The Bat House and the Purple Martin Houses

I got a bat house several weeks ago, and Brian and I got it "planted" a couple of weekends ago. I didn't want to put it in concrete because I'm supposed to move it around until I'm able to attract bats. I have no idea if we put it in a good spot or not???

It survived straight up for about 3 days and then it rained and the ground got so wet, it stood at a diagonal until last weekend.

Don was nice enough to help me dig holes for the bat house and for the two purple martin houses I bought last week. We rooted around in Lowe's until we found chain link fence posts are the perfect size to slip the triangular matin house poles and the round bat house pole into. We (Don) cut the posts to 24" then we (Don) dug holes deeper than that to bury the posts into. Then we (Don) poured dry concrete around that. That way, the posts sit below ground so if I have to move any of the houses, I won't have anything sticking above ground to have to mow around.

The martin houses were easier to put together than the poles! Actually one of the poles was missing the snaps so I had to call the manufacturer to have more sent.

The houses are SOOOOOO stinking cute! I got them at Tractor Supply. Here's Iggy Pop posing with them:

And here's one of them in place:

And here's the bat house.  I SO hope I attract some bats.  I think they're adorable (and they eat lots of bugs).

The Landscaping Saga Continues...

When the landscaper worker dug the holes to plant the trees along the fence, he planted the two trees in the middle a couple of feet away from the fence.  I asked why, and he told me there was some kind of drain pipe in the way.

Well guess what?  He'd planted the trees directly infront of the pipe which turns out to be the runoff for the sump pump and downspouts!  The sump pump filled, but couldn't pump out.

I called and told them to get somebody out here IMMEDIATELY to dig up the trees.  Nobody showed up and nobody showed up and nobody showed up.  I went out and dug up the damn trees myself.  As soon as I started scraping mud out of the way, water just started shooting out!  First I was pissed because I got my new garden shoes MUDDY, but then I hurt my back trying to drag water-laden 6-foot tall trees out of the ground so I was even MORE PISSED.

AND THEN...  When I stomped back inside the Nursery had called to find out if it was a "one-man or two-man job."  I called back and asked them what kind of JOKE that was.  When somebody calls and says "I have water in my basement because the trees you planted have blocked the sump pump run-off drains, you're not supposed to call back an hour later and ask home many people to send out!"  I was assured someone would be coming out immediately to finish digging the trees out and to take them away.

They laid on their sides in the mud for three days until I stopped by the nursery and told the guy to COME GET THE FRIGGING TREES.  My buddy the Landscaper Dude told me he didn't know anything about it.  What an ass.

The Landscaper's Response:

Here are the landscaper's excuses:

1.  I didn't tell him what I wanted.
2.  I'd misunderstood what he told me:  what I wanted wasn't possible unless he planted 20-year-old mature trees.

Excuse #1 pissed me off the most.  HONESTLY???  I asked him if he was SERIOUSLY telling me I gave him permission to plant whatever the hell HE wanted in my yard?

That's when he gave me excuse #2--which indicates he DID understand what I told him wanted.

Next, he told me the trees would grow together and make the solid block I wanted.  He'd calculated a 3-foot planting distance between each tree, but now that the extra trees are added they would grow together much quicker--within the next two months.  He asked if I could wait until the beginning of June.

When I got home, I realized the idiot was lying AGAIN!  My fence is only 68-feet long (which accounts for the nineteen 3.5-foot wide dwarf trees that were supposed to be planted).  Just the EMPTY PLANTING SPACE between 19 trees takes up FIFTY-SEVEN FEET!  That only leaves NINE FEET of space have planted nineteen trees????? 

I got the bill on Thursday.  I'll pay for the front landscaping, but I'm NOT paying for the trees until June--and only then IF they've grown together as he says they're going to.  If they don't, he's gonna be digging them up and hauling them away.