Making Bat Boxes - Sundays in My City

The house into which I recently had my stuff deposited came with several mosquito catcher things in the yard.  After not dealing with mozzies for the last 3.5 years this was not an encouraging sight. My house in North Carolina had terrible mosquitos and I tried so many things to keep them away so that I could enjoy being outside but none ever worked (Hello 26 citronella plants with which I surrounded the deck!). 

So I asked a running buddy/DIY expert friend if she wanted to help me make a bat box and, of course, she not only said yes but searched for and printed plans and had all the needed materials (gotta love free scrap wood!) already on hand.  Bats can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes an hour (!!!) so encouraging them to take up residence near your home can be very beneficial!

Supervision provided by her dog, Gordon

I'll admit, I do not like using the nail gun!

Voila!  Don't they look fabulous?!?!  I love them!  For this region of the country it says to paint them a dark color but I really like the plain-wood look so I might see if it works without painting. Sheri said she's going to paint the Bat Symbol on hers! 

UPDATE: She did it!!

Now to figure out where and how to hang mine.  I'm super excited!  And it was a really fun project.  Here's hoping both of us have a mozzie-free summer!!

Find out what other creative endeavors are being undertaken by clicking but button below.

Simple + Beautiful = Simply Beautiful = Slovenia - Sundays in My City

Back in September I took a trip to part of the Balkans (Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia Herzegovina).  The one and only time I rented a car on any of my trips and I drove from Croatia into Slovenia.  At first I was just planning to go to Croatia but when I looked at the map and saw how close Slovenia and Bosnia were I decided I had to take advantage of the proximity and visit all three. I would have taken the train or bus to Slovenia (I took the bus to Bosnia) but I decided I didn't want to go to the capitol and the only way to reach a small town was to drive (had I done a little more research I would have found out that Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia, is much nicer than Zagreb and swapped them on my itinerary).  The GPS decided I was going to take the scenic route and it was lovely.

Crossing the border...one of the few places that still has border control (which means it's one of the few places where I got a stamp in my passport!).

Ummm...???

For more beautiful sights, check out the rest of the SIMC posts over at Unknown Mami.