A few weeks ago a pair of chickadees decided to take up residence in a tall stump in our side yard. They worked three days straight excavated a hole. One trip at a time they dug out a beak-full of rotting wood and spit it out unceremoniously on my roses. By the time they were done there was a thick layer of sawdust all over the roses and the sidewalk. It was cute to watch them laboring away, but a little annoying to clean up after them.

Then, last weekend we came home to trouble. Apparently the little birds didn’t major in engineering. They had excavated too close to the bark layer and a large piece had fallen away. Concerned, my husband and I went to investigate. And sure enough we found four teeny, tiny peepers and one egg yet to hatch. The baby birds were exposed – sitting “ducks” – for any wandering cat or even an unscrupulous crow.

So, to work we went. My genius husband cut out a piece of cardboard to fit over the new hole. While I held the fallen bark in place, he screwed in the cardboard to hold the bark in its original position.

Then we waited. And waited. Saying a little prayer that mommy and daddy bird wouldn’t be too perturbed with our remodel. Finally, they showed up. After a quick inspection, they went right back to work caring for their chicks.

I love happy endings.