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Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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Pequot man makes sure birds can live in style
Staff Writer PEQUOT LAKES - Stone by stone, wall by wall, hour by hour.
The rocks and walls create school houses, post offices, lawyer offices, hunting shacks, barns and much more for birds to call home.
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Sixty-eight-year-old Bob Badgerow of rural Pequot Lakes recently sat on his back steps and posed with his two favorite bird houses that he made. Brainerd Dispatch/Jennifer Stockinger
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Bob Badgerow, 68, rural Pequot Lakes, has been making bird houses for the past 20 years and he began making the houses with stones two years ago.
"It's a hobby," said Badgerow. "It's relaxing when I'm working on them. I enjoy it, if I didn't I wouldn't be doing it ... It also gives Katy (my wife) a break from me."
Badgerow was a builder for about 50 years before he retired in 2002, after a battle of Stage 4 cancer. Badgerow began helping his dad build houses at age 12. Badgerow was a self-employed builder and he built homes in Brainerd, Nisswa and in Pequot Lakes.
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This is one of the first attempts made by Bob Badgerow for making rock bird houses. He first made a rock chimney and then grew his talent into making bird houses. Brainerd Dispatch/Jennifer Stockinger
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Badgerow said he's always been handy in building and he likes to keep busy. He began building antique-looking bird houses 20 years ago and they were popular. He made so many that he began selling them at his wife's store then called The Posey Peddler in Nisswa. The store has since closed.
He made bird houses, feeders and mail boxes of all sizes. When he retired, the bird houses became even fancier. He added windows, doors and characters on the houses, such as a deer head mount on top of a door of a hunting shack.
Badgerow began adding rocks to his bird houses after seeing a PBS special on a man who built fireplaces with no mortar in them and he made rock bird houses.
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This is a windmill that comes with no maintenance required. Brainerd Dispatch/Jennifer Stockinger
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"I saw this and said to myself 'I can do that,'" said Badgerow at his home on West Twin Lake. "I started by just doing a chimney on a house and it grew from there.
"I like rocks. Not agates, just pretty rocks. I get a majority of the rocks from Lake Superior by Silver Bay. You can collect them there, just not in the state parks."
Badgerow said he and his wife made six trips last year to Lake Superior to gather rocks. On average, the Badgerows collected four buckets per trip. This year the couple was only able to make one trip because Badgerow' cancer came back and he's undergoing chemotherapy.
"I'm still building bird houses, but I can't do as many because I get tired fast," said Badgerow.
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Call this the latest Flintstone Model. Your boxes for your mail and newspapers would never get vandalized as they are made out of rocks. Bob Badgerow makes rock bird houses that can be used as a mailbox or a newspaper carrier box. Brainerd Dispatch/Jennifer Stockinger
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Badgerow makes some of his bird house's roofs out of wood. He uses cedar shingles and slabs of poplar and white and red pine. Badgerow said he strips the bark off of the wood, stains it and fits it to match the house. He finds pieces of wood in the lakes area to put on his houses and he purchases wood from a local saw mill.
When Badgerow was healthy he made about four bird houses a week. Badgerow's work shop is located on the lower level of his home where he piddles around on the bird houses throughout the day. He said the longest part of the process is letting the adhesive glue dry after applying the rocks. Badgerow said he has to do one wall at a time. Badgerow said it takes him about 12 hours to build one bird house.
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Badgerow cut a piece of wood in his work shop located in his home in rural Pequot Lakes to make a roof he planned to place on one of his stoned bird houses. Brainerd Dispatch/Jennifer Stockinger
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Badgerow sells his bird houses at flea markets and art shows. Prices on the houses range from $40 to $120. He attends about 10 shows/markets a year, but this year he didn't go to as many. Badgerow said his son, Andrew, who lives in East Gull Lake, helps sell the bird houses. Badgerow said his son also knows how to make the bird houses.
Badgerow's most popular bird houses are the boat houses, fishing cabins and barns. Badgerow said many customers will see his bird houses and they'll give him a picture of a building they want him to create, like their cabin or store. Badgerow said his bird houses can be found in seven states: Minnesota, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
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