Week 2 of the 52 Week Photo Project: The Story of My Front Door

The assignment this week was to take a picture of my front door. Seems easy enough, right? I didn’t have to reflect on anything or make any big decisions. What was nice about this assignment is that it was a chance to reflect on where I live, and reminisce about the stories of my home. In this case, my front door actually does have a story!

Right now I have a wreath on my front door that I’m not ready to take down even though the holidays are over. Since it still fits the season, I am going to leave it up and enjoy it for a while longer. I'm not really ready to put the reindeer away either, but I'm going to do that later this week.  Usually my front door is completely undecorated, but this is not by choice, and the reason is birds. Don’t get me wrong, I like birds. Its just that every time I hang a wreath on my front door, it becomes THE spot for a nest. Before you say “awww, that’s so sweet” consider what I’m about to say.

The one time we let the birds build and keep their nest there, it was a complete disaster. One, we couldn’t use our front door. Every time we opened or closed the door we were terrified the babies would fall out of the nest. Sadly to say, despite our efforts a baby did fall out one day during a windstorm.

Two, when the babies hatched, they made a mess of our front door. Baby birds do what baby humans do, and it has to go somewhere. In our case, it went right down the front of our door. It was not easy to clean, and we had to wait until the babies flew away.  Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight.

Three, we have cats. Need I say more? I’d rather see the birds make their nest in a safer place.

However, every time I put a wreath on my door, I catch birds building nests. I’m not sure why they like my front door so much, but they do. Maybe it’s the close proximity of good nest materials. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s a bit more sheltered there. All I know, is I don’t want them there. I dismantle their nests. I take down the wreath, and sometimes put it back up weeks later, in hopes that they will give up. It never works. They always come back. So I’ve pretty much given up on wreaths except around the holidays.

I’ll think I’ll enjoy my wreath for a little longer…soon enough we’ll be back to an undecorated door.