Thank you! I'm saving this info so I can do this sometime in the Spring, whenever the weather decides to warm up :) !! pkponder ...do you have a picture? Would love to see it. I want to include a Birdhouse and a Birdfeeder. My Birdfeeder is very large and I hung it last summer and was still out till recently when it needed seed and found out the thing broke at the top where you take it off to add seed ... so I'm mounting it on a pole and it will be just fine that way. It is VERY heavy so I can't have a tall pole for it. I included a picture of my bird feeder. It is 13 x 13 and has 9 feeding stations, 11lb capacity. I want to have a birdhouse separate but not too far away. Have an idea to put these alongside our ramp ... will look nice with some vines I think. :) Also, I know this bird feeder can be pole mounted because a couple people told me about how to do it. I saved that info and it says The pipe needs to be no wider than 7/8 of an inch. Anyway, looking forward to mounting that and I have to find a nice bird house to also mount on a pole. We have lots of cats around here (including ours that goes outside) and squirrels, so I might have to figure a way to keep them out.

They officially went up Tuesday night, 4/2/2013. Hanging about 7-9 feet off the ground under a large, mature Norway Spruce, in sight of my kitchen corner nook. The big tube feeder filled with Black Oil Sunflower seed, the caged green one with Safflower seed, and the thistle feeder with Nyjer thistle seed. I scattered some BOSS and Safflower under each feeder. The next morning things were quiet until about 9am, when I saw small birds near the big tube feeder. Then I saw a couple of Blue Jays, and some Cardinals nearby. I refilled the nearby birdbath to melt the icy water, and watched the birds having fun the rest of the day. Less than two days later, I'm amazed at how many BOSS seeds have gone, about 1/3 of the tube. There's plenty of feeding being done on the ground, too, squirrels included. The green feeder with the Safflower doesn't seem to be getting much action. Yet. The thistle feeder is getting some attention, but the big tube feeder is the main attraction so far. I'll be refilling it and trying to see if the birds will also go for Safflower mixed with BOSS in this feeder. Now the fun begins, watching and identifying all the smaller birds from afar, zoom on the camera and binoculars just aren't perfect. Comments and suggestions welcome. Thanks for the help in getting this novice birder up to speed!

Linda, I've missed seeing you around. I just asked about you over at the other forum. Meal worms are very easy to raise. You need some wheat bran which you can get at health food stores or the cereal aisle in bigger supermarkets...or the feed store, if they will split a bag for you. They sell it by 50 lb. and you don't need that much. I use a plastic bucket with a lid...you could use smaller. Punch holes in the lid. Put in the meal worms and some slices of apple or peel or potato. You have to let some of them turn to beetles to reproduce, but it doesn't take long. Periodically, you need to replace the bran with fresh because it will get p*ssy smelling. I raise them for my fish, and all the wild things love them. I was trying to feed them to the armadillos I raised but too small and took too many....had to go to night crawlers for them. The new creature here is a feral pig. She is some kind of "special pig", I think. The local hog hunter went to prison and I am sure he released her. She was red with horizontal white stripes...about the size of a cat when she first showed up. Now the size of a medium sized dog and all red. She is very skittish and only comes at night with the coons. I put out special treats for her. I hope she stays because I don't want anyone killing her. I buy hen scratch for the doves, pigeons, crows and black birds...and scatter it all down my driveway, which is long and helps keep them out of the yard a little. The crows are here every morning tho, and clean up any food left over from the night before. A woman who works in the kitchen of a home for problem children brings all of her scraps to me and my friend who rehabs with me. We get tons of stuff...that we split. I had 14 pecan pies here and the raccoons had a party with them one night. Get a lot of beef, scrambled eggs, vegetables, chicken, fruit, melon, etc., which gives the possums a little more variety and bread which I give the horses for treats. It enables me to have a little extra money to buy the scratch, niger and sunflower seed.

Wow that arbor was a steal!! I assume it's one of those heavy plastic ones? Nice. It's gonna look great out there when everything gets going! Are you using that wheelbarrow as a planter? My husband brought home two old ones from his mom's house when it sold a couple yrs ago. The tires were flat and they were really rusty. We already had a nice big one, so I had him drill a few holes in the bottom and I just planted some mini roses, snapdragons and petunias in them! They're out in the veggie pen. I love feeding the birdies too! Started with the hummies, then the wild birds. And now it's the chickies! My husband and younger son were out hoeing up that horrible foxtail grass out of some of the walkways down below. We can't afford for our dumb dog to get those damn things in her paw again! The rain made all that crap come back with a vengeance! The foxtail and wild carrot (not sure what it really is) are about 3ft tall! The chickens won't eat it tho. I guess it's too rough. Oh, Irisgal, I think SDMLV does blow kinda fast. That bloom is about two days old. I didn't detect any scent on her whatsoever. I was kinda expecting a nice perfume...