Very odd things happening with my houses this year. I had bluebirds in one house that laid 5 eggs. For the most part I try to stay away so they don't get spooked. In this case the next time I checked there was one fledgling that I saw but he didn't seem ready to fly away yet. But when I checked 2 days later there were no babies or eggs. The nest was empty. This box was protected with the mesh on the opening. I'm hoping time just flew by and the brood hatched and fledged in my absence! Will the parents start a new brood in the same nest or should I clean the box out for them to start over? I had another box that had activity, 5 eggs layed and a week later no eggs or babies. I fear they were killed since it was an old house from last year and it did not have the protective metal mesh at the opening. I have a nest nearby with the mesh protection. I kept checking and there was no activity or eggs. Then suddenly there was one egg!! I assumed the mom would lay more. I checked for 2 days, still only one egg. The third day the egg hatched with a tiny bald with a little fuzz baby bird. I kept watching from a distance and I did not see the male or female going into the house. I skipped looking inside the box today. I wanted to stay totally away. Tomorrow I will check again. I hope the little guy is okay.... Is it unusual for a female to lay only one egg? I'm thinking that perhaps the pair that were in the other box moved to this box when a predator got their other eggs..... Thus only one last egg to lay??? The box with the one egg is about 20 feet from the empty box. Perhaps this is part of that brood? Can the mom or dad move an egg or did she just lay it in a different box?? I have another box about 100 feet from that one protected with the mesh that some sparrows have taken over. They have built a nest and hang out in front of it on the mesh opening and on top of it but no eggs for well over a month. Perhaps they are the culprits that got the 5 bluebird eggs. Very strange that they built a nest and aren't using it. I know they will build several, one as a decoy or to give the female a choice, but I don't see that they've done that unless they are planning to take over the bluebird box. I will be keeping a watch on that....

Me again, glad to hear your attic is insulated. I have no idea why I fixated on that last time, I think I was just imagining cool towels meeting wet air and seeing condensation happening all over them! Anyway, what a nice space you have to work with! With a bathroom, though, fixtures tend to hug the perimeter of the space, just as you have drawn the room. It makes for a nice 6x8 space for dancing in the center of the room, useless for anything else, since the two of you will be crossing it in so many different directions! So twirl your partner when you happen to meet in the center. You could possibly change the direction of the tub under the window so that the foot or head of the tub were directly under the window, and the tub was jutting out into the room, kind of parallel to the toilet wall (or is it a half wall?). For this to work, the vanity of the tub user would be moved over to the right, so that this person kind of walks around the tub a bit to get to it. You could put in an "L" cabinet there, giving the tub user a bit of a sitting vanity at the South end of the window (lets pretend this map is done on the NSEW coordinates). Day lighting and makeup table may go together well. Or not. Back at the current vanity area, we have possibly created room to insert a shallow Towel Tower 2' - 3' wide and as high as you like or need, between the two sink vanities. Try to keep it 1 ft deep, as the other occupant still has to squeeze past on the way to the vanity on the right. Maybe the towels can be rolled and placed into a grid, so they will stack while rolled and slid into their cabinet. Like bottles in a wine rack. The other obvious place I saw for a towel-holding piece of furniture was next to the door as you enter from the closet area. If the little potty alcove is as small as you have drawn, a dresser could be placed there to hold bath linens. I will go shopping at Pottery Barn for an example, and post it here. One way to make your walk-in shower not need any glass door or shower curtain would be to curl in the "wall" or "glass" that is represented by your dotted line. By simply adding a curve to that wall and making the entrance walk a little bit past that curl, you will keep most of the water of the shower contained. If you want to be sure that steam escapes so the shower will dry out, you have a good fan exhaust system to run after the shower, and you do not have the shower walls go much higher than the head level of the occupants. If the walls are solid, people may appreciate having such a large shower be low enough to see out of, as well. Here is a link that might be useful: dressers to hold towels

Oh no, don't worry, this happens sometimes and it's totally fixable! First, seal those flowers up in a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer for at least 72 hours. This will stop those little critters in their tracks. Then, give the lavender a gentle shake over a trash can to let any bits fall out. To keep future bugs away, always store your dried lavender flowers in a sealed container in a cool, dry spot. Happy crafting

I live in SC and have been enjoying bluebirds in my nesting box for about 10 years now. I have an unusual occurrence. Mama laid 4 eggs, the last one being July 3 or 4. They should have hatched by now. I checked the box yesterday and one of the eggs disappeared with no sign of disturbance. I still see mom going back and forth to the box. I worry about heat. We had relocated this box 2 years ago, not realizing that it was getting afternoon sun for 2-3 hours. It has been in the 90's for a few weeks. I assume that the eggs are no longer good cause it's been 18 days since the last egg was laid. Is this mom inexperienced and doesn't realize she's wasting her time? And that one egg that disappeared? I have a big baffle and have not had any predator problems in the past. I am feeling very sad for mom right now.