Mississippi Bluebird Caboose

Mississippi Bluebird checking out the new home.

"So the Bluebirds have contracted, have they, for a house?
And a next is under way for little Mr. Wren?"
"Hush, dear, hush! Be quiet, dear! quiet as a mouse.
These are weighty secrets, and we must whisper them."
~ Susan Coolidge (pseudonym of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey), "Secrets"

My dad is a minister but he is also a builder. He helped design and build two church buildings, one parsonage, two dog houses, a variety of storage shelves in both attic and garage, a built in CD shelf, two decorative shelves around the tops of rooms, a hinged pull-out pantry and multiple add on rooms. He also built this bird house caboose, one of my Christmas presents. We attached it to a tall sturdy square pole and placed in our wooded back yard in Mississippi. On the pole beneath the house we placed attached water feeders and feeders for birdseed.

This is a picture of our first resident. The male bluebird was checking out the premises to see if it met muster for his new mate. By the look on his face, I wasn't sure if he approved of the accommodations. Then I remembered seeing the print of the "Angry Bluebird" and decided that they all must look this way. Note the three entrances. There were two rooms, one a small studio apartment with only one entrance and the other a more luxurious townhome with two doors. The discerning shopper, this male chose the two door model. The family set up shop and in a few weeks we saw little beaks and heads poking out the doors. Four babies were born, grew, learned to fly and then set off for life from this first family.

Subsequent seasons we had three additional bluebird families until at last the paint was faded from the rain and humidity and the woodpeckers created one large doorway from the two leading to the townhome. We left the little house for the next owners, knowing it would be one of the first casualties of the sale. It had been a lovely home and many memories were made there. My dad built the house with love and even the bluebirds seem to know this.