Interesting about the kinds of seed everyone feeds. I feed primarily black oil sunflower 9expensive at Lowe's, but cheap at Tractor Supply - ($15 for 50 lbs). Black oil seems to be the preferred feed for cardinals, chickadees carolina wren, downy woodpecker, mourning dove, flickers, tufted titmouse,bluebirds, and an occasional jay. Sparrows feed on it, but prefer the hulled seed, as do the chickadees and wrens. An added bonus - the sunflower hull of the black oil seed seems to help the compost, and it mulches nicely in the flower beds! Used to get that weedy flower in GA, when I didn't use the sterile seed. You are also probably getting thistle seed in there. I feed probably 80 pounds of thistle in the winter, for the finches, primarily gold and red, with some buntings showing up in spring. If you feed thistle be very careful to get the sterile seed. its fertile and tends to fall below the feeder (doves and mice will eat it). I actually like the look of thistle, and the fact that it attracts bees, so my thistle feeders at the wood line all are not sterile. Come spring, I will get hundreds of thistle plants, that by summer will be beautiful purple flowers for the bees, and come late summer, natural seed for birds passing through. If you can tolerate the spiny leaves, and thistle 'fluff'(which bluebirds use all winter here for nesting), let it grow, it really is a pretty plant If you want to get rid of that 'smell' below the feeder, avoid seed with corn, when I fed a mix with corn, the corn would sometimes sit and ferment, or, as you discovered, grow. Corn here, whole or cracked, is an attractant of crows. I do throw cracked corn in the woodline to keep them away from the sunflower. Using cracked corn away from my garden, also keeps rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and racoons at bay! Crack corn doesnt seem to grow into stalks either. It does, however seem to cause my grass to die, so I keep it in areas that I don't have plantings.

LOL! Yes tree frogs are incredibly loud! I had about 5-6 singing to each other yesterday evening in the back yard and I could hardly hear my family talking to me while out on the deck! They are really hard to find too. I have one that retires to a little ledge on the top of my shed every year.....same spot. He's so cute! I love going to sleep with my windows open so I can hear them, but sometimes, I just have to close the window 'cause they are sooooooo loud! They are pretty amazing little creatures. I think they are attracted to my backyard because I have several little water gardens. They deposit their eggs in the water. They are so sensitive to the presence of water, that if I go out to just water a few plants, they start singing! I don't know if they see the water, or just hear or smell it! Ain't nature grand? :)

I didn't look at all the links, hopefully this isn't a duplicate.... and I'd never WEAR it, like in the photo, but it's a cool bird! Here is a link that might be useful: Here's another one....

I just bought a home with all maple flooring throughout. After heavy duty dusting and light bona mopping, I immediately noticed ALL my shoes squeak on the floor. I've never had this issue on previous hardwood flooring. I know floors creak from wood/wood friction, but I am almost certain this sound is from contact between shoes and the finish. It appears to have been stained/whitewashed and the previous owner claimed it was refinished within the past 2 years. Looks like a satin or matte polycrylic finish was put on top. Possibly DIY by previous owner? The floor looks like crap and there are visible marks from the floor sanding. When I looked closer at the finish job, it looks super streaky in some places and I noticed what looks like white glue between plank. That has been there ever since I mopped. I will probably end up calling a flooring specialist at some point, but what I am really hoping to address short term is the insane squeaking when walking on floors! It's like living on a basketball court. I know the obvious solution is to take off my shoes, but that isn't an option because I am working on fixing up other parts of the house and must keep shoes on. Would really appreciate any help or suggestions!