More than 20 bird houses decorate Jody Butler's backyard. She hopes to have two houses per post on her new fence. Elden Barbieri builds the houses and they both decorate them.
Elden Barbieri and Jody Butler posing with a four story bird condo with two wings at the base. While this bird house is not decorated yet Butler plans to paint sunflowers up the middle. This is intended to be a gift.
Elden Barbieri painted these bird houses that will be available in the Hunter's Breakfast silent auction Saturday, Oct. 24 from 5-11 a.m. at the Seeley Lake Senior Center. While Barbieri and Jody Butler don't plan to sell the houses, they have already donated a few to various fundraisers and plan to give others away as gifts.
SEELEY LAKE - Elden Barbieri and Jody Butler have been busy this summer filling Butler's backyard with summer homes for bluebirds, wrens and chickadees. With more than 20 hand-painted bird houses to choose from, they hope returning birds this spring will feel right at home.
After replacing Butler's fence, she decided it needed something more.
"She thought it would be a good idea if we put up some bird houses, like two or three," said Barbieri. "Twenty some later we are still building bird houses."
Butler was going to use gourds for the bird houses but found decorating wood houses was more fun.
Barbieri builds the houses six at a time out of pine. He uses patterns he has found on the internet and primarily sticks to three designs. Those on the fence's corner posts are different shapes and help him use up the scrap wood.
Butler finds various images that she likes and traces them onto the wood with a wood burner. She then paints it with acrylic paints. Barbieri has also started painting a few. The houses are then sprayed with a clear exterior finish.
Both find their part of the process relaxing and enjoyable after all the work it took to put up the fence and redoing the garden plots in the back yard.
"It's a make-work hobby," said Butler with a laugh knowing that the houses will need attention after use or when they get weathered. "We've had a lot of fun with them."
The couple enjoyed all of the activity at their bird feeders this last summer and hope than many of the birds will return and pick a house to call their own.
"They have their choice," said Barbieri with a smile, "and the rent is cheap."
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