Bird Feeding By Trial and Error Continued

The latest find is a Thrasher that didn't come to my feeder but I noticed a different bird on the street with a long curved beak and dark legs.  It was all brown and peaked my curiosity.

picture used to identify Thrasher

When I looked it up I found that it is a Thrasher.  It was just standing there defying me to do something as I gazed at it out of my car window.  It's beak was wide open in the cruel summer heat and it had two other companions of the same breed.  If I live long enough, maybe I'll get to identify more birds I don't recognize.

The birds with red heads that are about the size of a sparrow have been coming but none of the others.  About a month ago I saw the chicadees but they have not been back since.  The cardinals flew by last week and landed on the fence across they alley from my vantage point but have not stopped to eat their favorites.

A few years ago, I kept a monthly log of all the birds that visited my newly revived interest in the birds and bird feeding.  My deck had recently been completed and I had added some new hanging planters on each end.  Then the final step was to reinstall the double plant hanger in the middle.

New bird feeders early 2011 off my new deck.

Mistake #1:  I hung the feeders right off my deck.  I'm sure you can see the flurry this caused in the picture above.  There were birds on both feeders and waiting their turns on my freshly painted railing.

Mistake #2:  I bought huge bags of bird seeds and kept the feeders full at all times.  This attracted all types of birds.

I saw chickadees, wild canaries, mourning doves, sparrows (some of which were song bird types), starlings, grackles, robins, blue jays,

cardinals and finally one bird I couldn't identify that had white bands on the tips of its under wings and tail when it flew.  The biggest surprise was the red hawk that visited one morning and just sat there daring any of the smaller birds to descend.

Hawk on Fence across from my deck.

The above photo was taken from inside my house through a screen so it's not such a good photo but you can imagine my surprise seeing this fine specimen outside my windows observing my feeders. 

All was grand until I realized that I was a captive of my interest.  I was spending way too much on feed and the birds just kept coming and coming.  To top it off, my beautiful new deck was covered with little presents left behind by my little feathered friends.  Oh! and did I mention the pigeons?  Well, let me tell you; I had a flock all my own and my poor little buddies were being over run by them taking their food.

Fall and Winter Feeder Replacement

As a result I took down all the fancy feeders when Fall came and replaced them with a big rugged feeder.  I fed the little blighters a half full feeder at a time over the winter months.  This kept my friends coming back.

The double hanging rod (almost 10 years old) got weak and I had to remove it.  I was still getting presents from my little friends over the winter so I got smart.  Birds are used to foraging the ground for their food.  So I threw a cupful of feed into the middle of the alley and sat and watch my little friends to my heart's content.  I'm still getting the sparrows, starlings, grackles, and my best loved cardinals.  Best of all the cardinals are not just doing a fly in hop about and fly out this year.  They are actually picking and choosing what they want to take away with them.  So, I get to watch them a little longer and a little closer.  I have even seen the song birds that have the pointed tails that open up to have white bands under them when they fly.  Of course, the pigeons found the new digs but I guess they have to eat too.

At the end of last season I replaced my roll down blinds in preparation for the winter.  I bought the shortest bungie cords I could find and latched the bottom of the screen around the posts on the porch railing

The last thing I did was replace the hanging planters with my red bird feeder outside the corner of the porch where I could reach it from inside to fill it.

Last spring there was a new addition to the birds that come to the feeder.  This is the first time that the blue jays are came and walked underneath on the ground to get the seeds that the sparrows throw around with great abandon for the other birds to enjoy.  That is not the best though.  While I was sitting on the chair pictured in the picture above, I observed what I knew was a jay bird from its shape but it wasn't the brilliant blue that I'm  used to seeing.  After I looked through the ornithology sites, I was able to identify it as gray jaybird.  How neat is that, I found a new bird I had never seen before and learned about their habitats and peculiarities.

new location off the deck in a hidden corner

I now have canvas awnings on my porch.

I hung the newest feeder along the side rail nearest the house which is flat with a screened bottom and the bigger birds can land on it instead of wandering around the alley below the feeders.  I've seen blue jays, mourning doves, cardinals, starlings and purple martins.  Both seem to be attractive to many types of birds.  The second one is round with wire mesh which allows the birds to cling to it.  I've seen goldfinches, house finches, chicadees, and several types of sparrows.

I can now view my visiting friends from inside my window as do my cats.  The awnings give my porch more protection and the birds seem to have taken to the new spot.

I hope you enjoyed my little review of my bird feeding endeavors.  I will continue to feed them with the blinds rolled down to save my porch rails from the little presents my feather friends like to leave.

This year I moved the box feeder to the other side of the yard so that I can see the birds that come from the deck and not disturb their comings and goings.  I also added a camera in my back window so that I can catch the activity for future posts.

My Red White & Blue Porch Planters

A few years back in my search for blue flowers, I came across this little blue buttercup flower that I stupidly threw out the name card at The Home Depot on Route 8 north of Pittsburgh.  It is somewhat purplish in the centers but the flower itself resembles blue.   My red, white and blue porch box was the center of my display over the summer months.

For those of you who don't know my story, I am the proud gold star mother of a navy man.  In the spring my flag comes out and flies in my garden from May until Veteran's Day in November.  I have replaced my flag many times but it is part of my summer garden display.  So the one you see above is ready for replacement but I haven't found one yet this year.

Four years ago I found the begonias that you see pictured at Giant Eagle in the Waterworks.  I bought two plants to be hung on my double plant hanger right off the middle of my deck out back.

I was so proud of my find because they were red and would compliment the white ivy geraniums that I have out back.  Well the best laid plans of men so to speak.  The two plants were so heavy that putting the first one up bowed the cast iron plant hanger.  I tried reversing the plants and hanging the ivy geraniums on the double hanger but they also bowed the hanger.  At this point I gave in and pulled the old and worn out hanger out of the ground.  It was originally bought when we moved into this house some 12 or 13 years ago and has seen it use.  I gave it to a neighbor who will use it at his summer cottage to hang hummingbird feeders.

Last year, I tried lobelia for the blue which as you can see is gorgeous in hanging planters.  I started with seeds and nothing grew.  I bought a few small plants and put them in my boxes and again they didn't make it.

I should have bought the hanging planters I saw at Home Depot and done the red in white ivy geraniums in the box planters on the railing as I had done in years past.

This year I went a different direction and I bought Fuschia hanging planters for outside my deck.  I am trying to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  I still have the box planters but they are going to need some thought as to what to put in them this year.

I tried to winter my fuschia plants and followed the instructions but I ended up with dried up plants that broke off at the roots.  I will abandon that idea this year and just concentrate on my hibiscus that I bought to attract butterflies.  I think this year I'm going to try to do the hibiscus for the entire garden and I'm up for a Yoshima Cherry Tree like the one we planted at the Legion in my son's memory in the back yard to attract my birds.

So That's A Purple Finch

As I grow old, I've been blessed with the visions wondrous wild life creatures.

At an annual picnic in Plum Borough a few years ago, my friend who hosted the picnic had several bird feeders hung back away from the house above a wooded area.

Purple Finch

Of course, my attention was immediately drawn to the creatures that were feeding there.  I was thrilled when I saw a slightly red headed bird that I didn't recognize.

My friends had only recently moved into their new home which they had built for their retirement years.  They told me that they had only hung the feeders that weekend using the feed they had left over from their previous home.

These beautiful finches came immediately and have been feeding there ever since.  She also has hummingbirds but she attracts them with the hibiscus planters she has on her deck.

House Finch

In my yard I get House Finches at my feeders.  They have red feathers on their heads and breasts.  The rest of their feathers resemble sparrows.

Goldfinch at my feeder

Yesterday, the Goldfinch flew past.  It was headed for my bird feeder but when it saw me it turned in mid flight and zoomed away to the neighbors fig tree.

Pete's fig tree is always alive with birds

This has been a wonderful summer for my love of bird feeding and watching.

My Madonna and Her Plants

A few years back, I had planned to have my porch railings repainted so that I could put the planters back onto the railings.  This didn't happen for various reasons.  But what did happen, my neighbor came to me and told me he was painting his mother's Madonna for their yard and he had paint left over and he would paint mine.  What a surprise and what an answer to my prayers.  My Madonna didn't get her crown this year but she is back to looking as beautiful as she should be.

The other toss of the coin was I wasn't happy with one particular wildflower that was taking over my planter and I didn't have the energy it would take to dig it out by the roots.  So I put my porch railing planter right over the main plant.  Some of the leaves from the wildflower extended out around the planter which gave it an appearance of having a border.

That year I filled the planter with red, white and blue petunias.  I'm not really fond of petunias but they do continue to grow over the summer.  I ran into a sale of hanging planters priced at 4/$20.  I bought 3 petunias and hung two of the hanging planters at my deck.  The other petunia I centered in the planter and split the fourth planter that had a small white and blue flower in it.  I placed each half on the side of the petunias.

This year is gardening on a budget due to family medical problems so I'm satisfied with my red star flowers that are growing each year further into the entrance surround.

Asian Lilies budding and ready to pop open

Lily of the Valley new growth in garden

My day lilies are coming back each year a little more profuse than the previous year and I expect them to bloom very shortly.  To My wonder last year the lily of the valley popped up with 3 very strong plants.  I expect these to take over the garden in a few years.  This year produced 3 plants again but I'm sure over time they will show up in the same abundance as my Asian lilies.

My biggest disappointment is that my star flowers are no longer growing in my garden.  They were getting very hardy but got pulled out by mistake last year and now I have a decision to make as to what to plant in their place.

I pulled out all of the wild flowers that grow in my rock garden but they are still coming up in my entrance surround.  It's going to be a chore getting those pulled up without disturbing my Asian Lilies.

So another growing year had started and I had to start over with my surround since all my plants other than the lilies got pulled out last year and I'm left with just the weeds and wild flowers.

My neighbors kindly gave me four Easter Lilies that were done for this year and I planted them hoping that they will come up next year.

That wasn't my biggest challenge this year.  Around the middle of summer my Madonna that my neighbor so kindly painted for me disappeared.  I fussed on facebook and wrote pieces saying that she had gone for a walk.  I was very sad because my Aunt had given her to me many years ago and she has moved with me from house to house.

The story didn't end there.  One Saturday afternoon while I was out working my second job, a very nice neighbor. whom I didn't know, stopped his truck and left a new Madonna on the cement slab that had been my Madonna's place of honor for the past 15 plus years.

This Madonna is very nice and has a pearlized finish.  Another neighbor chained her to the slab so that she couldn't be taken again.  The moral of the story is that there are good people in this world who care about their neighbors.

All Work and No Play Syndrome

     The phrase, "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy-" is so true.  For years, I have been throwing myself into work because of losing my life's companion.  When I was hospitalized a few years ago, I found that the phrase was so true.  I had been staying away from all of the fun things that we had enjoyed doing as a couple and was not mingling with other people except for a select number of friends.

     As a result, I was just that a dull Jane.  I started going out again with the select friends but to a social club where I could mingle with others and enjoy the music for an evening.

     Then disaster struck again.  My youngest son died and my oldest son broke his ankle which has had him off work for four months so far.  Needless to say that put a crimp in the budget because being the person I am I took on too much and left the fun side of me go back into my shell.

     My youngest son is gone a few years now and my oldest step-daughter along with him.  I find that I'm not mourning as deeply as I did when my husband passed.  I have been able to get myself back into the swing of things so to speak.  I went back out to the social club and I bought a ticket for the picnic and went.

     I know it sounds callous to say you can't miss what you didn't have, but to be honest I have only been with my son and step-daughter a select few times over the past two decades because of where they were living.

In early 2017, my oldest son, who had been fighting diabetes, passed away and I found myself knee deep in grief again.  It was a total shock when he went downhill due to undiagnosed MDS, pre-leukemia,  in a matter of three months.   I live in disbelief that he has gone on to a better life and I am left behind to pick up the pieces.  Again I'm working more than I should to keep busy.

I miss them all but I know I have to get on with what is left of my life because there may not be that much of it left.  Perhaps I will consider full retirement but those few days that I work give me a purpose in life that was missing.  We never know what tomorrow will bring.

Praying Mantis, Bunny and Chipmunk appearing in my yard

Being from a neighborhood that boasted entrance to the woods within walking distance, I was used to seeing wildlife in my yard.  We always had bunnies, chipmunks and squirrels with the occasional possum that would show up under our garbage can stand.  When I moved to my present home, I was disappointed that I never got to see these creatures within the limits of my yard.

This year has shown me an abundance of wildlife again.  We had one chipmunk, there could be more, that came back and forth in the alley from a neighbors yard to climb my bird feeder pole and raid the goodies that I put out for the birds.

But this year for the first time, I was privileged to see a newborn bunny that would go back and forth between yards eating the clover.  It is now half grown and still gives me pause to wonder at the beauty of nature.

We talked about the purple finch that visited the gardens in a friend's yard.  We talked about the goldfinch that flitted across the neighbor's garden and stopped at my bird feeder.

In another event, I was sitting idly thinking about all the weights of the mind that cloud a peaceful day.  I have excellent peripheral vision and movement of bugs and spiders catch my attention for no other reason but that they moved.  That day I was not aware of being watched ever so carefully by the tiniest of preying mantis that I had ever seen.  It had been a few years since I had spied a full grown mantis crawling up the side of my house.

Before the new owners tore it down, my neighbor and I shared a dead space between another neighbor's garage and our property lines.  Behind this garage grew a menagerie of vines that I'm not totally sure what they are.  For years I have bent them back and tried make them grow away from the fence that separates our yards.

I spoke to my neighbor about trying to cut them back together and he said he was trying to find a natural weed killer instead of using one that was on the market.  To make a long story short, I concocted a batch from one I had seen on Pinterest and sprayed the vines.  When I reported what I had done my neighbor told me he had not sprayed the vines because he had spied two preying mantis among the vines.  I felt horrible because I had literally killed their home.

To my relief, this little fellow came to visit me.  All is well with the world again because nature has proven to me that it's creatures do survive.

Sea World Orlando Visit with William Paul Dudas, Jr.

It seems like a million years ago that my family and I went to Orlando for the week.  The entire trip is nothing but a memory now except here where I immortalized it forever.

Bill with his pizza and coca cola

We arrived by Amtrak and as soon as we were settled in our condos, Bill was off in his wheelchair to pool side where they have a restaurant under a canopy where we all met up for a lunch.

Monday and Tuesday, were lazy days by the pool for me, Bill, his sister and great granddaughter.  Two of my grandchildren and their mother went to Disney, where my granddaughter got made up by the Princesses. My other two grandsons went to Universal and had a fun filled day.






The baby had a lot of fun playing in the water spouts with her Mom and Aunt.

On Wednesday, the fun continued for my granddaughter as she went to breakfast with the Princesses.  Bill, his sister's family and I from the Penthouse spent the day at Sea World.

Bill and I in our scooters

The bus leaving the timeshare picked us up at the gatehouse stop.  We all had early admission passes so we were on the 7 am bus.  That was good timing because the walk from the bus stops to the park entrance was at least a couple of city blocks away.  The first thing we did when we entered the park was to trade my son's wheelchair for a scooter and get one for me.  I don't think I would have made the day if I didn't have the scooter.  It was all I could do to walk from the bus to the entrance and back again without one.

The first display you see when you enter the park are the flamingos.

Bill at the Sting Ray Area

Bill was into getting his all day food pass and quickly lost the rest of the family as he rode away from us going lickety split in his scooter.  I think it was intentional and he readily admits that it was.  By that time, being with Mom was not his heart's desire.  I finally caught up with him at the Sting Ray Pool.  We talked for a short time and he was again off he went to anywhere away from Mom.

From there it was off to the Waterfront and the Seaside Fire Inn to get our food passes for the day.  Lost him again after he got his pass.  I looked for him outside but he was gone and I just went my merry way taking pictures as I went.  He later informed me he had gone through the buffet but I didn't see him and went on my way.

My first stop was the Manatee exhibit.  I used to visit the gulf coast of Florida and I remember the manatees.  I love those mammoth sea cows.

A ride over the Overlook Path took me past Dolphin Cove.  I took several photos but I never got one close enough to see the dolphins hanging out over the sides waiting for food.

Then it was a trip through Turtle Trek.  They shooed me through so that that they could get me out fast after the show.  It was at this point that my scooter started running out of battery power and I limped my way back to the entrance to exchange my scooter.  I could have just stopped at any display and they would have sent one to me but I was out to see what I could see.

After I got the new cart I went up around the opposite side from where I had been past the dolphin nursery but they would not come near enough for me in my scooter.  It was a bad day for seeing the dolphins.

From there I met up with Bill who was stretched out sleeping on a bench waiting for the Shamu Show at 11:30.  He joked that a park attendant had stopped to ask if he was ok.  Bill was always a prankster and he delighted in the fact that he was able get someone just by resting on a bench.  

I went on up to the show and got a spot just above the splash zone.  It was so funny watching the handlers wave their hands in a direction and then the whales would flip their tails to send water cascading in that direction onto the crowds.

After the Shamu show was over, I made my way back to the entrance again and bought some souvenirs for people who were taking care of my animals at home.  After I turned in my scooter, I had a long walk back to the bus stop to get the shuttle back to the resort.  It was a very hot muggy day and the bus that was there was going to the water park before he came back to pick up for our resort.  I got on anyways and rode around to the water park and then back to Sea World where I found Brittany and Bill waiting in his wheelchair for the bus ride back to the Hilton property.  

It had been a fun day but I was tired and ready to stay in at the resort for the rest of the day.  I've since sold the timeshare and this week will live on forever in my memory as a time that was spent with Bill that made him happy.