September 27, 2020
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Community Housing

newly renovated triplex

I want to try to renovate all the bird houses around here this fall. We have several of them, mostly serving the house sparrow community (with one comfy cottage for a family of black-capped chickadees).

We bought this triplex, and it’s a good unit except it was built without consideration for cleaning out the old nests, so using a drill and jigsaw, I made rear clean-outs. This unit sits on the pole by gravity so next summer when nesting is done, I just have to take it off the pole, remove 2 screws for each apartment, and fish out the old nesting material.

Tuffy P did the paint job on this housing complex. I just put it back on the pole. House sparrows will use it for shelter and then will nest in the apartments in spring. Hopefully house sparrows enjoy polka dots.

renovated triplex (street view)

September 23, 2020
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Fly me off the Händel

In the last episode of The Agency Podcast, Candy and I were talking about sampling, and I made a comment something like, it’s not like any pop music is all that original in any case. I thought I’d make this post to put my comments in context.

Fly me off the Händel by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain illustrates my point nicely.

If you’d like to hear The Spirit of The Beehive on The Agency Podcast, listen here. This episode includes a feature interview with a couple who have taken up beekeeping in the city.

September 22, 2020
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Wreck of the Old 1060

Wreck of the Old 1060

A few years ago I was out walking the dogs and discovered somebody had brought a big box of toy trains out to the street for garbage. I brought the dogs back home and came back in my car and scooped the trains. I didn’t know why, exactly. They’ve been living on the deck rails, waiting for me to figure out what to do with them.

Gradually the idea of creating a train wreck sculpture for the backyard took hold, and I’ve finally done it.

It’s hidden away way out back, near the flowering dogwood. You might visit our place a few times before noticing it. That’s what I wanted, something to discover one day.

September 22, 2020
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The Spirit of the Beehive

The latest episode of The Agency Podcast is up! This special episode features an interview with urban beekeepers Amba and Zac while they harvest honey. Listen here or find the episode in all the good places.

Amba in protective gear
bees, bees, bees
honey comes through, leaving the wax behind

Watch for lots more beekeeping photos on The Agency Podcast facebook page.

September 20, 2020
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Fixing up the birdhouses

Each fall the birdhouses need some work. The biggest thing is to clean out the old nest. I added a fresh layer of roofing material to this one as well, and added a giant washer to the front of the hole to prevent the squirrels from expanding the hole and moving in (yes this happens). Finally I added a fresh coat of paint.

This is our oldest birdhouse. I think this one was already up at our old place when we bought it. I never saw a bird in it there, but here most of our birdhouses get occupants, mostly house sparrows.

September 15, 2020
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No Rules

The new episode of The Agency Podcast is up – it’s called No Rules. Listen here or find us wherever the best podcasts live. This is the Agency’s first anniversary edition. I can hardly believe we’ve been doing this podcast for a year.

For those visitors who don’t know about The Agency, it’s an arts & culture podcast cohosted by Candy Minx in Chicago and me right here in Toronto. We talk about all aspects of arts and culture and just about anything else on our minds.

Today I also updated The Agency Reading List. If you’d like to see a list of the books we’ve talked about over the past year, check it out.

To those of you who have been listening to The Agency regularly over the past year, thanks so much for sticking with us. We hope you continue to enjoy our weekly discussions.