forgot to mention the others: doves, mockingbirds, grackles-common and boat-tailed, sparrows, painted buntings, blue jays, woodpeckers, yellow throated warbler, phoebe or flycatcher - not sure. yellow rumped warbler, turkey buzzards, crows. ducks flying over - don't know what brand. white ibis, lord and lady cardinal. cormorant flying over..woodstork. Think that's it for today. I love this time of year, too...especially for the birds. Have not seen the robins in a few days now, and the goldfinches flitted on through...only stopped for a very, very short time this year..yesterday I saw two..today nothing. No orioles yet, either, nor cedar waxwings...hoping maybe for this week, tho....it was the first week of March last year.

Oh, I don't blame you, Katkin. Letting your animals trash someone else's yard is the height of rudeness! I walk my dog all over the neighborhood, but never without a plastic bag, in case he goes somewhere. I even pick it up from the public easement. Who wants to step in it? I use a scooper in my own backyard, too. No surprises for me early in the morning, thanks! I have four cats who are all indoor animals. The average life expectancy of an outdoor cat is two years! TWO. They SHOULD live between 15 and 20, easily. For their own safety, they belong inside. My animals are MY responsibility, just like my children were, and they have to respect my neighbors. Oh, yeah...the garden junk forum would have some good ideas on birdbaths, I'll bet! I keep forgetting to check them out regularly. They are so creative! I almost always see SOMETHING I like. Marcia

I have wondered if not enough or not having the right kind of trees is my problem in getting cardinals to come. I only have evergreens in front yard and those are not the huge kind. I have NO large trees in back yard where I want cardinals....we have lost several due to the soil problem...at least I assume that is the problem. Now we have built my craft cottage (12 X 20 plus front porch) so with the small garden shed and DH's work shop as well as leaving space to park an almost 36 foot 5th wheel we don't have lots of room inside the back fence left for large trees......lol. What to do? The cardinals are around Dawn...at the lake they are abundant. But there are cedar trees everywhere. I always take bird seed when we go to the lake. The cardinals love the black sunflower sees and will eat them any way I serve them....on the ground, patio, grill, feeder, you name it...lol. One was particularly bold last time we were out and he would just come right up to me for me to drop seed on the patio for him. I think he might have gotten bold enough to eat from my hand. I have had them at other places I have lived but this area is not an old area and the trees are not huge yet and not lots of them either. I think the lack of evergreens or fruit bearing trees may be the problem with them but that is just a guess. I do have thick hedge of photinias which are large in my back yard but I need some kind of larger tree...I will have to find where I can plant one....I wish me luck...lol. I am so tired of sparrows....we are way over populated with them and the last few days they come by what seems to be hundreds and are all making racket in the tree next door. I don't recall them ever doing this before and have wondered what is up. Well I will just have to read up on it and find what I can manage do to try to attract them...I just love cardinals and really want to find a way to have them here. We got more rain last night. I am getting so discouraged with our boggy yard. We need to go pick up our new 5th wheel and take ours to trade it in but it HAS to dry up before we can get it out. As soon as we see it has dried we will have to get ours out of the yard while we can. What a problem this is for us right now. I worked all day yesterday packing up everything in the trailer and storing it in my craft cottage....you should see the trails I made in the yard going back and forth...and what a hassle taking off shoes and putting them on each time I went in and out of our trailer to keep from messing it up! I am SICK AND TIRED OF RAIN. I hope it doesn't rain any more for the rest of summer! Looking at the weather forecasts are just plain depressing. I shall stop watching them...they never get it right anyway. They should say "plan for it to rain every day" and be done with it. UGH! Ya'll have a great and DRY day. G.M.

Well Karen, I'm tickled to see your decor too. So glad you joined the party. Everything looks great! I agree it's hard when you go all out for Christmas on your mantel and don't have as much for the others. But it still looks great. So fun to see how you added the vine on your lamp to go with the birds and nest on your tea cart. That's the cleanest real bird nest I've ever seen. If all of you keep showing me cloches hopefully I'll get there one day.HA Love your bird cage. It's such a neat shape. The lg brown vase is so pretty and those birds are neat beside it. Most of your decorating will work clear into Spring if you want it to. Little Teegan is adorable with her china tea set and bunny friends. I really like the tea set up on pedestal stand too. The little bunny's blue hat looks pretty cute. I best head to bed. It's still snowing. We have at least 10" already. The news said fog and freezing rain in the morning on top of it. The snow plows couldn't keep up earlier today so it will be interesting. How's all of your weather? Stay safe and warm. It is fun when we have more to enjoy here. Punk