From the workshop to the hardy apricot tree

Yesterday I removed a birdhouse from the apricot tree on our front yard and prepared to move it higher.

I paused, screw-driver in hand and wondered, should I make the hole a bit bigger?


["A lovely spot for a family of wrens": photos GAH]

After checking online, I discovered my 3/4 inch hole was a tad small. 7/8ths - 1 and 1/8th inch was recommended, depending on the wren one was hoping to attract.

I settled on 1 inch holes because that was the only sized spade I had in that range.


While re-attaching the house to the tree this morning, Megan, my next door neighbour, said that the tree looked beautiful. (Nothing about the brilliant craftsmanship re the birdhouse. Drat!)

Earlier in the week I had been worried about the tree. Blossoms had been coming on like gangbusters but the weather stayed cool and bees stayed home.


We both agreed the tree looked perfect today.

I hope the bees think so too. Apricot jam could be in my future!

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The tree had been uprooted in its second year due to sewer work on the front lawn. I remember seeing it tossed aside after returning home from work years ago and replanted it, hoping it would do well.

Hardy beggars are trees, eh.

Do you have a tree in your yard you're particularly fond of?

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Oh, she's a sneaky one all right!

My wife was sleeping, so I thought, when I went to bed shortly after 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

My feeling of smugness ("I bet she didn't hear me tip toe into the livingroom with her stocking - stuffed to the nines.") lasted about 60 seconds. I quickly dropped into a deep sleep.


A phone call woke me up, and while slowly navigating the house and chatting on the phone I spied two stockings where I'd left one the night before.

Oh, she's sneaky, I thought.

Merry Christmas to all.

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