Thanks everyone. Yes, I grew the gourds myself. I have a few others but haven't done a lot with them. I have one other gourd birdhouse but I drilled the hole too big and so far nobody has taken residence in it. I have one I turned into a feeder as well and a few still sitting on a shelf in my garage that I haven't done anything with. Last year was the first time I'd ever grown gourds and I didn't plant a whole lot of them. I'm hooked though and have put several seeds out already and have plans to put out more. A lot of the seeds I put out are seeds from the gourds I've already worked with. I hope they grow! I also have another of the wood birdhouses DH's grandfather made. This one is the original red and white he painted it and is hanging from my cedar arbor. There's a family of finches living in it right now! I just love to watch the birds (and so do my two kitties!). Bright, we should get together and go junking some time! I'm on the NW side of Lake Norman, about 45 minutes from Charlotte. Robin

Thanks for the kind words! We are in "The Snow Belt"...get LOTS OF SNOW and love it! Our property is right next to a hiking /cross-country ski trail. Often ski over to it. Nanatink, I usually put many of my carved bears in for the winter to hibernate (hee hee) along with more of the other stuff (like the chairs and bench)....ran out of time this last year with my DW being pregnant and all. We were both too pooped! LOL This spring, I gave everything an extra coat of verathane (sp) and the bench got an extra coat of paint. Dena, I ordered the oil! Excited to get it!!!! Thanks for the advice! Oh, I'm in the process of building another rustic arbor for a different part of our yard. Maybe that will be my June POTM, something that is half finished!!! Kirk

Hey Mary, Your very welcome! Hope you enjoy them. Glad you like the snowman. I didn't know you collected just tell them I'm a good guesser. Besides Santa know all! LOL ((HUGS)) Dorothy

Good thoughts gumbycat. Gardening is definitely a 12 month endeavor where our brains must not be turning off just because the days become shorter. I am always thinking of adding more winter interest without eliminating valuable space of the "summer" garden. As recently as a week ago (before the cold weather set in) I lined the front walk and part of one side with pavers to help break up the straight line effect of the concrete.