I have been bit 4 different times by spiders since I have moved to Alabama. And every time I was playing in the plants, but at different houses!! It swells up a huge area, turns a dark purplish-red and burns like crazy!! And takes about 4 days to get over the worst- I usually end up going to bed for a day or two cause it hurts to move the affected limbs. It doesn't have a pus-type head, just a tiny blister looking spot where the bite occurred. I never see the same type of spider twice, so I can't figure out who the villian is- LOL!!. But I refuse to be driven back in the house by some little creepy-crawly!!!! Garfield needs to smack my spiders!! LOL!!

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.

Mama goose basically did what I was alluding to. I don't believe in a 100+ year old house you should open up the kitchen to the dining room. It takes away a bit of the integrity of the house even if you are moving the rooms around. I like that a 100 year old house has a butler's pantry. I also think what Mama came up with, either version is excellent. This now routes the traffic away from the kitchen. Instead of the kids running through the kitchen from the outside they can cut through the butler's pantry. And as one who also used to be obsessed with symmetry, I'd say don't sweat it because when you're looking in the kitchen you notice the overall feel of the kitchen and not whether or not everything is lined up.

Hey- I'll give it my best shot. I'm hoping she's still around. There've been times in my experience where I wouldn't see the parents for awhile & about the time I would start to panick, they would show up. The Dad doesn't typically hang around much during incubation, but does come around once the babies hatch. Maybe they're in a tree somewhere where you can't see them. If the Mom is on her own, she can raise them by herself. If she is a widow per chance, you could help her by providing some mealworms in a feeder nearby (can get online or at local pet store- online would probably take too long at this point). If they are orphaned babies per chance, the only thing you can do is call a local wild bird rehabber to see if they can help raise the babies. You should be able to find that info. online & act quickly because those babies can only go a day without food. Be prepared, though, because the rehabber may not be able to help because the babies need to be trained to survive by their parents, but I would still try. The rehabber may know of another active nest they could be put in to be potentially raised by another bluebird pair (as long as they think they are theirs). If parent(s) are around, do anything you can do to protect the nestlings from predators & heat since they are lower to ground & it's getting warmer outside. If your paperbox is in direct sun, you could provide some sort of heat shield. You may also be able to make a bucket baffle to put on your mailbox stand to keep climbing predators from getting to them (easy to do & make). You should be able to google info. for both, but I am happy to try to walk you through how to do it if willing. Sorry for the long post, but let me know if there's anything else I can do to help! Good luck! Nicole