Everyone Needs a Home

Dear Fearless Homeowner,

There was a flurry of activity around our house last week. We mailed over a thousand marketing mailers to homeowners in some of our busiest neighborhoods. That meant the home office was overflowing with piles of postcards, and stamps seemed to be stuck to everything! We were so distracted we almost didn’t notice the activity occurring outside our house.

The text on our mailer said, “Springtime is here! The best time to buy or sell a house is just around the corner. Are you ready?”. Under the words was a picture of a spring songbird. If I was in my ninth grade English class, Mr. Surbeck would have pointed out how that bird foreshadowed my week. Apparently, it was time for a pair of birds to find a new home as well, and our front porch light was just the spot!

I first heard them while I was planting flowers on the front porch. It was the desperate cry of baby birds who don’t want to be ignored. As I peeked into our light fixture, I saw four beaks swing open at the same time, clearly hoping I was bringing a cricket snack for lunch. Since that moment, those four little birds seem to have taken over our lives. We try not to linger on the porch for fear we might disturb the bird family, and we check to make sure we’re not interrupting a feeding when we come and go through the front door. We’ve also taken to using flashlights to get in and out of the house after dark, since turning on the porch lights might disturb the nest. And that’s not to mention the tizzy into which our cats have been thrown by the whole situation. They spend endless hours gazing out the window as the bird parents troop back and forth from the nest.

Despite the slight inconvenience, we enjoy having baby birds on our porch. We also enjoy all of the other wildlife that shares our neighborhood. Since we’ve lived here, we’ve seen all sorts of animals—rabbits, foxes, deer, wild turkeys, turtles, hawks, and opossums, just to name a few. That’s part of the reason we moved so far north a few years ago.

I watch the new neighborhoods being built in this area with mixed feelings. I’m a nature lover at heart and dislike encroachment on wild habitats; it makes me sad to hear builders literally working in our backyard on new houses. But I’m also a realist and a believer in progress. Much of the area north of Oklahoma City was used as farm land for generations, yet it hasn’t been plowed in years. It’s time for it to be repurposed to support Oklahoma’s growth. I’m always pulling for Oklahoma City to be successful, and the hammers I hear on my way to and from our house mean the economy is picking up and the city is expanding.

While I’m glad Chris and I are able to assist buyers in finding their ideal home this Spring, we’re also glad we’re able to offer a brood of baby birds a safe and comfortable home while they grow and learn how to fly. Chris has learned that in real estate repeat customers are some of the best people to do business with, and maybe in another year or two these baby birds will come back and build a nest of their own in our light fixture.

~Kristin