Cowbirds and Castle Path Paint

Fall is one of my favorite times of year, especially because of this little guy:

This is a Brown-headed cowbird and every year in the fall, massive flocks gather together to feast upon seeds, grubs, and little insects before they head on down to Mexico. (Oh, and just so you know, I am not holding the bird. I got this picture off the Internet.) Anyway, the other day, I was sitting in our library studying something when I realized I was surrounded by tons of little peeping things. I walked out to the living room and was absolutely amazed to find about 300 cowbirds hanging out in my front yard. As my gaze wandered I realized this was no small flock. Every house that I could see had either birds on their roof, in their yard, or both. Here is our next door neighbors house:

The Vietnamese family across the street had a few on the roof but a good couple of hundred in their side yard:

These home are kitty-corner to us and had them all over:

This is a picture of the empty lot by the back of our house. Without exaggeration, there is probably 10,000 birds photographed in this picture (and I think that number is a little low), not including the hundreds that were on the homes in the front yard. I watched massive flock after flock join this horde from the trees that line the creek by us. In a matter of minutes the ground by our pond was completely black. I have no doubt that the numbers of birds reached close to 40,000 birds. It was absolutely breath-taking! There is another empty lot a few houses down from this one and it was packed with cowbirds too. After about 30 minutes of hanging out with the extended family, someone gave the signal and they all took flight. I think it must have taken almost 10 minutes for them all to fly away. It was really one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

Last summer I painted the kitchen and dining room to give it a more distinct feel since we have a pretty open floor plan. Before school started I decided it was time to give the living room and hallway a new coat of paint. Before the walls were a creamy classic taupe color. I found this paint color (called Castle Path) and really liked how it complemented everything else. It's an interesting color because when the sun is on it it looks like a soft creamy-beige color but on the opposite wall where the shadow is cast it looks silvery-grey like mortar bricks.

I left the bay window the old taupe color and the inside of the TV nook is still taupe too, along with the foyer and wall that leads down to the basement. I decided to go with an Eggshell paint instead of flat paint because it cleans up much better. Amazingly enough, I used one complete gallon of paint in the living room and one complete gallon of paint in the hallway. I thought for sure that I'd have some left over when I did the hallway, but instead I almost ran out before the job was done.

That's it for this years Home Improvement projects. Next year we're debating whether we want to put a wrought-iron fence in the back yard, replace the existing carpet with new carpet or hardwood floors in the living room and hallway, or do a little remodeling in the guest bathroom. Eventually we'll do it all but deciding what we want to do first is the challenge.