web1_TTL070717mosquito1.jpg

Misericordia students on the hunt for mosquitoes

web1_Wedding.jpg

On the Books: ‘People We Hate at the Wedding’ full of hateable characters

<p>NANTICOKE &#8212; If you wondered where families had gathered to build birdhouses on a recent Tuesday evening, all you had to do was follow the sound of hammering at the Mill Memorial Library.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing we didn&#8217;t get a finger squished,&#8221; Audrey Urban, of Wilkes-Barre, happily reported after she and her daughters, 6-year-old Xena and 3-year-old Isis, took turns nailing wooden boards together.</p><p>As the girls painted their birdhouse red, teal and purple, Urban said she might install it outdoors, attached to the family clothesline pole. If that doesn&#8217;t work out, she said, &#8220;it will find a home in my father-in-law&#8217;s yard.&#8221;</p><p>Members of the Lombardi family, meanwhile, were getting ready to dip their brushes into the paint activities director Dena Bobbin was doling out, with 4-year-old Gabrielle voting for purple and 5-year-old Ella voting for pink.</p><p>Each daughter would get her wish, Dana Lombardi said, explaining their multi-color birdhouse would be pink, purple and &#8212; in keeping with the preferred color of her son, Jake &#8212; red.</p><p>&#8220;We see quite a bit of animals,&#8221; Dana Lombardi said. &#8220;We&#8217;re living in Sweet Valley, and we have deer and bears and squirrels and birds.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I found a bird&#8217;s nest,&#8221; Ella Lombardi said excitedly, adding there weren&#8217;t any birds in it.</p><p>Maybe birds will come to the new birdhouse. Ella and Gabrielle hope so.</p><p>Seven-year-old Garrett Makowski, of Wapwallopen, also hopes birds will come to the birdhouse he built with help from his parents.</p><p>Melanie and Lee Makowski have spotted and helped their son identify many birds around the area, including &#8220;hairy woodpeckers, cardinals, yellow finches, blue buntings and blue jays,&#8221; Melanie Makowski said.</p><p>For the Makowskis, the recent birdhouse-building session, which was part of &#8220;Build a Better World Week,&#8221; marked their first visit to the Nanticoke library. They came because their relatives David and Michelle Vnuk, of Newport Township, brought their 7-year-old son, Nathan, and invited the Makowskis to join them.</p><p>&#8220;Look, I made &#8216;brown,&#8217;&#8221; Nathan said as he dipped a paintbrush into a jar of water and watched it turn darker.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m having a blast,&#8221; said his father, David, whose affinity for carpentry comes in handy in his job as an instructor at the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center.</p><p>For other parents, the carpentry aspect of birdhouse building was more of a novel experience.</p><p>Audrey Urban, for one, said she brings her children to the library primarily for the reading opportunities.</p><p>&#8220;These two get tons of books out of the library,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It must be, like, 50 a week.&#8221;</p><p>The chance to make a craft or join the LEGO Club only adds to family fun, she said.</p><p>And, the crafters&#8217; efforts might end up sheltering some families of birds.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a &#8216;mommy bird,&#8217; a &#8216;daddy bird&#8217; and an &#8216;uncle bird&#8217;,&#8221; Michelle Vnuk said with a nod toward 7-year-old Nathan. &#8220;That&#8217;s how he describes them.&#8221;</p><p><ins>For other Life Section stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/features" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A very trusting dad, Joe Bobbin, of Nanticoke, holds the nail so his daughter Lily, 7, can drive it into the wooden birdhouse frame at Mill Memorial Library in Nanticoke. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>A very trusting dad, Joe Bobbin, of Nanticoke, holds the nail so his daughter Lily, 7, can drive it into the wooden birdhouse frame at Mill Memorial Library in Nanticoke. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Melanie Makowski, of Wapwallopen, takes a cell phone photo of her husband, Lee, helping their son. Garrett, 7, build his birdhouse. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Melanie Makowski, of Wapwallopen, takes a cell phone photo of her husband, Lee, helping their son. Garrett, 7, build his birdhouse. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Proud mom Michelle Vnuk looks over the shoulder of her husband, David, as their son, Nathan, 7, works on his birdhouse. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Proud mom Michelle Vnuk looks over the shoulder of her husband, David, as their son, Nathan, 7, works on his birdhouse. </caption2><photoCredit2>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Sisters Gabrielle, 4, left, and Ella Paull, 5, sand down their birdhouse with some help from mom, Dana Lombardi, of Sweet Valley. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Sisters Gabrielle, 4, left, and Ella Paull, 5, sand down their birdhouse with some help from mom, Dana Lombardi, of Sweet Valley. </caption3><photoCredit3>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Isis Urban, 3, left, and her sister Xena, 6, begin to add the finishing touches by painting their birdhouse. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Mill-Memorial-Lib-Birdhouse-5.jpg</photo4><caption4>Isis Urban, 3, left, and her sister Xena, 6, begin to add the finishing touches by painting their birdhouse. </caption4><photoCredit4>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Families share craft time at Mill Memorial Library</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Families build birdhouses together at Mill Memorial Library in Nanticoke