Tom, my purple martin house is an old "Heath" house and definitely not up to current standards. It came from my Dad, who purchased several insertable layers. At the time, it was sold by Sears and you could buy and add as many "stories" as you wanted. When he replace it with all gourds, he put the pole and Heath house up in my yard. I think you can still get the Heath house but it is not recommended/sanctioned by Purple Martin advocates. The link below tells the story of my pole and how it works. (There are two "pages" to the post.) Again - this set up - all my Dad. He had the idea, got the parts and put it all together. Also again, he came up with this way before the internet and current standards of daily nest inspections, etc. You will fall in love with them if you get the Purple Martin house! Every Feb/March, you will watch the skies, waiting for YOUR birds to return. Yes, they are migratory birds and the exact same birds will return to your house once you have a colony established. Over wonderful open water like you have, it shouldn't take long. Carol Here is a link that might be useful: Purple Martin Pole

Those are pretty. But the weather up there sounds ugly! I heard it's cold and windy! JoanMN/FL

Bee-yoo-tiful! the last one looks like sunset on the savannah in Africa...where's the elephant silhouette? LOL. JoanMN/FL

Ours was gorgeous, too -- NE of Orlando. Pink and blue. We have some really beautiful sunsets here; waaay more than anywhere else we've lived.