Nancy...GOT IT!!!! Thanks everybody for participating and hope you all got something you could use. Nancy thanks for your special additions, they will all get used, and as for everything else...it has either found a home in my supply closet or will be set aside for the next Craft Supply Robin. THANKS Nancy...and thanks eerybody else. I will be sending Janet another email...we'll see what happens....this is just a little frustrating since she was the last stop before the Robin comes home. Cross you fingers for me! Netta

Matti, I tried to reach out to you and Georgie. Chemocurl was working with me on the other side with new computer techniques. I even made a Halloween card that included Georgie's dog and others for Georgie using my new training.I got in trouble for posting the final result of my training but I was thrilled to have chemocurl as my friend. Very patient and I learned a lot and liked that she is so darn real and tries to be kind and encouraging. I was moving right into Georgie's backyard and she asked me where I was going to live. when I told her where I was moving to I got no answer. I understood and moved on. When georgie called out for me I told her I was on the Computer Help side. No answer and when I came back to trivia it was not the same for me. Jasdip was clear I was not wanted even though when she was having personal problems I offered her a place to run to. Georgie, never spoke to me again and jasdip missed the fact that I won 2 days in a row. Not much to analyze. For a long time the questions were repeats and too easy to google and I didn't want to be a part of people who did that. I enjoyed the smart answers to the dumb questions that were impossible to answer. Quite a mess but possibly a misunderstanding on the part of you and georgie and me. Someone suggested journaling every morning and and what I wrote back to you all it was off the page in a couple of minutes due to an onslaught of everyone writing at once. I got lost in the shuffle and was off the page before anyone could read it. I probably was not the only one whose posts were missed. A bad idea that I guess stopped. But I am on other sites like Computer Help and Decorating where one can go off the subject and talk about any thing off topic from decorating on a side channel. I will continue to come over here but I miss so many who got passed over and left. It is great to have a core group and I find Alisande and others spot on with good questions so when it comes to someone being ill or losing a spouse I am there. Like Phoggie who lost her husband. I don't see her and because she was brought to this site maybe by raven she got taken care of and was able to move on. I miss mommyme if that is the right name and wrote her when she got ignored and sue va who doesn't answer my e-mails. I remember the big build up when you join. The hellos and glad to have you but they don't last for some of us. There is a core group of wonderful people like Glenda who has always something going on. Inspirational and would love to meet her. And others who never recognize my questions or praise. But I feel the need to tell them they are clever like lazypup and his frog.It would take another 10 years to be recognized by some. Sorry, Susan that I hijacked this. It may be that I only want a few to know how I feel. But I suspect people are concerned about your health and will find this rant but may pass over to get to your new info. You have been a great help for many people I understand and taught them to journal about their life. Good stuff. It seems that so many are glad you did that. Let's see you figure this out. I am hoping for new news and good treatment. Yes, you are someone I would like to meet also. Please keep journaling your time of day and reactions. And if your BP is important stay with it because mine fluctuates so very much without a bit of caffeine in my body. Enough... Ellie

My phoebes had skipped a year of nesting in their usual place (above the porch light fixture near my office door). My mirror set-up had scared them away. I should have realized that birds do not "like" mirrors -- but I didn't think about it at the time. I did see a bird pecking all day at the mirror, looking behind it, then pecking angrily at it when seeing the "intruder" again. That bird came back the next day to peck at the mirror again. I felt sorry for him wasting his time. But, I didn't think about the phoebes reaction being the same. So, they never nested there last year. I removed the mirror, but they still did not return to nest there this spring. Instead, they nested on another side of the house -- under our raised deck (same as last year). But, after the 1st brood was fledged -- THEY MOVED BACK TO THEIR OLD NESTING SPOT! So, the phoebes apparently got fed up with the disturbances created by our toy poodle (who is let out onto our raised deck several times a day.) The poodle would be walking directly over their nest, and possibly pissing over their nest. The nest building started May 25, 2021 and completed on the 30th or 31st. The mother was sitting on the nest on May 31, and there were 2 eggs in the nest. So, the first egg was likely delivered on May 30. By June 3, there were 5 eggs. All the eggs hatched on June 17 -- so, exactly 2 weeks after the last egg was laid. Interesting that all eggs hatched on the same day, even though each egg was laid a day apart. When I peeked, all the shells were gone. So, even tho I didn't see it, I assume that the parents removed all the egg shells. I also see the parents flying away with baby-bird poop. The poop looks like worms, and the parents carry it away from the nest. They either drop it or eat it (it is undigested food). Today is June 23, and the parents are often very busy bringing food. The bay birds are still too small to see without using a mirror over the nest. Here is a link to a very interesting article from 1937, detailing the observations of nesting habits of phoebes as studied over a 3-yr period. A few interesting details: Female does all the nest building. Incubation starts at varying times - sometimes after 3rd egg, sometimes after 4th, sometimes after 5th. The male apparently does none of the incubation. After fledging, the young birds remain close to the nest, getting farther way as the days pass. Both parents still feed the young after they fledge -- feeding them for periods of up to 18 days. Reliance on the parents gradually decreases. The parents may eventually show harsh treatment of the young to get them to go out on their own. Interesting. https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v059n03/p0410-p0417.pdf

@palimpsest I agree, but the openings on either side of the fireplace lead through to the dining room on the other side. The side that is being blocked by the Christmas tree in the first photo has a built in cabinet with counter and book case that separates two rooms, but the right side if the fireplace can be passed through (although just the dogs do, we dont walk through it). There is a bedroom upstairs on the other side of the fireplace wall. I’ve seen a house on my street where they closed off the rooms completely from each other, but I don’t think that’s something I want to do here. Here is the reverse side of the fireplace wall (seen from our living room) - it is usually the dining room, but it is currently filled with stuff bc of the kitchen and floor work going on. There is a central courtyard that the dining room opens up onto, so I like the light that it lets through.. the room I’m putting the panels in faces north and the roof extends over the front patio area, so it’s quite dark. Especially since we haven’t added lights yet in there!