minou14

I found a used spinning wheel in a consignment shop today and couldn’t resist. It needs a tune-up, but I’m hoping a local shop will be able to help. I definitely need to take some spinning classes because I don’t think I can teach myself, but I’m excited about the challenge!

We’re being kind to each other. This is Lucy. Tomorrow will be her one week anniversary as my snorgle-monster. I love her to bits.

I always thought people were making things up when they said their cat chose them, but now I’m a believer. She picked me. I knew it right away and even the woman at the shelter was surprised when it happened. Lucy knew what she was doing because she is being spoiled rotten and she is exactly what I was looking for. She spent six months at the shelter being passed over. I think she was just waiting for me to hurry up and get there.

I’m in my new apartment and gradually assessing the gardens and what I can do with them. I’ve been given the green light to design what I want since it was mostly burrs and overgrown shrubs when I moved in. I won’t add plants until next year, but I’ve done a few portable things.

A bird bath is on my back patio and I keep it filled and clean. I also put up a shepherd’s hook outside my living room window. It has a mesh feeder full of safflower and black oil sunflower seeds, a “sock” of niger thistle seeds and a tube feeder of songbird mix (sunflower, millet, etc).

For two weeks, all I had on the feeders was chipmunks. They would climb the pole, stuff their cheeks as fast as they could and then go stow the seeds in their nest. I had a pair of them emptying the feeder every couple of days. That’s several pounds of seed per day! When I added the tube feeder, I also added a chipmunk baffle. I cut the top and bottom off a 2-liter bottle and then slit it up the side. I fit it around the pole, taped it on and watched to see what would happen. The chipmunks climbed the pole and up into the bottle, but couldn’t reach the feeders. Success!

Or so I thought.. They took to climbing the brick on the side of the house and then leapt from my windowsill to the feeders. There were some major wipeouts with little rodent limbs flailing in vain to grab the feeders, but they eventually figured out that jumping from above the windows worked most of the time.

Now that the feeders are moved out of chipmunk jumping range, they have given up and the birds are able to visit without being harassed. I have been getting nuthatches and chickadees during the day (a pair of each) and a pair of cardinals at dusk. I can almost set my watch by them and they are only a couple feet from where I sit by the window. My goal is to add a set of feeders outside my kitchen and office windows as well, but my shepherd’s hooks are with my parents. Next time I visit, I’ll bring them home with me and set up the rest of the feeding stations. I have nothing but shrubs and trees and a fence along once side of my apartment, and most of my windows face this private strip of habitat. It’s really a big part of what drew me to this place.