Here's my idea for a weekend project... take a look at my supply list and guess what I'm making:

{{gwi:142778}}

Is it obvious? No? C'mon! Keep reading and you'll figure it out...

When my dad is out and about hunting, he picks up bleached skulls when he sees them. I talked him out of a couple for my garden. Then my mom gift-wrapped something for Steve in the wooden tube. She asked me to keep it because she said it's too nice to throw away, but she couldn't figure out what to use it for but was pretty sure I could.

Here's my plan:

I have a wire fence with 4"x4" posts out back. I'm going to use some scrap wood to build a five-sided cube that would slip over the fence post like a little sleeve. I might paint the "fence sleeve" black. Then I'm going to cut off the rope handle on the tube, flip the tube upside down, and bolt it to the top of the cube through the existing holes.

Then I'm going to drill a 1.5" hole in the side of the tube, and somehow affix the skull on the left to the tube so the hole is right behind one of the eye sockets. I'll also drill a drainage hole in the bottom, and maybe a couple small ventilation hole in the sides... I haven't quite figured it out just yet.

In case it's not obvious to you by now, the result will be a bird house! The birds will enter through the eye socket. Each year I can simply unhinge the tube and empty it out. I'm thinking I can put the other skull in with my flowers and both can be available to birds and squirrels to gnaw on as a calcium supplement... plus, I like the O'Keefe-esque juxtaposition of flowers and skulls... fecundity and decay in balance and all that.

So any of you experienced bird house makers have any pointers? Like, how far up on the tube should I drill the hole, and should I make it bigger/smaller and am I over looking something important? I realize a shaded fence post might not be an ideal location... but it can't be the worst either...

One things for sure, I'll have the only birdhouse like it on the block when I'm all done!