Remember When

by: Lola Russell

I wonder what has happened to the Purple Martins? I started looking for them in the middle of February when they usually fly through and look things over. I never did see any even stop by. The neighbors on either side of me have martin houses and theirs are vacant also.

One thing is, I forgot to have someone take the house down and clean out last year’s debris. My husband always saw to it that it was done by January, but this year that was the last thing on our mind.

Now that he is gone, I just kept putting off asking someone to take the house down. It takes two people to do it. But, the long, cold winter may be the reason. I hate to think that it is my negligence that has kept them away.

Nevertheless, it make me a little sad. I will miss seeing them build their nest, hatch out little ones and teach them to fly.

Once or twice, I have thought I saw a little activity out over the water, but they never did come to roost.

A neighbor in Shreveport used to raise gourds specifically for the purpose of making martin houses out of them. They were the kind of gourds like people used to make dippers to place in their water buckets and drink from. He painted them white and made the right sized hole in each one, hung them on a long board and placed them up high over the garden spot. He usually had about 30 of them and he kept his small garden well irrigated so the birds had plenty of mosquitoes to eat.

I know there are a lot more reasons to be concerned about things that are happening in the world. And I will quit fretting about it. Next year, Lord willing, I will have a clean bird house on the pole by the lake, ready for occupancy.