Martin House

[AgentOrange]

Some reading to kill time in quarantine.

The Bride gave me a Martin House to mount for my birthday. I am not as "handy" as some believe.

I have wanted one on my dock, so trying to mount it there.
I had to spend a hundred for a 12' steel telescoping pole, 36 for solar lights, 25 for stain, and 20 for decoy Martins. They forgot to add the hardware when shipping the pole, so had to acquire some steel bolts. I can't afford for my Bride to give me a present.

Here is the deal, most Martin houses you see are plastic gourds or thin wall plastic or tin.
The cedar one I wanted is heavy, but looks great after I stained it. Everything on the lake needs extra protection.


My big problem is due to math.
“Give me one firm spot on which to stand, and I shall move the earth.” – Archimedes
Archimedes was a smart guy, and he is biting me in the ass today. If you attach a pole to a dock and put a heavy load at the other end, where it hits the dock becomes the fulcrum point. The longer the lever -> well you see the problem.

I have this pole https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Compounding my problem is the wind often hits over 20mph, and over 30 is common. The lake gets white caps like the ocean, but not enough to surf. Boats pass and make waves. The dock bounces around like a fishing cork. That heavy house way up on a pole is exerting heavy stress below as it shifts back and forth from the dock moving. Some connection is bound to fail at some some point. That will be where the house or the dock is attached to the pole. That pole is not going to bend.

Years back had solidly attached a steel umbrella stand there. It is about 3' and slightly larger than the pole, so using that as my base. It looks something like this:


Attaching the house to the pole took some thinking and drilling, but I believe I have it rigged in. Time will tell. There is less stress there than below, but is a weak point.

I mounted two of these lights on top of the house "just because", sorta like a light house. My dock has solar power lighting , these are just fun, and very bright.



I attached two plastic Martins decoys. It is too late this year for a Martin, so if they never choose me, will have these to look at. I have Bluebirds and Cave Swallows there as I already have up 5 normal houses there. I raise a lot of birds on my dock.
If Martins don't show next year, someone will use this house.

The first section is about 7 foot up, so needed a step ladder to slide in the next sections. The dock floats and with wind and waves from boats, it bounces around. I like that when sitting in my chair, not so much when balancing on a ladder. I do have a touch of Vertigo. After eye surgery my eyes each form a different picture for my brain to deal with, and that makes it worse. Closing one eye when on the ladder helps.

Due to the pergola, could not get the ladder as close as I would prefer. The heavy house on the end of a pole and me on a ladder "reaching" trying to slip the other end in was almost more than I could handle as I am old and not strong (damn Archimedes). At the last second before I gave out, got it in. Better would be attaching the house after the poles are in, but lacking the hardware tried this way. As a plus, while falling might have harmed my house, I would have landed in the water.
Telescoping the pole down to service the house will be not as hard.

I hate a pole that is not straight. I am always adjusting the ones that hold my bird feeders.
The dock aint level, the pole sections are different diameter by design and don't fit tight. This pole is not perpendicular and will never be. I will be able to improve it some and take out the rattle. As a plus, folks will always know "Bill" did that, did not pay to have it done right.

I used duck tape, heavy plastic ties (I am a real RedNeck) and a 5' steel fence stake to reinforce where the pole slid into umbrella stand. That stopped movement there and made the pole closer to perpendicular. That should hold until some 10" steel clamp bands arrive from Amazon . (I am in isolation and can't just run to Lowes.)

My hope is on my next birthday the Bride just gives me a strippergram.