I see Spring!

I really think I saw signs of spring today! Even through the brief snow flurries! Isee some green shoots coming up out of the ground-Irises! More color at the bird feeder - lots of yellow finches today.

Friday, my 4H club started making plans for a garden. We will grow some things for our furry friends, some for our feathered friends and some for us! We planted some flower seeds at the meeting to take home and start indoors now.

Sewing classes are in the works, I should have a scedule next week. My Mom and I are starting a site on Etsy soon too. I convinced Mom to sell some of quilting to help support her passion. i can't wait to see what she is willing to part with. Whatever it is will be very special, and not just because she is Mom; she has won several awards at quilting shows.

Baking this week was very sweet-an angel food, vanilla pudding and pineapple cake with whip cream for Mom's 83rd birthday! So light and fluffy we all wanted more!

Bully Birds

Monday night I went to a presentation about bullying that was very informative. There were kids and adults present so there was a good mix of questions, opinions and experiences. It was presented by Putnam County DA along with other officials from the county. They are working to get the their message out to as many people as possible and would like to do more presentations; they need to be invited into schools.

Tuesday morning I was reading Wildlife Conservation magazine and came upon an article about the Nazca Booby, a bird that lives on the Galapagos Islands. Apparently these birds, as chicks, will fight and kill their siblings right after they hatch. It seems they do this to improve their chance of survival. These surviving chicks tend to be bullies even into adulthood. The chicks who have no siblings in the nest do not appear to be aggressive as adults.

I wonder if there have been studies on bullying and siblings in humans? It would be interesting to see if more bullies come from large familes and does birth order have any affect........................

 

Birders to do list

I just realized that I did not add my To Do list to the birdcount message! Right now is migration, and believe it or not, nest building time. So put out some bird food and suet (see recipe below), get the birdhouses out and clean them up. It is also helpful for the birds, if you put out some nesting materials like yarn scraps, string, dryer lint work, fabric scraps, cottonballs; put them in something like a suet feeder and hang close to the feeders. When my wonderful dog, Ginger, was with us, I would take her outside and brush out her winter undercoat. The loose fur would make big poofy reddish brown tumbleweeds. At one point I was gathering them and throwing them away until one day when it was windy and I lost quite a few. About a week or two later I was watching a bird fly back and forth building a nest and when I got a good look at the nest I noticed that it was kind of furry and the same color as Ginger's fur! So after that I stopped throwing away the fur.

Recipe for bird treats that look good enough to eat:

Melt 1 cup shortening and 2 cups chunky peanut butter over low heat, then mix in 5 cups cornmeal. Fill paper cupcakes liners and top with nuts, bird seed, dried berries. Cool in refridgerator.

This recipe is from Birds and Blooms magazine, Jan 2011 issue

My 4h club made these for the backyard birdcount. I will attempt tp post a picture!

Sewing for Spring

I am feeling very inspired by the spring weather this week! I am also in need of a new favorite purse/hangbag. So I think my sewing class will be some easy to make bags! I will go searching for the perfect fabrics tomorrow!  I am thinking of offering classes during the day for adults and Sunday afternoon fro both kids and adults. I will put it out there next week and see if what kind of feedback I get. Most likely I will start out church - Gilead, Carmel, NY - and possibly hold some at the White Pond center as well.

My bird count and bird to do list

I would like to thank my friend Michelle for posting and asking some questions! What was my bird count you ask? Well, I did not even attempt to count the flocks that took over my yard for a good portion of the official count. My regular birds were easy to count. I usually have about 8 cardinals, a mix of male and female; 6-8 Juncos; 8-10 black cap chiccadees, 2 nuthatch; 3-4 house finch; an assortment of other sparrows; 4-5 titmice; 3-4 bluejays (who also eat my cat food); occasional starlings and a few pesky squirrels.

Dont now what those are? Come on over for a cup tea and I will show you! You can also sample the banana bread. And the cookies are delicious- I ran out of white flour so I used whole wheat and they are good and healthier too!

What happened to early spring ?

I thought that Punxatawny Phil did not see his shadow and we were supposed to have an early spring? What exactly does that mean? That it won't snow after the first official day of spring?

I don't know about the rest of the countrty, but in my neighborhood it still looks like winter doesn't want to go yet. Yeserday was bazaar weather; pouring rain, then the sun almost came out, then freezing rain, then snow that came down so hard and fast that the ground was covered in minutes!

My 4H club met at 5:30pm for about an hour. During the meeting, it drizzled and the wind really kicked up so everything froze. It was very slippery and the door handles on the car were fozen and the ice was sharp so it hurt to open the doors! I know March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb but this is too much for me.

More snow and ice is predicted for tonight and through Tuesday. I can feel the urge to bake already.

I continue to watch the birds and marvel at how they manage in the winter. I have a group of cardinals that are here all day, about a dozen, and after they eat they all sit on the branches of a honeysuckle shrub and rest together. I need a camers with a better zoom so I can capture the image closer.

Today's baking must include the standard; chocolate chip cookies. I also have some bananas for bread, maybe some chips in there too; never enough chocolate around here!

Since I will be inside and baking, I will need something to do while the stuff is in the oven. I choose knitting and crocheting today; I am working on a hat fro my mother, I'm sure if I get it to her this week she will still get some use out of it! I also have a scarf that I started for James, I found camouflage yarn for him!

This week I would like to plan a vegetable garden and maybe pick up some seeds to start. I guess I better plan containers in case I put the plants out and then they need to be brought in again........................
The best spot for sun is right outside my kitchen door. I don't have a lot of level ground so I will be investigating ways to use vertical planting. I have seen wall/stand mounted growing walls. I think I will give that a try this year.

Birds and rabbits

Today is the last day of the Great Backyard birdcount. After all the data is entered it will be interesting to see if anyone else in this area experienced the swarm of birds that I did. I will continue to log their arrival, quantity and species; hopefully they will disperse sometime soon! My regulars have to wait to eat breakfast and I am going through seed quickly.

I briefly read through anarticle the other day about a dwindling rabbit species in the Northeast. After reading the entire article, it seems that the native New England Cottontail has declined so much that it is being considered for the endangered species list. I did not realize that there were two seperate species, the other being the Eastern Cottontail. The Eastern was actually introduced in this area and is not a native to New England. It seems that the Eastern is thriving better than the New England native which is much more dependent on it's native habitat.

To see more snow today was not very appealing, although it did make it easier to walk out to feed my critters. the slush and ice build up is treacherous. Spring can' come soon enough for me. I have circled the day that Daylight savings ends on the calendar!

Seeds were on sale in the grocery store today and I had to really stop myself from buying them!