Our porch is a popular spot.  We love sitting out there in the evenings after a hard day of work in the garden and watching the birds, the deer, and occasionally a skunk wander through the yard.  But things are getting a little too up close and personal.

The bats have returned.  I begged and pleaded to have Chris squirt some Great Stuff, or stuff some chicken wire up into the crack between the house and the porch roof when the bats had gone to their winter home.  I even offered to buy them a bat condominium and hang it some where NOT near the front porch.  But Chris seems to like his pet bats — right where they are — hanging somewhere above my head, and leaving bat dropping near the front door.

They have been joined by some wasps who have decided to attach their home to the ceiling of the porch, a few spiders weaving their webs — and a very determined Robin.  This Robin started with a few sprigs of loose straw between each and every eave all the way down the length of the porch.  Apparently Chris doesn’t like Robins as much as he likes bats, so he took the blower to the porch and in a poof — blew the starts of the nests away.  The next morning, the straw was back.  He blew it away.  The next morning the straw was back again, mixed with wet mud to glue the start of these nests to the rafters.  He blew it away again — though a bit messier as the mud splattered onto the porch.  And so it went for several days until Chris gave up — on one nest.  They appear to have reached a compromise.  The Robin has consolidated her efforts to that one nest — and Chris told her she can stay.

A squirt of wasp spray got rid of the wasps, a broom took care of the spider webs, the Robins have one nest — all I have to deal with now are the bats.  Great.