Squirrels: 4,621. Humans: 0. Well Maybe Possibly-1

 We put up a bird feeder on the deck a few weeks ago. I think I mentioned it and was so excited about all the different birds coming to feed.  That was then.  This is now.

We have moved the bird feeder many times.  Each time we move it, we think we have moved it beyond the reach of the three squirrels who feel it is their personal granary.  So annoying.  We want to feed the birds.  Well, as Alissa says, "The squirrels need to eat, too." Yes, they do.  HOWEVER!!  The birds don't seem to get a chance at the seeds nor the suet with seeds inside.  I think the bird feeder is so cute.  It has a spot for suet bricks at each end and plenty of room for seeds inside, easily gotten to by removing the roof.

As you can see, even though we moved the feeder  far away from the chairs, the railings, and the big garden bins, the squirrels have figured out how to ascend the food house and fill their bellies.  We have not seen them do it, but there they are!

SO...ONE MORE TIME.  We moved the feeder on its shepherds crook into the front yard to a position outside our dining room window.  This morning, for the first time in the three days since we moved it, while we were eating breakfast, we saw one lonely bird having a gay old time eating to his heart's content.  Dear One said he hoped the bird would pass the word along.  II hope so, too!  I am looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!

2021 January Garden!

 Today was a busy day.  

Drove to Columbia to pick up a food order.

Went to Food Storage Center for wheat and dried onions which were finally back in stock.

Went to Sam's Club to pick up something for a friend, and by the way, found a lot of stuff we needed after all...nothing big because the car was already loaded!

Dropped off the artichoke spinach dip at a friend's house.

Dropped off the food order at the home of a sick family...being very careful to have no physical contact with them.

During all this I was making phone calls about dressing for burial a sister who passed earlier this week.  I am SO GLAD we were able to make connections and have scheduled sisters for that event for tomorrow morning. (Feel totally free to add us to your prayers for tomorrow...) The family had hoped for a special friend to be involved but she was sick and tested positive yesterday so she had to decline.

When we arrived home we decided we needed five-gallon buckets and gamma seal lids for the wheat which I knew we could get at Tractor Supply Company so I left Dear One at home since he had had enough fun for the day.  While at Tractor Supply I found not only the buckets and lids but LOTS of new bird feeders!  So I added a feeder and seeds and a fatty brick of seeds to the cart. I was horrified by the total but...

When I arrived home after another stop, this time at the pharmacy, I impressed Dear One with the bird feeder and food, went out onto the deck and pulled up the last of the dead tomatoes, basil, and ginger plants, threw them over the railing of the deck and installed the filled bird feeder.  And waited for birds to arrive. 

 Those dumb bunnies never came!  The nerve of them.  I do expect them in the morning.  Birds, in the winter, seem to mostly be out early in the day. It makes me happy to think they will be thrilled to find two different kinds of food first thing tomorrow morning.  Makes me want to leap out of bed at dawn. We shall see...

When I get up tomorrow, besides reveling in the joy of the feeding birds, I will drag off all the dead plants to mulch the "pond bed"...keeping my eyes open for reptiles, who I expect are sleeping somewhere...hopefully not near our garden.  I have a horror of some day disarming our alarm system in the morning, opening the blinds to the deck and find that guy smiling up at me.  Yikes!  What a nightmare that is...a recurring one, unfortunately.  What a baby I am.

It is so fabulous that the pot of spring bulbs we bought last year has survived to try again this spring. We are hoping for the best!