How to Shop for Lawn Ornaments

Bird Nest Solar Lamp

It can be very overwhelming when shopping for lawn ornaments.  What do you buy and where are you going to put it?  First, before you leave your house, know of or look for a spot in your lawn and garden that is bare and in dyer need of some ornamental decoration.  What kinds of things surround the area?  Trees, pond, a deck, patio, fireplace, rocks, grass, etc.  This will help you determine what kind of lawn ornaments you are going to want to look for.  Lawn ornaments come in many forms so there is always something for every bare spot.  The most popular forms of lawn ornaments are garden statues or gnomes.  These are popular because they can go pretty much anywhere you set them and fit right in.  Stepping stones are another form of lawn ornaments that make for a great decorative path from A to B in your lawn and garden.  Other forms of lawn ornaments that people may not consider are things that can be hung from something, like a tree branch, hook stands, brackets, etc.  These lawn ornaments I am speaking of can be wind chimes, wind spinners, bird houses and bird feeders.  What a more wonderful way to decorate your outdoor space while also engaging in wild life  with bird feeders and bird houses.  Certainly wildlife in your backyard is entertaining!

Wind Chimes - Beautiful Sounds That Bring Back Pleasant Memories

When I hear the sound of wind chimes I think of a pleasant, carefree, once upon a day, long ago.  My great grandmother, Olive, comes to mind and the small town she lived in with her daughter, my grandma, for so many years of my life.  The pleasant and peaceful sound of wind chimes were always in the background when at grandma's house.

   

The best thing about wind chimes is that they create a sound like no other.  A sound that has the capability of forcing you to relax even if  your mind is telling you 'you better get up and do those dishes' or 'get the clothes off the line before the rain moves in'.  An inner voice that I am far too often familiar with these days.  Wind chimes are very therapeutic for me because of this inner voice and all the joys and adventures being a  young mom can bring into life.  If you can't get away from everyday life to relax, embrace the therapeutic sounds of wind chimes right in your own home.  Wind chimes can be used both indoors and out.  I've seen some people have wind chimes right in there office at work.  Anywhere close to a window and the slightest breeze is all you need to enjoy the sounds of wind chimes right at work.  How convenient is that?  Wind chimes make great gifts this way as well.
Visit OutdoorMama for a beautiful selection of wind chimes to choose from and start enjoying the therapeutic benefits of wind chimes yourself.

Bats be Gone!

So recently we had a problem with bats in our house, and we still may.  My husband and I sat out one night and watched where they were coming out of from the house and stopped counting at 200 bats.  It was getting too dark out to see and as we were walking back into the house we could here more scurrying around in the siding of our home!  Yuck and gross!  We knew we had bats up there somewhere but didn't think anything of it until they were starting to find their way down into our living space.  Well it gradually was getting worse; we had 2-3 bats any given night.  Talk about too close for my comfort; they were definitely invading my comfort zone at this point.  Especially with a 2 year old and 4 month old baby.  The way we got rid of them when they did come down was opening a door that we conveniently have in our living room (our house is 110 years old and used to be a post office once upon a time) and they would eventually fly out.  During the few weeks that this has been going on we had been trying to keep an eye on their entry points into our living space.  We witnessed them coming through the bottoms of the upstairs and downstairs doors.  We also caught them coming through under the bathroom sink (once while we were all in there brushing our teeth and it flew out and under me) and kitchen sink. But enough was enough.  My husband put towels under the doors so they can't get through and spray foamed the holes under the sinks from where the piping was going through.  This has seemed to help.  He also went around the outside of the house and sealed all the holes he could find and the main exit point he installed a rolled up netting material that they apparently can't bite through.  This allows them to get out but they can't get back in.  What a bat nightmare.  I never realized how small these little creatures are until we would find them in the morning sometimes (if they got through in the middle of the night while we were sleeping...flapping over our heads while we sleep...creeeeepy) hanging from where ever, like this picture I got in the bathroom one morning.  It doesn't take a big hole for these little furry things to find there way in.  

So a little word of advice: if you know you have bats going in and out of your home, don't ignore it!  You don't want 100's of bats making your home theirs and then they start invading your living space.  And make sure to clean up the area that you may have had bats in your house as bat droppings can create a strong odor.  This odor may also attract bats if new openings develop in the structure. Use caution cleaning the area to avoid contracting histoplasmosis. Histoplasmosis is a respiratory infection caused by inhaling fungal spores which may grow in bat droppings. Read here for more information.  Hope nobody has as bad a bat problem as we do or hopefully now...did!