cute gnome(-: Birds look really happy with his meal too!!!

We are that way with birds too. Lovely and really cute pics of them eating jelly. I will show DH tonight. He will get a real charge out of it. The Baltimore Oriole is just gorgeous. I haven't seen them in years. I buy birdseed with dehydrated cherries in the mix. It is a good all-around mix for many species. I know the Cardinals rob my cherry trees every year. I am lucky if I have enough to make a few pints of preserves. The Blue Jays do too and they peck our peaches and apples. I just cut out the pecks and eat them anyway. I haven't seen the Cardinals go after anything except the cherries. Anyway, I love your wonderful anecdotal stories and photos. ~Annie

oh, I'd love to have some anna's or black-chinned or buff-bellied or calliope here, too, patrick, but I sure love the rubies! sarah, I was holding the camera, and was seated about 8 feet from the feeder. I was indoors, looking through the window. the optics and zoom on the canon s1-is are great, but already I want more pixels. this one is 3.2 megapixels. I sure am having fun with it, though. I hope my visitor is here again tomorrow!

Actually I have several favorite breakfasts, sorry ladies, neither one of the 2 below is low cal, but not real bad. 1. Chipped beef on browned toast with a pad of butter quartered around the plate before you put the broken up toast down (or homemade biscuits, rare) and then the chipped beef gravy, top this off with some ground pepper just a small touch of cinnamon. 2. Two buttermilk pancakes (with real butter) on the first and top one, with some quality sage sausage (link or patty, local butcher) on the side, and two over easy eggs on the top of the pancakes with a little fine ground pepper on top of eggs! I cut this all up in a checkerboard pattern from the eggs down, somewhat neatly, eat the top layer with the eggs and 1/2 the sausage, then put maple syrup on the second layer and eat it with the other 1/2 sausage! This with 2 cups of good coffee, Absolutely AWESOME! From reading this you would think I am enormous but actually I limit myself to once a week usually Sunday unless I'm going out for breakfast. I'm 6' and 210 to 220lbs appropriately proportioned. I had this breakfast at a local restaurant that was watched by others and requested so often (can I have what he's having) that it is now on there menu! Quite a compliment. Great post boy the way, breakfast is my favorite meal.