I just stumbled upon this post as I try to prevent the recurring problems from Barn Swallows again this year. Unfortunately, the image is no longer available and I cannot see how you hung the netting. We have a colony of Barn Swallows that roost at our apartment building each year. The landlord hates them, but a former tenant had posted signs everywhere about how it was illegal to remove the nests. It was only through my own research that I realized it was only illegal while eggs or babies were in the nests, and those tenants moved out this winter. In addition to nesting on top of our buildings lights, covered walkways, and eaves, my apartment and the one next door have outdoor entrances from our gorgeous courtyard and patio which have covered stairwells. Each year, the swallows fly through these two stairwells like its the Lincoln Tunnel, dive bombing anyone who tries to walk on the stairs. They build their nests on the outlet boxes or porch lights. The first summer we lived here, I thought it was really neat to have such a close view of their lives, as I would often sit on my steps and could watch the babies as they grew, taking great care to be quiet and non-threatening. However, I also found that my porch steps and exterior wall were covered with bird droppings. They are also very very noisy when there is an entire colony of them outside of your windows. All of the "teenage" birds hang out in one of our courtyard trees outside of my window, which my cat loves but can actually drown out any conversation or television in our living room. Then I experienced what I thought were bed bugs in our house. I had tiny bites head to toe and could constantly feel them crawling on me despite rarely being able to see anything. It got so bad that I was getting the bites infected from itching all the time, and I couldn't sleep because I could feel the bugs crawling on my skin as soon as I tried to relax. I finally captured a few and took them to the University's Department of Entymology, who identified them as bird mites. That experience was HORRIFIC. I was ready to burn our entire building down after reading that the bird mites multiply much more quickly than bed bugs and are nearly impossible to remove. Luckily, the mites died off when the birds finally left for the season, but I can no longer sit outside on my wooden stairs because I fear contracting them again. The next spring, I tried the knock-down method, just on my own stairwell. I would open my screen door 2 inches and use a broom handle to knock down the nests up to 7 times a day. The swallows became very agitated, and and two attacked my daughter's head when she got home from school one of the days. I couldn't sit inside and repeat this process forever, though, and they got their nest up one day while I was off at a 12 hour work shift. The outlet covers they use are too high up to see into, and I knew that some other nests already had eggs, so I couldn't knock it down, more out of compassion than fear of charges. This will be our third summer here. Our elderly landlord has given up trying to prevent them from nesting even in the building entryways. I have removed my porch light cover so there is no solid surface to nest on, but the outlet box cover is too high up and I can't put a ladder on the stairs to reach it. I have considered trying to throw a cotton ball soaked with peppermint oil up there (it has worked in the past for mice and spider problems), or hanging a bunch of cut aluminum as a mobile at the top of the steps (I have heard that the reflections off the metal scare birds off), but I simply can't go through another year of this if those methods don't work. I saw that I could use something to create a 45% slope where the nest to prevent them, but again... getting up there is an issue. I am curious to see how you used the mesh. Could you please share the picture again?

Our son convinced him to see my doctor. My husband would not admitto the dr. he has ANY problems. The EKG and cholesterol is o.k.; but other than checking his lungs with the stethescope, the dr. didn't order any other tests. He did recognize my husband's mind status; and ordered Aricept. We have to order our drugs by mail so it will be about 2 weeks before he begins taking the med. A nurse acquaintance said Aricept can be good if given early enough. I hope it isn't too late. My husband denies he has ANY problems other than slight memory loss! Can only wait and see how the Aricept works and then get him back to the dr. if he will go? Thank you for the interest. Will keep you posted in a few weeks.Annieil

This is what happened with my dog. Tuesday morning got up and he was throwing up, and throwing up, went outside and he ate a lot of grass, then threw up some more and he just couldn't get into a comfortable position so I went straight to the vet where they did X-Rays and saw a round foreing object 'sitting' in his lower intestine. They put him on fluids the rest of the day and redid X-rays, hoping the thing could move to the larger intestine but it stayed there so he got surgery the next day. He was at the vet hospital from Tuesday till Saturday afternoon. He's home, doing not too bad. Checking often to see if the incision is o.k. He's on special food 'gastro' for a little while and pills...He has not thrown up and his stools are fine. He had his last pain med last night but I have some more and will see if he needs it. He sleeps a lot and when he wakes up, I go outside for a little walk with him. I arranged for a temporary ramp for him (outdoor backsteps). He needs the e-collar, it must be sore and itchy and I can just imagine how uncomfortable and somewhat still painful and I was thinking how strong there are compared to us. How faster than us they recuperate. We only have a paper cut and it hurts and burns...imagine being opened so long. Here he is with his best friend who missed him quite a lot while he was at the animal hospital:

I'm glad the sideways thing worked for you. I'll have to give that a try. I used to be able to take any kind of pills and any amount without drinking anything. I was young then I guess. Smiles. Now they all get stuck so I always take my pills with food. I just take a decent sized bite of food, chew it a few times, shove the pill or pills in and swallow. The pills go right down with the food since you are really used to swallowing something bigger than the pill. I do follow with eating a few more bites since I'm usually in the middle of eating anyway. Been using that method for quite a few years and it's been good so far.