Job Finally Done

It has been almost 6 months since we began fretting about this.

You've seen the photo of the starling once before: sitting on the handrail of our deck, preparing to fly up into its nest in our eaves because the vent cover had fallen apart and off.

It has taken these 6 months, or close to it, to finally resolve the situation.

First, we found a roofer who would come out from the city, but he would need 3 houses at $200 apiece to make the job viable for him. We did find 2 neighbours who agreed to hire him, but by the time he was ready to do the job, they backed out, and then so did he. I guess our neighbours like having birds in their eaves. What if squirrels get in?

There was another guy who said that maybe he could do it, but he never materialized at our abode to say yay or nay.

Eventually, Sue found 2 college kids who were painting in the area to come by late on a Friday afternoon before they quit for the summer to go back to school. They would and did for $100.

They did what they could, but they were college painters who came without tools. They could only get 2 of the screws in and used tape to shore up the other side. (I will show the various vent pictures later and also talk about these two guys more.) We were very appreciative of them coming by on short notice, so even though the job wasn't perfect, we tipped them an extra $50, for a total of $150.

Sue was tenacious and kept looking around. With a recommendation from Sha who has some connections, Cody came by this morning and soon fixed it. He got the two extra screws in and then, caulked around the edge, so it should be secure for a very long time. His fee was $150, so the job cost $300 in total, and we also had to purchase the vent cover. I think it was ~$30.

As you can see, ole AC was there to steady the ladder if needed,
but as usual in this life, he was surplus to requirements.

Left: the bird access.
Bottom: the boys' job.
Top: job done!

Extra Tidbit 1

Cody had a mild accent that I surmised was either an Ottawa Valley accent or alternatively, a Maritime accent. Yes, we do have mild local or even regional accents in Canada. I had to ask, and he does come from a very large clan in the rural centre of the county. He said he has also been Down East where his accent fit in to the point that easterners were asking him if he were local.

Extra Tidbit 2

Back to the painter guys. As you can see from the second photo in the post, one guy did the work while the other guy held the ladder. Look what the holder guy was doing the whole time. Yes, the whole time!