I can't help with the tired part, but if you want to stop quite a lot of backscatter, add backscatterer.org to your SMTP blacklist.

It's that they're a bit heavy-handed (and I can't entirely disagree), but as one who frequently irritates spammers I'd be dead in the water without that blacklist.

I feel you ajt, thank good the holidays are not to far for me. I still got all of my vacation time.
So I m gonna take off to Colorado on ma 10th to see friends in the states, I cant wait to spend my time without internet.... well I fear the house has wireless (what I might use for geocaching).

Forgot to login, the last post was me.

Have a great weekend, Toby

This was me, forgot to login.

Have a great weekend, Toby

I don't have a solution for the wind and the rain, though I can recommend a good high powered bb gun to solve the problems with the birds =).

I used to have a bird problem outside my bedroom window and I refused to remove the tree. So I purchased a bb gun and rented some high powered flood lights and pointed them at the tree all night long for a couple of weeks. I never got a clean shot on one of the birds, though I think the flood lights did enough to run them away. I can only assume the lighting made it easier for owls and other birds of pray to pick up dinner so the birds packed up and left.

Hope things get better for ya!