordless drill screwdriver.
Sure I did a lot of the preliminary work. You think it's just a simple easy bird house. No, you gots to work at it. Here I fabricated a heavy duty mounting bracket to hold the weight of this very heavy house. Not to mention the hand sawing, chainsawing, chiseling out the insides, grinding, filling the ant holes with foam insulation, painting to seal the top.
In case you were wondering if I stole some poor birds nest out of the woods. No, the Spruce had been blown down in a storm. The Pileated Woodpecker had been previously feasting on the ants inside the tree thus leaving the oval hole in the bark. I did find an Elf at that location though.
Birdhouse now has a permanent spot of honor along the Jim Tedisco Fitness Trail in Ballston Spa.
100 cool video birdhouse ideas for next year's 2020 competition
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