Here it is Thursday, and it is the first time I have been able to make a blog entry because I am awake and Max is not. This is harder than I thought it would be.
To prepare for my time home, I have set up bird feeders so I can watch the birds. First there is a nice platform feeder my friend Steve made as a mental health project. It has sunflower seeds and some millet scattered on the platform.
The well is not functional, so don't be alarmed that it will be contaminated by bird poop.
Next, I got some cylinder feeders. One has sunflower seeds and the other has thistle seeds ("Nyjer (tm)").
And I attached a suet feeder to the tree at the far end of the yard and put in some peanut butter suet.
I also scattered some millet on the ground by the pump.
And I turned the cat food bin into the bird food bin, and placed it conveniently near the feeders.
I did all this on Sunday morning. So far there have been no birds. It's not that there aren't tons of birds around. I hear lots of white-throated sparrows in the brush outside the fence. I saw mama cardinal in a tree not 20 yards from the feeders. The woodpecker continues to fly to and from the pine tree next to the shed every morning and evening. But nobody has come to the feeders.
Actually today (Thursday) there was a visitor. It was a squirrel. I immediately activated the anti-squirrel defenses. Monkey leaped off the couch, bounded out the front door, looked over at the squirrel, and bounded back inside where it was warm.
We also have at long last received our patio furniture for the screened porch. The patio furniture entailed lengthy debate and discussion, first about what it should be made of (wood? aluminum? wicker?) and then what the upholstery should be. I am delighted with my excellent choices and Debra has acceded to them without too lengthy a negotiation.
From the porch, you have an excellent view of the bird feeders. If it weren't so cold I would be sitting out on the chair watching the birds that are not there.
My final and most coolest project for the enjoyment of nature I just got off e-Bay from Mike's Hunting and Critter Supplies. It's a bat box!
Here is the view from the roof by the bat box. I bet there are lots of bats out there. They should be very happy in my bat box, because they can swoop right out and eat all the mosquitoes in the swamp.
And best of all, you can see the bat box from Max's bed.
Max is going to like bats because they are his friends who eat bugs.
My sister Kate and her family came to meet Max on Sunday. Here is my brother-in-law Brian and my nephew Harry and my niece Elle.
It is a pernicious lie that Elle was named after a magazine at the obstetrician's.
It was nice to have Kate visit because she will take pictures that I wouldn't. I am not a prideful person, and I wouldn't go showing off my insanely fabulous and outrageously desirable Brill Luxus 38 Push Reel Mower.
But Kate will document coolness where she finds it.
We talked Harry into taking a ride in the bike trailer, since Max is too small and Monkey is too big.
Harry really liked it, but he was very trepidatious at first.
(I just downloaded Firefox 2, and it has an annoying spell-checker that draws a little red line under "trepidatious". Spell checkers will be the death of the English language.)
Max is still cute.
He really likes his swingy chair.
The swingy chair puts him right to sleep.
Here he is with Hip-hop Harry.
When he's in the swingy chair, Max gets this expression like he is the cock-of-the-walk all-powerful commander of the universe. He's so cute.
1 comment:
You need to put the little stick things in the six holes so the birds will have a place to land. No place to land, no birds at the feeder. Might need to whittle them down a bit.
The bat box is nice.
I am getting serious about my new "winter mental health project."
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