Pigeon Wars 2014

it is 8:30 a.m. in the holy city of zefat.  i have officially declared war on the pigeons who have taken over my roof on the third floor.  i  finally found the large gaps on the roof  that allowed their entrance and i closed them.  i used pieces of broken tile and wood and then covered it with plastic netting.  i think it is safe to say, that for the meanwhile, there is no exit or entrance anymore.

there are knee high mounds of pigeon waste in some areas.  i started removing broken tiles and large pieces of plaster board from the area.  it is very unhealthy dealing with all this poo. i actually started to choke a bit from the dust.  it's a bit hard to breathe this stuff in.  i should be doing real pesach cleaning instead of this humongous clean up project.  i spent a good while cleaning the poo off of the beautiful patio upstairs and cleaning up the plants, which were covered in poo, too.

i removed the carcases of the dead pigeons and disposed of them by myself.  my son has a phobia of dead birds.   i saw about 20 pigeons on the roof tops looking quite annoyed on friday evening.  suddenly they were locked out of their clubhouse.  no more free pass. they almost seemed like they were mourning their loved ones, still trapped inside.  i left the pincher dog upstairs to catch a few.  i just opened the balcony door so one flew outside.  it is going to take awhile to get control back of my house.  i need to bring up more plastic mesh from the garden area and find more thumb tacks.  i am attempting to block off their roosting spaces.

i am pretty tired today.  my neck and back hurt a bit today.   i didn't sleep very well last night.   i watched a particularly, violent movie.  i am bored with doing the fridge and little kitchen area.  i can't seem to finish it.  i need to do laundry and the dining room chairs.  this pigeon thing is zapping all of my energy.  i also need to go down to the electric company and pay up the bill before they shut off the power, once again.  the daughter-in-law promises to take me down.

 i ended up making chicken soup, pan sauteed chicken, mashed potatoes and hard cooked eggs, rice, potato salad, tuna salad, fish fillets, cole slaw and israeli salad for shabbat.  i served leftover meatballs, chumus and pickles, too.  i opened up a pesach marble cake and a bag of matzoh meal cookies.   the cake was pretty tasty.  my son finished off the last of the beer and had a lot of sunflower seeds to munch with a friend.  i bought pumpkin seeds for the daughter-in-law and myself.

the big kids were satisfied with the meals.  the little kids didn't eat anything at night.  the little kids were polluted with sugar and diet coke and the 4 year old cracked up in the afternoon.  he got violent with me. after a rather long and very loud screaming fit downstairs in the garden, he kind of calmed down and eventually fell asleep.  i couldn't rest.  i had been awakened at 3:30 a.m. when he had a pishing accident in my bed.  luckily,  i had a pair of pajama bottoms so i didn't have to go downstairs.  i quickly changed the sheets and he went back to sleep.  i couldn't.  i tossed and turned until he woke up at 7:00 a.m.

i was pretty worn out all day.  they are planning to eat by me next shabbat, too.  the one before pesach. whoopee!   i am too obsessed with getting this pigeon 'mess' taken care of to worry about making shabbat.  it will be one simple meal.  i guess i'll use disposable plates.  i'll buy pitas instead of challah.  no crumbs, no fuss.  and we will have one salad.  i don't know if i'll bother with fish.  i''ll see how the week progresses.  in the meanwhile, i need to check out the roof situation right now.  just thinking about making a pesach sedar with these little brats turns me off a bit, i am shamefully, sorry to say.

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