Everything is figure-out-able

 About 2 years ago, I found & purchased an old Martin birdhouse on Facebook Marketplace.  It happened that my friend Bruce was here visiting the day I made the purchase and he helped me get it home in his pickup truck.

Since then, the $25 house has been stored in the garage.  

That same summer, I had some trees taken down in the backyard & I had the lumberjacks leave a tall stump just for the purpose of providing a base for the Martin House.  I'm not looking to have Purple Martins, I just like how the house looks.  It is covered in old lichen and the cedar is weathered.

I have been waiting to have someone here who could help me hoist the bird house up on the high stump.  Recently, I started noodling on how to get that birdhouse up there without help.  I ran over several scenarios in my mind.  Eventually I eliminated most options and decided a ramp was my best bet.

I moved the house from the garage to the stump using a 2 wheeler cart. Lucky, the house is not insanely heavy.  Then I leaned a 4x4 up against the stump, and used it as my ramp to scoot the house up to the top of the stump.  It went pretty easy, minimal swearing & no injury.  Now I just need to shim it a bit to get it leveled and then I want to douse it with some spray sealer to keep it from weathering further.

Here is my 4x4 ramp.  

The house has made the trip up & I'm about to pull the 4x4 out of the way.

It is a little crooked, but nothing some shims won't fix.   I also need to secure it to the tree trunk to be sure the wind doesn't grab it. 

This stump is just out the kitchen window. 

The stump is sending up some suckers, I think I'll let that happen.

View out the kitchen window.
Some battery powered mini lights around the roofline will make for a cute winter sight.

***

I have a little sign hanging in the hallway that says " Everything is figure-out-able".  Problem solving has always been one of my strengths.  Dad used to work alone in his shop a lot, he would tell me how he moved heavy objects, relying on wheels, levers and noodling out a solution to his problem.  This problem solution makes me very happy.

MacGyver would be proud.

🐦💡🐦

When I was a little girl my Johansen grandparents lived across the road.  They had an old barn and behind it was a little area that grew thick with wood violets.  

I always called them Mayflowers.

My recently deceased friend, Carolyne, gave me some wood violets a few years ago.  They are self seeding and showing up here and there in my yard.   I love the pretty purple mayflowers.

Life is good 💜