Last December my husband installed this knotty pine ceiling in the over hang of the barn. He spent many hours going up and down the ladder, measuring and cutting boards, then fitting them together and screwing them into place. It turned out beautiful!

We decided to put the ceiling in to keep nature out.  Before the ceiling was put in the upstairs of the barn was not fully enclosed. There was about a six inch gap along the entire length of the barn. Not only did this gap allow cold air in it also made easy access for bugs and potentially even birds.

The rafters were exposed on the underside of the overhang making a tempting location for wasps to build nests, and the cedar box which encloses the front horizontal support beam was also open. This could have become a perfect nesting place for any number of birds or even a cozy place for raccoons to camp out.

While we have a great appreciation for all God’s creatures there are places we are not willing to share with them. Thus the ceiling served to keep these parts critter free.

Yesterday evening my husband worked at the farm staining bees hives, preparing them for the bees that will be arriving in a couple of weeks. After he had finished staining this hive he placed two flats of pansies on top to keep them protected from the heavy rains that were in the forecast.

This afternoon, as I went to move the pansies, look what I discovered. Despite our best efforts someone (bird) decided to make our barn their home.

Now there is no disputing that those pansies make a beautiful home, but this just isn’t going to work. The bee hive needed to be moved into the barn for now, but will soon be moved to the apiary where it will become home to some of our new honey bees.

I would be happy to donate this flat of pansies to these birds so that they could raise the next generation, but I am not sure that we have place to locate the flat that would make everyone happy.

Just shaking my head.