In Praise of Porches Revisited

by Mary Jo

Being crazy busy, I thought I'd invoke Wench Privilege to run a classic blog, and I came across this, one of the earliest blogs I ever wrote way back in 2006.   I decided to update it with new pictures, mentioning what has changed, and what has not.  

One of the signature features of newish American homes is the deck—a broad sweep of wood on which one can slap mosquitoes, dodge wasps, burn slabs of animal flesh over a grill, and wreck one’s skin.  From which description you may correctly deduce that I’m not a big fan of decks.  <g>

When I moved into this house 13 (now 22!) years ago, it was in possession of a small deck that was a very nice staging area for my pots and pots of flowers.  I am by no means the gardener that Jo and Pat are, but I grew up on a farm and I take deep, rather mindless pleasure in watering my flowers and pinching off the dead blossoms and generally maintaining at least a minimal connection with nature.

But I never, ever, actually sat on that deck.  Being right by trees, it had way too many bugs, and since I’m a pasty Anglo-Saxon who hates sitting in the sun, it was too hot for most of the summer.  (I have now reached the age where all that youthful sun-avoidance is paying off.  Who knew that not playing the “my tan is darker than your tan” game would have such benefits? <g>)

Since the original deck was in the process of slowly falling to pieces, I spent years trying to decide what to do about it.  A screened porch would be lovely—I adored sitting on a friend’s screened porch and admiring the squirrels and relaxing without bugs or sunburns.  But a screened porch would eliminate my summer flowers and winter bird feeders.

Last summer, I finally figured out how to improve and upgrade my connection to the great outdoors: make it bigger.  Through pure luck, I found a fabulous remodeler who was looking for a smallish project to fill in some time, and he built me a small but beautiful screened porch with a narrow open deck extension just big enough for my flowers and birdfeeder.  Plus, he installed a window in the dining room so I could see my birds and flowers.   (What’s the point of flowers if you can’t see them???)

I adore my screened porch.  I bought some ultra comfortable chairs and added good lighting and whenever feasible, I like to sit out there and read and enjoy the breeze and trees.  Or maybe read research books after finishing the newspaper.  

The ideal is what the Mayhem Consultant calls “Goldilocks weather”—not too hot, not too cold, but juuuuuust right.  Naturally the weather doesn’t always cooperate, but with fleece throws stored in a porch cabinet and a ceiling fan, I can expand the acceptable temperature range quite a bit.

But my lovely porch is by no means free of distractions.  My favorite are the rare hummingbirds who buzz by like hyperkinetic little green helicopters.  Very fond they are of my red and purple flowers.  Once I heard a slight sound and looked up to see a tiny goldfinch perched sideways on the screen about 18” above my head, its feathers lemon bright.  Most of the other birds are what they call “common birds”—robins, sparrows, maybe a cardinal or nuthatch—but that’s okay, I’m pretty common, too, and I love watching them darting and chattering in the white pines that almost touch the porch.

UPDATE:  Sadly, I no longer have bird feeders because after prolonged battle, the squirrels won.  The furry little marauders would attack the bird feeders and scatter all the seeds within hours, leaving none for the birds.  I don't mind so much the squirrels having some, but I hated the way they despoiled everything.  To avoid a nervous breakdown, I surrendered.  No more bird feeders, so now there are fewer birds.

The sliding door to the living room has to be kept open six inches no matter what the heat so the cats can come and go.  Grady likes to sprawl on the table top, master of all he surveys.  Lacey slinks out like a furry serpent, her green eyes darting in all directions as she looks for threats.  They both go into a kind of holy trance when they see chipmunks, which the cats probably define as “lunch.”  <g>  They aren’t as interested in the squirrels, who must look too much like a fair fight.

UPDATE: The cats have changed. Sweet Grady is gone and Lacey, who is quite the old girl now, seldom comes outside anymore.  But Grady was replaced by three other rescue tomcats, and they all love it out here!

Interestingly, since I acquired my screened porch, I find that many, many people really love screened porches, but most of the time, they don’t have one.  They have decks. <g>  A friend said she’d love a screened porch, but screening in part of her deck wouldn’t look good, so she’ll stick with her deck, which she never uses.  Me, I'll go for comfort and convenience every time.

The writing life has its downsides, as all jobs do.  Cash flow can be grim, one works in a business that defines the term “thin ice,” and one spends most of one’s time either writing, thinking about writing, or feeling guilty about not writing.  <g>  But there are some really major pluses, too.  And one of them is being able to work on one’s porch.  

Mary Jo, who actually wrote this inside on her desktop because it’s HOT out there.

MJP UPDATE 2015:  Today is Goldilocks weather!  The Mayhem consultant and I enjoyed coffee, ice cream, and a nice bit of reading after supper in the company of the three tomcats.  And when I was watering the deck flowers, a hummingbird buzzed by.<G>

Are you a lover of porches?  Particularly screened porches?  Or do you prefer decks, or perhaps nothing at all?  Let me know your preferences, and I'll give an ARC (advance reading copy) of my September book, Not Always a Saint, to one person who comments between now and Saturday midnight.

Mary Jo

Comments

[Sonya Heaney]

Decks are a HUGE thing in Australia too. Our back deck is a full floor off the ground (we live in the hills) so it feels like a safari park! It's all a matter of buying enormous umbrellas you can move around depending where the sun comes from at various times of the year...

I love your cats. I'm missing our strays (mum and a whole litter, gone to new homes).

Don't enter me - I've already read an ARC of the book. :)

[Kathy Lynn Emerson]

We have a back deck where the husband grills but the smartest thing we ever did was screen in our front porch. It doesn't face the road so I have a view of flowers and trees and as soon as the sun comes up (very early this time of year in Maine) the three cats are sitting next to the door, ready to go out. If I time things right, I have writing tasks to do that don't require me to be on the computer on the nicest days.

[Vicki N. Hammons]

I've always wanted a house with a deck and enclosed porch. I love hearing the birds singing, especially in the Spring. But alas I, too, don't care for bugs. On the other hand, mosquitoes just love me. I, currently, live with my youngest son, who rentd a house with a deck, in Arkansas. Early morning is nice but it is so hot here right now, I mostly stay in the house. Been in four years and I'm still not used to this heat, California girl that I am. Thank you for the opportunity to win one of your books and have a beautiful weekend.

[Samantha]

I love decks. My Grandmother had a house in the Bay Area where the whole backyard was a multi level deck. IT was surrounded by a tall wood fence and many trees so you could pick your sun or shade area depending on how you felt at the time. There were beautiful flowers and plants and it always made me happy to be sitting back there reading a book. Of course Grandma's house was always magic.

[Janga]

I'm Southern, so front porches are part of my heritage. The house in which I grew up and the houses of both sets of grandparents and assorted great-aunts and uncles had huge front porches, each with a swing and rocking chairs. Even when I went away to college, my century-old dorm had a front porch that ran the width of the building with room enough for four swings and a dozen big, white rocking chairs. That porch was a favorite spot for quiet dreaming, lively conversations, and even relatively innocent romancing in a time and place where males were allowed past the porch and parlors only on the first and last day of the quarter.

Alas, my front porch is only large enough to hold a small bench and a single rocking chair, but just the word "porch" makes me nostalgic. And Wendell Berry's poem "They Sit Together on the Porch" moves me to tears.

[Alison Hiltabidle]

Screened porch all the way. I am a total mosquito magnet! I did live in a lovely little cottage in Howard County a few years ago that had a wonderful covered deck. No screens, but at least there was a roof. No cats at the time, but my dog LOVED to sit out there in the summer time.

[Laura]

I love them both - decks and screened in porches. I think I would prefer the screened in porch, though.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Your deck sounds gorgeous, Sonya! The height is not only lovely but probably raises you somewhat above insect level. (Do you have mosquitoes in your part of the world?) The wide unbrellas, as you say, are key.

I'm thinking your need to foster some new kitties....

[Mary Jo Putney]

Kathy, this sounds like a perfect arrangement! In with the cats, out with the grill, and it sounds private and lovely like my screened porch.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Thank you, Vicki! Since it's a rental, it doesn't make sense to screen that porch in, and who wants to become a mosquito banquet? Something like this might be worth considering: a portable canopy with netting that can be set on a deck:
http://gazebosnpergolas.com/deluxe-popup-gazebo-canopy-w-mosquito-net-carry-bag-509409672/

But in the meantime, avoid those mozzies!

[Molly Laird]

I would love to have a screen in pork. My sister house has both and it is nice on rainy days.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Samanantha, your grandmother's deck sounds gorgeous! The multiple levels are beautiful, and having flowers, trees, and your choice of sun and shade is ideal. In the Bay Area, maybe less mosquitoes as well?

[Carrie T.]

I love both. Unfortunately,I don't have a deck and the bees/wasps love our covered porch so it's a battle every summer to get rid of the nests and other insects. I miss the bats that used to help take care of that problem but the population has significantly declined with the white nose syndrome. I would love a screened porch or a deck.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Janga, the South really is home of the grand porches with rocking chairs and swing seats! YOur current one may be small, but it sounds like you're getting maximum value out of it.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Alison--just down the road so I'm sure there were mosquitoes, but a roof over a deck is the next best thing to a screened porch. And yes, dogs love decks; it's in their DNA. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

ESPECIALLY if you live in mosquito or wasp territory, Laura! But being able to sit out in the fresh air is a fine thing almost anywhere.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Molly--I hope your sister is close enough to visit easily! I love being out on the porch when it's raining. I feel very close to nature, but dry. Dry is good. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Carrie, I'm sorry your bat population has been diminished. They're useful little guys.

[Charlene S.]

I enjoy my open back porch. But I live in Las Vegas and unfortunately, it's just too hot to sit outside in the summer.

[Jana]

I am not a fan of decks for exactly the reasons you mention. I hate the bugs and baking in the sun is not my idea of a good time. I've never really thought about screened porches, you made yours sound so appealing! I am and always have been an indoors girl. Even as a child I preferred to stay inside and read or play with my dolls or Barbies rather than go outside with bugs and the wind and the sunburns. My mom, who was always an active outdoorsy sort, didn't quite know what to do with me. Now I like to be outdoors with a purpose, hiking, camping (even just in the backyard with the little boy), going for a walk or bike ride are much more interesting to me then sitting on my deck. All that said, I sometimes find myself watching the home and garden network and admiring the amazing "outdoor living" spaces they design. I fear they'd be wasted on me though.

[Quantum]

I would never install decking in my garden. The wood can get very greasy in wet weather and there is all the maintenance to worry about as it ages.

No, I like conservatories (porches with glass roofs) where I can grow exotic plants to complement the more hardy varieties in the outside garden.

My wife and I often visit Stately Homes here in the UK, looking for gardening ideas, and we are often awed by splendid displays in the large conservatories. Sometimes Figs and grapes fruiting high up and massive bunches of the large flowered fuchsias low down.

I remember Norah Roberts wrote a Garden trilogy which I enjoyed a lot. MJ, maybe you could consider adding a garden based adventure to the fallen angels series? I love that series and hate to think it is finished at book 7.

Some plants are extremely poisonous so if murder is contemplated, alternatives more difficult to detect than arsenic (which you used in 'One Perfect Rose') might be possible. Others have great healing powers which again might save a dying hero without invoking surgery (The Bargain).

Can't believe that I'm daring to suggest plot skeletons to a favourite author. Must curb my enthusiasm ... slaps own wrist! I'll gratefully read whatever comes from that magical pen. :)

[Cynthia Owens]

I have a love/hate relationship with our backyard. Here in Eastern Canada, we try to take advantage of our short summer (also referred to as "construction season"). When we moved into our house 14 years ago, we had a small deck, which seemed adequate for our needs then. We added a gazebo a few years later - our first. Sadly, it ended up in a neighbor's pool after a small tornado touched down in our yard. Our second gazebo collapsed after a surprise dump of wet snow in early October. It was then we decided to demolish the deck we had and have a new and bigger one built last summer. If the weather's not too hot, it makes a lovely spot for an evening writing session while I watch the sun set.

[Faith]

I'm in favor of whatever allows me to step outside and enjoy a small patch of nature, complete with birds. Do squirrels bother hummingbird feeders?

Hummingbirds are my favorites anyway, and the next-to-last time I had a deck, the male (they nested just above our deck every year) would hover at our various sliding glass doors till someone got their butt out there and refilled the feeder.

Then for 15 years I lived in a climate so benevolent that I could sit outside without screens and admire redwoods and wildlife year round.

No deck or screened porch right now, though, and I miss them terribly!

[Danielle]

Sadly, I live in an apartment complex. So, I don't have a porch/deck option. But, we do have a patio. We have a small table and 2 chairs. I really like eating meals out there. There are also lovely trees outside our patio, and we are lucky enough to be on the outskirts of the complex, so it's rather private. It doesn't look out onto the rest of the complex, but rather, the street. I often take out our big beach blanket and a bag of toys, and my son and I sit in the shade under the tree and play. It's amazing how being outside under a tree lets my always-on-the-go 13 month old just sit and be and really focus on his toys. It's great!

[Patricia Ross]

I love deck and screen rooms i actually want both on our house so no matter the weather we can get some air.

[Samantha]

definitely fewer bugs. That goes for the west coast in general (I'm in Oregon). Maybe if I lived over east or south I would learn to love the screened in porch!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Yikes, Cynthia, a tornado? And snow collapse? Good that you now have a bigger, better, and hopefully stronger deck that you can use to enjoy "construction season." *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

LOL about the imperious male hummingbird who glared at you to come and refill the feeder. *G* I never put a hummingbird feeder up because I read the warning that if you didn't keep the sugar water fresh, you could end up killing the little guys, and I wouldn't be able to stand the guilt. I don't know if a hummingbird would attract squirrels the way birdseed does, but the little furry hugs might go after them just to see what happens. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Danielle, how nice that your patio is private and that you and your little guy can enjoy it so much together!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Quantum, a true conservatory is AWESOME, and some of the great houses do them beautifully. Orangeries were common, and being able to grow pineapples to treat visitors made the pineapple a sign of hospitality.

I've had conservatories in a couple of my books, particularly the Bride trilogy. The heroine of the first Bride book, The Wild Child, was a really serious gardener, and the hero of the second, The China Bride, built his wife a conservatory to remind her of the gardens of her childhood in Macao. I'm not a real gardener myself, but I do like looking at growing things. And feel free to make suggestions!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Charlene--

But surely nice in the winter? The winters are one reason why people move to the desert.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Jana, I'm also the indoor type. A screened porch is having an outdoor/indoor experience in comfort. *G* I must admit that I'd get bored just sitting out there if I didn't have something to read.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Patricia--it really is nice to have both. And if I was going to dream, I might add on a conservatory--a four season windowed room with lots of lovely lush plants. (I'd better wish for a staff to take care of them at the same time. *G*)

[Helen]

Hi Mary-Jo

What a lovely nostalgic post here in Australia unless the deck is covered it is way to hot to sit out on I have a small back porch that is covered ad nice out there in winter with the sun but way too hot in summer but my daughter has just bought a new house and she has a wonderful deck up high overlooking the pool with sails above to keep the sun off a bit but for me any place I can relax is good :)

Have Fun
Helen

[Kara Brooks]

Being a fairskinned redhead who also avoids the Tanning Games, I prefer a screened porch and have one at the back of my house. I can go out and watch the ducks, anhingas, cormorants, and turtles parade on the lake. I have many squirrels who chatter at me when they want corn or peanuts, and late at night I have raccoons and possums and neighborhood cats wandering around. My yard is the "safe" yard for all critters. In fact, three of my cats were dumped in the neighborhood who ended up here for sanctuary. Just call me the crazy critter lady!

[Cynthia St. Germain]

I love the old fashion wrap around porches that you see on houses in the south and older Victorian Homes. Because you can set up little seating area or game areas as you would like

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1544509004]

My deck is called the Margaret Mead Green of the Theodore Roosevelt Park. It surrounds the American Museum of Natural History. It's hard to have a deck on the 10th floor. :-)

Robin Greene

[gamistress66]

best money I ever spent was getting the screen porch enclosed with windows (with screens). a lot less dirt gets in (mine is at ground level and lots of trees/etc in the area, could clean today & hardly tell the next time & bugs still got in) one of the big sellign points on the house when I bought it was the screened porch, and now it's my favorite room. with the windows I get to enjoy it for longer periods and in different weather. love sitting out there reading well into the evening (yea for reading apps on tablets), taking care of computer/paper work on a nice afternoon, not to mention grilling and eating out there :) yep, best money spent :)

[Mary Jo Putney]

Helen--I think you need to start visiting yoru daughter regularly when the weather is right! I know the sun can be fierce in your part of the world, but having a roof or a sail makes all the difference.

[Mary Jo Putney]

I just looked up the anhinga! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhinga I've never heard of them, but I can see that you have a fine variety of fauna with you. Lucky cats!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Those wonderful southern verandas are large enough to hold a complete family reunion with sweet tea and watermelon. *G* As you say, they can be nicely divided into separate conversational groupings. Nice, and in the south, usable a good part of the year.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Robin, I think you're in balcony country. *G* The Margaret Mead Green sounds well worth checking out!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Gamistress, my screened porch has given us the greatest shared pleasure of any improvement I've made to this house. It sounds like you get full and varied pleasures out of yours!

[Sue W. McCormick]

When I was growing up in the 30s, all the neighborhood kids collected on the veranda of my friend's house. I didn't have screens, but the veranda would hold 2 groups with board games, a porch swing, and one or 2 conversation groups. That was St. Louis, 2nd hottest city in the major leagues (Washington DC was the hottest).

Now I live in mid-Missouri; we have a tin-roofed, cement floored patio at the rear of the house and a cement porch at the front. Both are big enough for seating or for grilling. We we are qualified senior citizens now and Missouri weather doesn't tempt up outside at all.

[Melkallajian]

Hi Mary Jo,

Here in the northeast I eagerly await the first warm days, not because I have a porch or deck (would love to have a screened one). But instead, I have Adirondack chairs set up on my front lawn under the trees where I sit and read and often visit with friends who go by. We have found we can keep away many of the bugs by setting up an ossilating fan so we enjoy the stars when they are out too. It is truly a sad day for me when the chairs are put away for the season.

Melanie

[Karin]

At my previous house, which was in a town full of historic Victorian homes, we had a front porch. The houses were so close together that we could converse with the neighbors from each other's porches. It made for a very friendly neighborhood, but you couldn't barbeque on it.
Now I've got a backyard brick patio, which I love. It's a great place for reading. I can enjoy my flower garden, there's a big shade tree and I have both birdseed and hummingbird feeders.

[Kathy K]

I live in Texas, where the summers are hot,hot, hot (and long)! We have a screened porch with a fan, but it's still too hot to use it most of the year. A deck doesn't work as well in flat country but the pictures of decks look wonderful. I freckle and burn, so never have been a tanning fan. I love looking at flowers if someone else has planted and tended them. My part is to pay the gardener and drink cold tea on the porch. (grin)

[Michelle H]

Like all the other Wenches postings....all so different from each other yet endlessly fascinating I loved this one. And what a subject! I have also loved everyone's comments. I always like the glimpses of your kitty companions, Mary Jo, we're cat lovers here. Cat or dog lover, no matter who we are our pets are family.

The next house absolutely has to have a three season porch. I didn't say four season, because we plan to retire to a more northerly location...back closer to family and old friends. I rarely enjoy our covered patio here in TX, because of the heat and mosquitoes. We tried the screened umbrella/temp gazebo thing several times without success and my hubby said "NO MORE." ha.

We lived in a small town in upstate New York for 18 years that had a front porch, which I filled with lots of flowers and Boston ferns each very short hot humid summer. We never had the front porch enclosed, because the other ones in the neighborhood just looked wrong, like an afterthought. I know I would have enjoyed it a lot, as would have my son who frequently asked me to come outside at night when it was SLIGHTLY cooler, with as many citronella candles as we could manage and still breathe and spray up with bug spray.....to talk. My husband wasn't asked because he's a bug magnet in the extreme, and refused early on. But what mom could deny her little boy the chance to talk!!!??? For goodness sake. Getting kids to talk at all once they are a certain age. Porches are conducive to that sort of thing, as is nighttime in the summer, warm breezes, lots of stars, fireflies.

So many really good movie scenes take place on a front porch, book scenes too. In the Regency romances it's usually the garden or the veranda (wrong word, I'm sure!)

OH PLEASE enter me into the drawing for the upcoming book Mary Jo. Can't wait. I recently finished book 5 in the Lost Lords series. LOVE them! Thank you for them all, as well as all your other works.

[Annette N]

I live in a town house community - so I have the patio assigned to each of us. If I had my druthers, I would have a wrap around porch on an old house. In the past, in Texas those big deep porches and a house situated just right would provide a breeze. That was to prevent death by heat stroke. But, since I do live in this real world, I live in a town house. I think a screened in porch - would be lovely. But, inside the screen - could I please have my two green lizards and the toads who climb into the flower pots and make small caves? Being outside without them would be lonely.

[Diane Sallans]

I've always wanted a nice big covered front porch with a couple nice ricking chairs, and also a screened in porch with a chaise for reading! Right now I do have a couple big windows near a sofa chaise that is a simulation.

[Jennie Knight]

I agree about the marauding squirrels. The only feeders I have now are two hummingbird feeders. The hammers perform an aerial ballet outside my window every day. When summer comes with its HHH (hot, humid,and hazy) days I am unable to spend much outdoors. I live Lupus and COPD which sets limits for me. I have a recliner by the window through which I can watch the out doors. Besides the various birds, we are visited by deer, rabbits and turkeys.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Sue, there is a LOT to be said for air conditioning! I'm a northerner and do better with cold than heat.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Melkallajian--

VERY clever to use the oscillating fan to keep the bugs away. For a northerner, it's always said when we put away the chairs or whatever else signals the end of summer. Long months till the next one.

[theo]

When we moved last October, we bought a house based on what my husband wanted (he panic bought, long story) more than what I'd hoped for. The one redeeming thing about my house now is the 40' long, 10' wide front porch that I'm often tempted to sleep on rather than spend time inside. The house is growing on me a little bit, but the porch is a godsend.

I have a hummer feeder outside the front window just off said porch. I had lots of hummers at the old house and was so afraid I wouldn't here, but they came. And a couple bird feeders. I've seen two squirrels here in the past 10 months. And I like them! You need to get a Woodlink Audobon Squirrel Baffle. They run about $25 at Amazon and kept the hundreds we had at the old house completely off the feeders. It was wonderful and we all managed to live in peace because I'd toss some seed on the ground for the squirrels and they couldn't get to the feeders.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Baltimore has a lot of rowhouses with the chat-back-and-forth front porches, which is good for neighborhood friendships, while that backyard patio is great for privacy. As an introvert, I'm more in favor of the privacy, but both have value.

[Mary Jo Putney]

The gardener and iced tea sound like splendid life plans to me. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Upstate New York, where I grew up! Summers may not be long, but they're lovely. And nice that porches work for long, lazy talking with the offspring. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Annette, I'm thinking you'd need to build a little reptile entrance so your pals could come and go. Then you'd have to convince them to use it. Food is a good motivator. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Diane, rocking chairs and verandas go REALLY well together. The big windows with the sofa chaise sound like a very good all season alternative.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Jennie, what wonderful wildlife watching you have! Nice that you can watch them all from inside. We don't have the turkeys here. Lots of deer and squirrels and chipmunks, sometimes foxes or ground hog. Nature watching is such fun.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Theo, the porch sounds lovely, though I'm sorry you didn't get a house closer to what you wished.

My squirrel problem is that the place to hang feeders leaves them vulnerable to assault from below as well, as above so I don't think there's a solution. BUt I'll look at that squirrel baffle. Hope springs eternal. And squirrels do the same *G*

[Yvonne]

My home in Australia has roofed verandahs on all sides so I can usually find a sunny, sheltered spot to read, watch the birds or just do nothing.

[Vicki W.]

Drats! My nice long reply has gone missing... Okay, feeders to combat squirrels. I have tons of them (furry critters) and these are two of my feeders that really work well.

This one I put hulled sunflower chips in and I get nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, house finch, gold finch, siskins, red-bellied, hairy and downy woodpeckers. Also a few other birds but those are the ones I see on it that most.

http://shop.wbu.com/p/wbu-small-quick-clean-seed-tube-bird-feeder-green?pp=12

This next feeder has a grid around it that slides down when the weight of the squirrel makes it close. I get all sizes of birds on that one also because they feed at the ports.

http://shop.wbu.com/p/wbu-fundamentals-squirrel-proof-bird-feeder/squirrel-proof-bird-feeders?pp=12

Both of these are kind of pricy but they do have a replacement policy if it gets destroyed.

[Vicki W.]

Now I'll try to redo my comment about porches...which I LOVE. Actually I love porches (screened or unscreened), decks, patios..

However, here in Georgia, definitely having a screened porch makes a world of difference because only the occasional mosquito comes in. I used to have a deck and when it rotted out, we replaced it with a screened porch. It is on the front of the house but it still feels private even though the street is right out there. But I am on a deadend off a deadend road. I use it lots.

Napping, reading, watching the birds, paint my toe nails, do paperwork, chatting with my husband, etc. I even have a few plants that tolerate shade to give it more comfort. It looks naked with no plants!

Growing up, my parents house had a big porch that had a swing with plenty of room for chairs. The previous owner had used marble to make the floor so it was always cool to sit on in the summer. (Not huge slabs of marble, but marble chunks, stepping stone size.)

Gardening with fans..yes, just have a long extension cord and you can drag a fan anywhere you need to work. Keeps you cooler AND the bugs away... My husband taught me that - he uses it when he has to work on his vehicle.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Yvonne--so like a cat, you can follow the sun as you wish. Verandahs on all sides of the house would be perfect!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Hmmm, possibly the one with the weight slide would work. Must think about this. My relationship with the local squirrels makes me feel like an abused wife. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Vicki--replacing the deck with the screened porch was clearly a wise decision! It sounds lovely. I put an overhead fan in mine for cooling off, but I don't really garden so I don't need to move a fan around with me. Still pondering if there is such a thing as a squirrel proof bird feeder. *G*

[theo]

I think you could use one above and one below. It was worth every penny we spent. I never had another squirrel in the feeder. The birds were happy, the squirrels got seed on the ground for them to pick at and I was happy that I wasn't spending a fortune on seed anymore.

[Barbara Elness]

I have a back patio that looks out onto a pool, which is enclosed by a screened enclosure, so you could say I have a screened in porch. I don't spend much time out there just sitting, mostly I go for a swim, maintain the pool, or sweep the porch, or take care of plants, but it's just too darned hot most of the time to hang out there. Even though there's a ceiling fan, it's just not as nice as the a/c inside.

[Kate Sparks]

We have had screened back porches on all but our first home. I wouldn't want to be without one!!

[Vicki W.]

The first one also works because the squirrels can't get ANYTHING out of the holes and it is a very tough plastic they can't chew through. The first one I got from them has lasted at least 10 years. My 2nd one (in a different part of the yard) has been there for 3 years.

Oh yeah...those squirrels...they used to steal one feeder and carry it up in the trees until I tied a big piece of plumbing pipe that was steel to it. Then it stayed put.

[Mary Jo Putney]

+++they used to steal one feeder and carry it up in the trees until I tied a big piece of plumbing pipe +++

LOL! THOSE are the kinds of squirrels I have. But the biggest complication is that I have no good place to hang a feeder that isn't very squirrel accessible. It's either low white pine branches behind the house--very squirrel friendly--of hanging from flower basket hooks right by the house. Either is a breeze for the average squirrel, unfortunately.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Barbara. I'd say that a screened patio is pretty much the same as a screened porch--they're both outdoors and protected. And if you live in a hot zone (which it sounds like you do)the heat is just as debilitating.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Kate, I think once a person has lived with one, we don't want to go back and NOT have one!