Most of my bluebird box's are on powerline right-a-ways there is one that runs north to south about 6 miles there are box's every 1/4 mile and in good years most were taken about 40 are on the powerline. The rest farms and gas lines that run threw the woods. No sparrows in these area's only problem Black racer snakes. But have a system to manage snakes. Also manage 2 country club Martin colony's a college Martin colony a Landtrust martin colony a Doctor's colony. Yes I am in over my head....No Kids single most of my life and very devoted to my cause of saving Bluebirds and Martins in RI. I use noel wire on every box NO Coon or Fisher. 21 years bluebird work and 16 Martin. I am very burnt out by Aug but love the work and very well known by Bluebird landlords and Martin landlords. I am very active advocate much more than just a landlord. One person can make a difference and anyone can turn there community around and help these native birds it just takes passion. Most of my Martin colony's are on displace and location is key public locations..... once seen new sites go up and everyone wants martins One site host a charity golf match three days people from all over New England come and see the Martins and are so shocked to see a real Purple Martin. Rhode Island School of Design is my College site they have Martins at there Barrington Campus site people from around the country visit and see the birds and want them......Gourds must be used with Martins and not small aluminum houses martins dont like small units. Every year the Martin population doubles and Barrington RI Probably will have the largest number of Martins in New England the community is adding more units yearly.... They nested in one location back in 2005 this season five..... I am a very happy person to see my work prosper and grow Ray

i was reading this thread with interest. i have a situation where it appears i have 8 bluebirds who have hatched in one nest (thursday may 2, they were born). it may be 9, it's hard to tell. while monitoring the nest in late april i noticed what appeared to be eggs missing from the 3 that had been laid earlier in that week. the reality was that the eggs had been pushed down deeper into the nest and covered with pine straw. the mother kept coming back (may have been another species coming in and covering the egg with straw? i have seen no house sparrows here at all) and eventually she started laying again. turns out, there were 10 eggs total in this nest when she was done! i guess five from the first attempt and 5 after that. bottom line, 8 babies are in there now. i'm putting out meal worms twice a day and making sure there's lots of water nearby in the bird bath, and plenty of shelled sunflower seeds for the parents nearby in that feeder. anyone ever seen or heard of a situation like this?

Repairing a Viking range for a friend of mine. After endless searching on the web, Viking is junk and their support is crap. All I can say is this 48" gas range is about 6 years old. The only reason is has lasted this long is due to to the fact the person that previously owned the house and installed the appliances did not really cook. So they were rarely used. There is a file with about 4 service visit. The igniter for the burners has 1 bad leg and the igniter continues to run. Kind of normal, igniter order to replace this. When using the oven there is a constant gas smell and the other day they were using it the CO detector in the kitchen went off. I tore into the oven yesterday. Baking burners have holes from the oven glow ignitors running all the time. Then I found the entire bottom of the oven a disaster. The flame guard/baffle fell off the bottom floor of the oven and was resting on top of the baking burner tubes!! It appears that this flame guard/baffle caused the screws to back out over time when it expands and contracts?? Screws are in the bottom of the oven below where they would have been installed. This only happened on one side. Then when the screws fell out of one side of the flame guard/baffle, the spot welds on the "Z" bracket on the other side broke off. There were 2 spot welds that were too close to the edge of the "Z" bracket and they were less than 1/2 strength. I did better spot welding in my middle school shop class!! What total idiots. I will see how many years their warranty covers mechanical parts and welds, as far as I am concerned welds should be lifetime. So new bake burners have been ordered. Not sure how to repair the bottom of the oven as the floor is porcelainized and welding or drilling will cause the porcelain to crack, but probably will make a repair and see how it goes. These stupid ranges are a serious safety hazard and everyone needs to report their problems to the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission). They will not do anything for your specific problem, however, if enough complains show up, then they investigate and may issue recall notices? Oh, this is just the range problem, will not even go into the refrigerator door hinge problem. These have been recalled, however, the appliance repair people they sent out have changed the hinges 3 times and the doors still do not work correctly. Not sure is the problem is parts, training or just plain sloppiness on the appliance people?? Anyone who tells you Viking appliances are good quality either do not use them or they have staff that cooks and they have no idea about the poor quality of these appliances. If you use these appliances daily, you will see. Oh, then just wait if you expect support from Vikings indignant customer un-service staff. They feel like you are personally attacking their company. Well they deserve it, how disconnected can you be regarding crap products you turn out and sell for $1000-$5000 more than a standard Sears or GE product that actually works!

Just an fyi, we have two black silgranite sinks by Blanco that were installed in 2012. Granted, they are BLACK, so staining has not been an issue, we do not wipe them down after every use, and I am very happy with them. I would buy them again. But having read this thread and Ashley's comments, I would not buy a lighter colored version. These sinks are pretty inexpensive compared to the cost of the kitchen as well as some other sinks. At this point in your journey @Kendal Jean, why not just replace it and move on to enjoy your new kitchen? Once you remove the sink you won't have the daily reminder of your horrible experience dealing with Blanco.