“Where is Grandpa?” asked Edward as he came In the back door.

“He is downstairs in his shop, I think,” answered Grandma.

Ed ran down the stairs and over to grandpa who was standing at his workbench.

“What are you building, Grandpa?” asked Ed as he climbed on the stool next to the workbench.

“I’m building two habitat houses for my friends.  I saw both of them yesterday and they looked homeless to me.  I gave them water and fed them.  I guess they still wanted more because they came back today looking for more to eat.”

“Oh, Grandpa, it doesn’t look like you are building a house to me.”  Ed was trying to figure out just what grandpa was doing with one of his large saws.  “Who are you building the houses for?” asked Ed as he looked over his grandpa’s shoulder.

“Mister Blue and Mrs. Wren,” said Grandpa.  “I like them both and hope they will live next to our house.”

Ed began to laugh.  “There is not enough room for one house, much less two houses in your yard.”  He leaned overt on the workbench and put his head on his hands.

“Ah, but you forgot about the trees in the back yard,” said Grandpa.  “You see, these are going to be tree houses.”

“Grandpa, are you trying to joke with me?  Tree houses are for kids, not grown ups.”

Grandpa looked at Ed and grinned.  “You are mistaken about my friends.  They need a house so they can have a family.  They could build a house for themselves, but I don’t think they would be water tight and the wind might blow down the houses they would build without my help.”

Edward could tell that grandpa was smiling about something.  Then he saw a sheet of paper on the workbench.  He looked closely and there was a picture of a birdhouse.  Grandpa, you have been trying to fool me all the time, haven’t You?  You are building birdhouses, aren’t you?”

“Well, you figured me out, didn’t you?  Yes, I am building two birdhouses.  Would you like to help me?”  Grandpa picked up the drawing and began to explain what needed to be done to complete the houses.

Ed wasn’t sure he could saw a straight line, so grandpa began to show him how to hold the saw and to put his other thumb on the board to hold the saw on the line.  It wasn’t long before Ed was able to follow the lines.  By the time he had finished sawing the boards grandpa was ready to start drilling large holes in the two boards that would be the front of the house.

“Grandpa, why are you drilling the holes different sizes?”  Ed thought it was funny to make them different.

“Well, Ed, birds are different sizes.  Each bird likes to have entrances that just fits them and not larger.  Since I want different birds in our yard I will make too  different sizes for two different kinds of birds.”  Ed watched grandpa as he drilled the large holes.  “Okay, Ed, lets get some nails and start putting these boards together.  I will hold the nail and let you use the hammer if you promise to not hit my finger.”

“What if I do hit your hand,?” said Ed, as he picked up the hammer.

“It would hurt, but I’m pretty sure you won’t do that to me.”

After the two houses were put together, grandpa said, “I think we better paint these houses, don’t you think so?  Now what color should we paint them do you think?”

Ed thought for a minute. “I think brown like the tree trunk.  That would be more like a bird nest would be.”  When they finished painting they headed into the kitchen and fixed two glasses of raspberry ice tea.

“Grandpa, why are there so many different sizes of birds?  if they were all the same size they could share houses and nests.”

“That is quite a question, Ed.  I guess God wanted different sizes of birds to do different jobs.  Just like people.  Wouldn’t it be dull for all birds were the same size?  Who would eat the big bugs if all the birds were the same size as wrens?  I think it is nice to have all different sizes, don’t you?”

“I guess it would be dull, wouldn’t it?”  said Ed as he took a sip of tea.  “It is a good thing you have all those different sizes of drill bits, Grandpa.”

The end