Metallic tapping might not be the first sign of spring one would think of, but certainly one at our house. Apparently, ladders of the metal variety contain sap. Who knew?! Or maybe it’s a birdy morse code that has yet to be unlocked! In the above photo is our camera shy Sapsucker, part of the wood pecker family of birds. This particular one LOVES to tap out messages on the big metal ladder propped against our house. It drives the dogs nuts because they think someone is knocking on the door. Que barking for 10 minutes and running frantically between front door, windows, and outside. Maybe he does it to grab out attention? Maybe he does it because the reverberation is really cool? The jury is still out but one thing is for certain: the ladder will be coming down in the next couple of days.
The only art practiced over the last chunk of time has been “the art of plumbing”, “the art of cleaning”, and “the art of making multiple trips to the hardware store”. Lots and lots of driving too! Not much fun but necessary. By next Tuesday, one of the properties owned by my parents will have been sold and the next one will be on the market before months end (fingers crossed for both!). April is looking like a great month for real art!
Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog 
Beautiful bird!! Wonder why he does it? Maybe it IS the reverberations…does it feel good to his beak? Practice? Maybe it’s to rile the dogs up….LOL! Cute, does it drive you guys crazy? When we first moved into our house, we had a woodpecker knocking on the side of our house, which was a welcome novelty to us former city dwellers but waking us up at 06:00 on the weekend mornings got old! Heck, the dogs even let us sleep in til 7!
What a gorgeous bird!