Canfan, I used the food processor too, but I used the grating disc instead of the regular blade. They looked like spaghetti noodles, and then I just gave them a couple of chops with a knife to make them into smaller pieces. Grating that much zucchini by hand is a workout! I just finished making a batch of grape jelly, but didn't take a picture, as it was not an attractive color. These were Reliance red seedless grapes, but I didn't cook and strain them, I used the fruit/vegetable strainer on the stand mixer, and the juice came out an unattractive green color. I wonder if I had cooked the grapes first if the skins would have imparted some of their red color to the juice? I know that when I have bought red grape juice at the store, it is a pretty ruby red color, and since it's labeled 100% juice, I'm assuming they didn't add any food coloring.

Is that yellow I see on the goldfinch's wings? They're beginning to develop breeding color! A very good sign of spring. Today the temperature went into the mid-fifties and I actually heard the red-wing songs (some people say "O-ca-ree", I hear "Skreeee"). A few red-wing males have been here for about a month but without a peep until today. Two grackles also appeared today and I heard their soft chit-chit calls; no creaking sounds yet. I'm sure they will all shut up as soon as it gets cold again, as it will, but the trend is definitely toward spring. Halleluja! Claire

Thanks Claire! I've been watching them all summer on various blooms but the turtlehead gave me the opportunity to get really close with camera in hand. As fuzzy as he is, I had no urge to pet him. I just kept thinking in the back of my mind, he's busy with bee business and doesn't need me distracting him. I got stung last year too when I disturbed them (on my thumb knuckle...ouch!!!) so I give them a wide berth when they're "busy as bees." mskee - those are great shots of the hummingbird! The ones I see move so fast I wouldn't have time to turn the camera on, much less point, shoot & get anything other than a blur! I'm growing lots more lobelia cardinalis/cardinal flower via winter sowing this year since the hummers love it so much. Maybe I'll have a better chance to take photos if they stick around the cardinal flower patch I've got planned.

I just figured out the dearth of birds in my yard---for today at least! Just went out to cover my WS stuff and tuck it back into its corner, and then took a walk around the yard to pet some of my spring bulbs and toasted perennials, and, lo and behold: a pile of feathers! Not sure how I missed it, but at some point today a hawk or falcon came for a visit---and a meal! I even found a foot with a bloody leg attached where it had been ripped off of the body! It was a house finch that "it" got, but I really wonder what IT was! Apparently even if I didn't see it, the birds did! Overall I had a very "slow" day. Never saw more than one robin at a time, but I did see both the male and female hairy woodpeckers, and I did see ONE goldfinch! Really hoping for better luck tomorrow---for me AND the birds! Bonnie, when I first moved up to this end of town 120th was the "end" of the city, and it was wild and wooly up here with big old cottonwoods over the fields of prairie dogs along 120th. At the time I was working at the garden center in Westminster where I was before Paulino's, and I took 120th all the way down to Federal, and then Federal south to 92nd. It was common for me to count a dozen bald eagles along the way between home and work! WAY cool! Now, of course, it's all citified and there are no more big, old trees or empty fields---and no more eagles! I'm guessin' they've all moved over to Rocky Mountain Arsenal! The Birds! The Birds! Skybird