I’ve been busy preparing to take a staycation that starts today! Last year, at this time I was flying to Florida. I sure could use some sun and beach vibes. But, that’s not in the cards.
NOPE.
This year, I’ve got other plans – not as exciting, but rewarding, nonetheless. Other than bird-watching on a daily basis, I sprung the “I’m taking a staycation!” idea on Mr. this past week. He knows its best to entertain any effort I have to help him with our rental properties. LOL.
We’ve had a couple of units empty for way too long due to not being cleaned and ready for new renters – and other world events. After getting the heating bill of $940 (over double what we usually pay at this time of year) for the place we’re paying the heat on, the incentive to get the unit rented rose to the top of our my thoughts.
It’s staycation time to scramble and get the places ready for somebody’s new nest.
Meanwhile, when I’m not obsessing about that or the thrift sale we may participate in May of this year, I watch the weather and wait for green grass to appear. The snow has come and gone several times, I’ve lost count on how many.
In the yard, the birds have been busy wondering what the heck has happened to spring weather? Just like me. Dang, it’s been cold, windy, blustery…yucky.
The birds are chattering their loud NOES to more snow…every morning. Just like me! I’m so DONE with winter weather.
I heard that the Loons have returned since the ice on the lakes is mostly gone. That’s a good sign of spring. The other seasonal birds are all I see in our yard. They are so darn cute when I get nosey enough to watch them from the window.
I scored this Bluebird photo below through the window screen. I was super tickled to see it when I scrolled through my photos. Isn’t he cute? I love that blue – it’s so vivid and bright and cheery.
I wonder if the bunny knows when I’m watching him/her? This furry friend/foe knows how to pray while rubbing its nose with its paws. It must get dirty when rubbing it into the ground to find yummy blades of grass. We saw the saddest thing ever this past week when we were on a walk – a mommy bunny who was soon to deliver her five little offspring was hit by a car and the little bunnies were spread across the side of the road. I’ve never seen that before and don’t want to again. The crows and eagles attended to the scene at a rapid pace. So sad. 🙁
It’s an empty nest Easter here – we were going to host the meal, but our guests ended up with you know what again. Instead, we’ll hop on over to a rental unit and occupy our thoughts and prayers for the world to heal as we clean the dust bunnies left behind by someone who never dusted or cleaned (I think?!). At least the oven isn’t too awfully dirty. I’ve seen worse. Underneath the top was messier – I don’t get how people’s noses don’t tell them when things spill or burn? Seems odd to me.
I think I’ll selfishly pray for a new renter to be employed, clean, and appreciative of my efforts to welcome them to their new tidy home. Goodness knows they’re not buying a house right now. Just saying…the noes are winning out more than the yeses on offers due to the unbelievably high prices. Yikes. Who knows, perhaps we should sell – but then what??
Post Inspiration – Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “nose/noes/knows.” Use one, use ’em all, bonus points if you use all three. Have fun!
PS- Happy Easter and Happy Staycation Week – thanks for hopping by to say Hi and share your thoughts.
The rental does need some attention, I hope you get that magic renter you want, Shelley. So sad about the bunnies. 😪 I hope spring brings you much warmer weather very soon, last winter was crazy bitter cold. The bunny photos are so cute as is that beautiful blue bird! Happy Easter, guys! 🙏🏻
Yes, the rental has lots of TLC needed. It’s thankfully just dirty and doesn’t require a complete remodel.
I’m hoping spring arrives soon – before the end of April, instead of into May!
Thanks for the photo kudos. The Bluebird is my favorite this week. Happy Easter to you too, John! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I remember last year, or the year before, you guys had a serious smoker in a rental that was tough to clean if I recall correctly. So nasty! I’ve never seen a Bluebird in Michigan. And not here…
Yes, in 2020 we had a renter die there and he had smoked for a good 25 years there. It was a total remodel. Thankfully the renters we have there now are landlords themselves, so they’re taking great care of the place.
Really…never seen a Bluebird. They are a Wisconsin bird, wonder why they like WI and not MI? They are sweet birds, I love their song.
You did a great job on the prompt, Shelley I love the birds and the bunnies. I hope you score some decent renters and I hope you have a good staycation.
Happy Easter
Beautiful colour on the bluebird! Like you I am done with winter but not sure it is done with me. (Snow tomorrow)
Thank you, Chris – I just love the Bluebird’s blue. Oh, no, sorry you have more snow on the way. I think we have 3-4 days this coming week that we’ll get snow flurries too. Winter is just hanging on way too long!
I’m sure there are some nature photography contests out there you could enter. Your photos are winning to me. That blue bird picture in particular is stunning.
🙂
Thank you, Jill, I appreciate your words of encouragement. The bluebird just posed so nicely, I’m glad the photo turned out! xoxo
My little brother (little being relative, he’s 61) inherited the rentals my parents had. I’ve helped him clean them after a renter a couple times and those experiences make me glad I live far far away. Last time I thought the place was disgusting and he said it wasn’t actually that bad, he’d seen worse, and I’m barely able to contain my disgust for the filth. Ah well. I don’t clean my own house very often or well, but I’m not expecting anyone else to do it either.
You know what I’m seeing at our rentals. It’s funny, as I was cleaning, I told my hubby that it was pretty dirty, and had I known that I would’ve deducted cleaning fees. He said, “It didn’t look that bad when I first looked at it…I’ve seen worse.” Men. 😉
As I clean an apartment I think to myself, “I should be cleaning like this in our own home!!” I think I might hire someone to finish the cleaning for me?……. we’ll see.
I’ve thought that too, that I should clean like this in my own home. Can’t remember the last time I washed walls at home. My sister who lives closer usually helps him clean and she polishes the bathtubs! The ovens are spotless! She spackles all the nail holes and repaints the walls. Heck…her own house is a disaster, but those rentals look GOOD! YES, hire someone to do this work!
I decided to give my own home a dusting and vacuuming and I think I’m to the point of emailing my friend who owns a cleaning business to do the rest of the cleaning at the apartment…!! Wow – I wish your sister lived in my town, I’d hire her!
🙂
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter to you too!! 😊😃
Good job on the prompt and your pictures. The bluebird is chubby and adorable. I always appreciate your posts about your rentals… makes me remember why we no longer are landlords. I dislike housecleaning enough… I’m not at all interested in cleaning up someone else’s mess. I hope your staycation isn’t all work and that you find time to enjoy at least some of it.
Thank you, Janis. Rentals are for the birds when it comes to having to do the cleaning. I used to love the before/after feelings, now, not so much. I fight with my “I so don’t want to be doing this anymore” thoughts. Then I look at how nice it is after and feel a bit accomplished. If only ever renter was like that – taking pride in keeping a place tidy. We do have two like that right now. I think. I hope. We just got a call today from one renter who asked to delay a water inspection because the place is no where near clean enough to have anyone look at it. Hopefully the party has hired help to get the cleaning done… 🙄😏😣😫 I’m sipping some wine while I whine, that’s not work, is it? 😉 A lovely glass of limoncello might cheer me up. 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋
Fabulous birds and bunnies Shelley. I have had airbnb guests over Easter so I looked at my place and saw so many things that needed cleaning that I probably have just lived with. I should get into a clean a room a day routine and not go out chasing bees, butterflies and birds around the garden with my camera. Although my shed needs a clean every now and then to move spider webs along mainly.
Enjoy your staycation as best as possible 🙂
Thank you, Brian – I’ve been trying to notice the birds like you do from the windows or wherever they happen to land. They’ve been posing quite a bit while they were scavenging for nesting materials.
That’s nice you had visitors. It’s funny how we get used to the messes when no one else is going to see them. I used to clean more often, but it always gets dirty again. 😅
We have a mouse invasion that took out power to our garage outlets. I think my staycation may get more interesting than I thought it would!?
Oh no the dreaded mouse attack. I was watching out of the kitchen window at the goings on in the garden and realised that the window was quite dirty. All sparkly now to take more photos 🙂 🙂
I hope it’s just one mouse and not a colony of them!
Yes, a nice clean window makes for the best photos :-)!!!
Those are fantastic bird photos Shelley! We have bluebirds here, but they don’t look the same. Your “staycation” sounds more like stay & work! lol! I was thinking not only do the renters leave it like that, they’ve been living like that…ew.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed them. The Bluebird photo would’ve been a good one to share on the Bokeh Lens Artist post. Your flowers are beautiful!! https://sprawly.wordpress.com/2022/04/11/l-ac-bokeh/
Yes, my staycation is a work vacation. I agree – the renters live like that, so sad.
I did deviate from ‘work’ and looked through old photos and newspaper clippings from the 20s – 40s that my grandmother had saved. That was interesting. Still have no idea what to do with them, though.
It’s so nice of you to add a link to my blog. Thanks Shelley. Sounds like you took a nice break with a trip to the past. They might be nice to pass on to your daughters?
You’re welcome! I love your photography and your blog.
Yes, it was a nice trip to the past. Just between you and me, the girls WILL be getting these items one way or another. 😉
I understand what you’re up to. I don’t like to clean but I love the feeling of having cleaned when it is all done. I don’t know how you could not clean that oven, but people are weird. Or can’t smell I guess. Happy Easter, a few days late.
As a landlord for the past 20+ years, the ‘it is clean at last’ factor is short-lived. Perhaps that has something to do with my lack of motivation to complete the task at hand. I think the guy made maybe two frozen pizzas that dripped on the bottom and set off the smoke alarms so he gave up trying to use the oven?
Happy Easter to you too – I hope you had a nice day. And I hope your eye appointment went well after all the initial delays in finding The Clinic. 🙂
Happy Belated Easter! Unless I’m mistaken, that’s a self-cleaning oven, isn’t it? Really….
Happy Belated Easter to you and Mary too, John!
It may be a self-cleaning oven, but I’ve never used that function. I don’t like how HOT you have to get the oven to make it work. The oven is really old…like 30 years old, we think. It has always cleaned up well using Easy Off. I’ll find out soon – going to try that today.
Lots of birdie pics – I love them all Shelley, especially those plump birds, fluffed up against the cold air. I’ve never seen a bluebird, just in pictures – so pretty and a vibrant cobalt blue. That bunny was so darn cute and I hope to never see a sight like you saw with the mother-to-be bunny and her babies – makes me sad. You know I worry that me, the bleeding heart, will see something atrocious at the Park thanks to the hawk. One of the walkers saw the hawk grab a squirrel and carry it off. I’m sorry you had to witness this horrible scene. I hope you are productive at the rental homes this week. I wish I was more productive here at the house. I should be more inspired seeing what you’re doing there.
Hi Linda, I’m glad you enjoyed the bird photos. I love the bluebird colors too!!
I’m still sad about the momma bunny tale. I knew it would make you sad too, sorry for that, maybe I should’ve just kept that part to myself. 🙁
I’m trying to enjoy my staycation by doing only the little projects I’ve had on a mental to-do-list along with intermittent stops at the rental to do the cleaning I enjoy. I think my vacation will be over before any of them are ‘done’! Oops…
Your Easter post was a creative spurt, that’s way more interesting than cleaning stuff.
Just pick one thing you’ve been wanting to do and do that and then go for a walk!
I love those little plump birds. Now we have a bad dose of avian flu, so Michigan DNR is saying not to put out feeders or baths (baths would have frozen, but this weekend would be okay). Some experts are saying if you wash them in a diluted bleach solution they are okay to use. I may have to stop feeding the birds at the Park if it gets any worse – I put down about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of seed at the three spot every time I go there, but the squirrels eat them too. If I had my choice I’d be walking, taking pictures or doing something associated with the blog … I’ve indulged myself way too many times already – that is why it looks so messy in here. I’m glad you’re taking some time for yourself though Shelley.
The Black-eyed Juncos are as cute as the Bluebirds to me.
It is best to let the birds find their own food – so far I haven’t heard that we have any of the BF here… You may have to stop feeding the birds. 🤷🏻♀️
You’ll be happy to read I haven’t gotten very much done. I’ve been forcing myself to not do projects because I always feel like I have to be doing something productive. It’s easier to do on a tropical island, versus the crazy ‘spring’ we’re having.
I never saw Juncos until this year and that’s at the Park – a big group of them all descend at one time to eat together under the Safe Haven Tree. Yes, I’m thinking that might be true Shelley as to Bird Flu – I just scatter the sunflower seeds in three places and luckily the waterfowl are not mixing with the squirrels and/or songbirds. That’s good you did some enjoyable time off because I used to hate when I had time off and worked in the house … my mom and I had arguments over house cleanliness and the need for Spring and Fall cleaning which I said 2X a year is too much. So we settled on doing it beginning the first weekend of August and done by Labor Day (and even then was too much). That’s probably why I’m such a bad housekeeper now. We’re having bad weather tonight, a result of our tropical-like weekend. It just started pouring down raining a few minutes ago.
The Juncos are regulars here. The cats love watching them bounce around the yard.
Yesterday, the wind was so bad it was swinging the bird feeders and banging them against the post so all the bird seed ended up in the ground. That attracts other critters so that’s not a good thing.
I remember the 2X per year cleaning thing – and haven’t done it since our kids were little. I have to be in the right mood to do any heavy cleaning nowadays.
I hope your weather got better. We had such nasty winds and thunderstorms this weekend. I just wish it would stop being so darn windy. Now it’s back to the 30s in temps. Sigh…
Take care and have a great week, Linda!
The cats have entertainment “bird TV” – we had a hot weekend, 83 yesterday and today cold and rainy and tomorrow night, still a wintry mix, though it won’t stick. The wind this year is something people keep wondering about too and asking the weather folks about. Yesterday the wind picked up so quickly and was gusty that it was not pleasant to walk. Nothing is pleasant about this weather anymore. Back at you Shelley – you’re back to the work grind again. One day down; four to go.
I agree!
And this morning for my day two of four to go it is windy and 30 degrees. UGH! It tried snowing yesterday.
Good news though – I finally got my glasses all adjusted properly and replaced the frames of the sunglasses due to not fitting properly. I confirmed that I am truly sensitive to polycarbonate lenses and had to go back to plastic. It’s rare, but true that it affects certain people. Lucky me to have an eye clinic that is so kind, patient, and understanding. Now I can see my work computer and my tasks much better. YAY!
Snowing here now they say and 20 “real feel” tonight. Hopefully it does not zap all the blooming trees. Mother Nature is trying our collective patience.
That is good news about your glasses. Interesting that you are sensitive to one of the materials in the polycarbonate lenses. Allergies are amazing and in this case you found out before having to go to an allergy clinic and having the scratch test administered to you. Years ago I worked with a woman who moved into a new house and your teenaged started wheezing and couldn’t breathe. She took her to the E.R. and they stabilized her and then wrote script for her to see an allergist, which she did and she was allergic to something in the newly installed wall-to-wall carpet. It had to all be ripped out, which they did and then scrubbed everywhere to ensure no traces of it existed.
It’s 20 something here this morning. Most of our trees haven’t gone into full budding mode, so hopefully they’ll survive this cold blast.
Sorry to make my comment about the sensitivity seem like an allergy. It’s called Chromatic Aberration. My left eye is so sensitive to it that it makes it hard for the eye to focus. It’s really hard to describe. I just know it’s real when I go back to the plastic lenses and don’t have the issue of eye fatigue that I get with the polycarbonates.
Same here – another hard freeze tonight for us, then we (supposedly) turn a corner. I’ve heard that before. OK, maybe I misunderstood as well. Have you worn glasses a long time? I got mine on my 7th birthday. I know I don’t see as clearly as when I wore contact lenses, but I’ve no real desire to return to them.
It’s 32 this morning and the birds are singing because the sun is shining.
I’ve had glasses since I was a junior in high school. In retrospect, I probably should’ve gotten them sooner. I always wanted to sit in the front of the class so I could see. Not because I wanted to be the teacher’s pet. 😉
I tried contacts 3 times and couldn’t tolerate them. I freaked out at having my finger coming toward my eye to insert them and I couldn’t stand how they floated around my eye – plus the a/c and heat vents at work dried my eyes too much.
I got them on my 7th birthday and when I was a preteen I guess, maybe younger, I took some adhesive tape we had in the medicine cabinet and I went to school and taped up one side of my glasses, then told the teacher the tape bothered my face, so I had to take them off – I hated glasses. I didn’t mind contacts nor have issues and only wore the hard, then later the gas permeable rigid lenses, but I was pretty vain and hated wearing eyeglasses so I’d have put up with them to not have to wear glasses!
That’s pretty young to have to wear them, I think I would’ve felt the same way. I only hated them because they prevent me from doing some activities that I may have enjoyed otherwise. Walking in the rain and swimming. I’ve had mine so long now, whenever they suggest laser surgery as an option, I just choose the glasses again. I’d feel so weird without them.
My opthalmologist knew how vain I was when I got the contact lenses and he made me not wear them for 24 hours before an appointment so he could study my eyes better. So I always made the yearly exam on a Monday so I didn’t have to go out of the house in glasses, or I’d wear “Solar Shields” (sunglasses that cover the entire eyeglasses, frames and all, so I figured no one knew “my secret” – the pains you take when you’re vain. 🙂
We all have those moments. I’m glad you’re comfortable with your glasses now. I think I’ve finally gotten my new glasses adjusted and working well!! YAY! It was a 30-day process!
Good for you – now remember to rest them during the day … think of all that our eyes view during the course of the day, from work to social media and blogging. No wonder we need stronger glasses every year – I know I do.
Yes, here’s to spring. It keeps teasing us, too, all the way down in MD. And well done on that bluebird photo–fantastic!
Hi Rebecca – Yes, one of these days we’ll enjoy spring-like weather! I hope.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed the bluebird photo – it’s a keeper 😉