Woodpecker Damage

Woodpecker damage plus that horrible ruffling, feathery, rustling noise followed by the blasted bird tapping on our roof and walls equals a very angry man in the morning.

My husband is a very even-tempered guy.  His favorite phrase is “go with the flow,” which, of course, drives me crazy sometimes when I’m particularly frustrated at something beyond my control.  But, he’s helped me to learn to be more easy going and find good things about even the most frustrating moments.

He particularly helped me when we were building this home.  We did the general contracting ourselves, which turned out to be one headache after another, since we didn’t really know what we were doing.  In an effort to keep the costs down, we also did a lot of the work ourselves.  We’d work all day, then change into grubby clothes, drive out to our new home site, and put up dry wall, or build railings, or sand walls, lay carpet, or just clean up the site.  We literally poured blood, sweat and tears into this home.

I would get angry at some subcontractor for not showing up when he said he would, or a flooring supply company for overcharging us.  My husband would remind me that there are more important things in life, and he’d take over, calmly renegotiating and eventually getting everyone to follow through on their promises.  I learned to keep calm and let the tension go.

My newfound character improvement came in handy, though, when the woodpecker started attacking our home.  After all the hard work we put into the house, and all the hard earned money we sunk into it, my husband went nuts when he surveyed woodpecker damage up near the eaves.

We woke up one morning to this odd rustling noise just outside our second story bedroom window.  We were confused, because we don’t have mature trees, yet, and so we don’t have a lot of birds or squirrels around our property.  Then, the unmistakable tap tap tapping started, and we knew it had to be a woodpecker.  My husband charged outside, scared off the bird, and came in fuming mad about the woodpecker damage.

He repaired the damage on Saturday, but Sunday morning, we woke up to the awful knocking noise again.  The woodpecker was just perched on the stucco, tapping holes into our brand new home.  My husband went nuts, cursing and throwing things at the bird.  The bird was back not ten minutes after my husband came back inside, and I really thought he was going to lose it.  I reminded him of his “go with the flow” philosophy, but he would have none of it until I got online and found the contact information for Allstate Animal Control.  They assured me they could have someone out to our home soon to get rid of the woodpecker, and repair the woodpecker damage.  I explained it all to my husband, who was finally able to calm down.  I have to admit, it was nice to be the one reminding him not to be tense for a change.

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