This recipe is one I make this time of year for birthdays, not necessarily Christmas. A very luscious chocolate cake, but inexpensive. It can be kept plain or filled and decorated as you like. BOILED CHOCOLATE CAKE: Into a saucepan, put 4oz Butter 1Cup Water, 1 Cup Sugar and 2 tablespoons of a good Cocoa Powder. Bring to the boil and simmer for three minutes. Let cool. Then mix in 2 eggs 1 1/2 Cups of Self Raising Flour 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda. Put in whatever tin you like, eg:can be made into a slab or a conventional cake in an 8" tin. Bake in moderate oven until firm. We are on a dairy-free diet, so instead of cream as a filling, I make cooked filling with soy milk. For birthdays I make a white custard and a choc-custard and layer the cake with them then cover with icing. It is just delicious. For Christmas I make a 'traditional' Christmas Pudding. The recipe has been handed down through generations of my past husbands family. I have modernised it somewhat. I don't boil it in a cloth and I use a good quality margarine instead of 'suet'. Also add other dried fruits too if I have them, eg: dried apricots and dates. This recipe is a large quantity, can be broken down to half or a quarter. AUNTY ELSIE'S CHRISTMAS PUDDING 1 1/2 lbs Plain Flour 1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda 1 lb fresh breadcrumbs 21b suet (any shortening will do, butter or margarine) 3 lb sultanas 3lb raisins 3lb currants 1 1/4 lbs sugar (can mix white and brown) 1 Cup Milk 20 Eggs Brandy, Whiskey or Fruit Juice Chop the raisins and mix fruit, sugar and put some in liquor/fruit juice to moisten and leave to meld overnight or several days occasionally giving it a stir through. Mix in all other ingrediants and put into well greased tins or bowls and cover with greased cooking paper or a lid and tie the top. Put into a pan of boiling water that just comes up two thirds of the way of the side of the recepticle. Boil gently for five hours, replenishing the water with boiling water every hour or so. This can be made days or weeks before Christmas. To reheat we just slice and heat in the microwave! In the old days they used to reboil it. Probably a good idea when done in a pudding cloth. Is just fine reheated in the microwave though. Can be served with a brandy custard or last year I glazed ours with a caramel sauce as well. For Christmas lunch before the pudding, and some cold sweets too, we usually have a roast, pork and turkey or duck and fresh vegetables from my Dad's garden. A very Merry, Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone, Joylene.

This is a pretty much dead thread but I'll add my two cents in case someone stumbles upon this and can be helped. There are a lot of solutions you could use. Have you tried holographic tape or a bird scare balloon? There are also sticky gels available that you can dot on ledges/branches etc that birds roost on. You can also dilute the gel with water and spray it on hard to reach places. The gel won't hurt the birds, it just makes them feel annoyed. Similar to the way we would avoid walking in an area covered in chewed gum or wet tar, birds will find somewhere else to roost (you have to reapply every year or so). Another option is a spray that contains methyl anthranilate (a safe chemical derived from concord grapes which has been used as a flavoring agent for decades). This chemical irritates the trigeminal system that birds have and gives them a feeling similar to when people are around bleach. Spray on anything they use for a food source (by the way, this chemical does not poison the birds, it just disturbs them). You can also use netting to block off the trees that they most like to roost in. I'd explain sonic and ultrasonic devices but they can get sort of expensive and since you mentioned that you couldn't afford traps I figure I'll just mention them and you can look them up if you are interested. By the way, you're right about trapping and/or killing birds but for the sake of other readers I'll also add that they wont work. That is a treatment of the symptom rather than the real problem (that your environment is appealing to birds). Killing or trapping the current infestation will only open up prime real estate for another flock to take over. Here is a link that might be useful: click for examples, case studies and FAQs about bird pest control

compost_hugger_nancy- Yes, Claire is a REAL BIRDLADY, and a GREAT one at that. She helped me identify the Red breasted Nuthatch when I called it a chickadee, lol. Plus has helped with other things too. Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you like the photos and stories. bob414- They are different, I've been around them my whole life, so I'm use to them. I have photos (before digital) from 20 years ago where you see orbs spiraling down the hallway of the house I used to live in. I have photos of them in cars I would restore. I would have to take a lot of photos just to make sure the orbs weren't in the way. Claire- No I haven't got a hold of any organization concerning the orbs. A. (There are some entities you call orbs that are visible to infrared cameras but not to the human eye. They may be visible to birds which are known to be able to detect a wider spectrum of light wavelengths than humans. To the infrared camera they appear as floating points of light in constant movement). True, birds even have like a sonar (radar) that they can pick up other birds with and energies like a tracking device that is in the air. I think if there is too much energies (orbs included), it will interfere with their tracking and they may not fly. Most of the orbs stay in constant movement but some don't. Here are some dancing- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhdSd2SrhOU B. (The orbs seem to be centered around (and in) your house and don't go too far outward although they do travel high and may extend far up right above you). True, it may be a portal. C. (They seem to be able to pass through walls (which are made of non-living materials) but they seem to avoid living materials such as birds and maybe trees. All living organisms as far as I know have a bioelectric field associated with them. They also seem to avoid cars and trucks except when covered with snow. Maybe the metal carries a charge)? True and false. They avoid birds but not necessarily trees. I've seen still orbs on the branches with a little bit of flicker. Bioelectric field is basically Orgone Energy (natural energy)that was discovered by Dr. Wilhelm Reich back in the forties. I have orgone devices in and around the house, even on the deck. They don't avoid vehicles, I have pics of orbs in vehicles that I was restoring. D. (They're not particularly affected by wind or heat or light or magnets, although they may notice the magnetic field). True E. (They appear in loose groups on a fairly regular schedule; around sunset and then again around midnight. The activity of the groups is very variable - sometimes slow and sometimes very excited). True F. You're located in Southern Alaska which is near the Arctic Circle. True Question 1. (You're in aurora country, do they react to auroral activity? Today activity is low, but we're near solar maximum and the Auroral Oval could easily extend out to Southern Alaska when activity increases, as it does on a day by day basis. Auroras are chock full of energy which could affect your orbs). There is probably lots of them during aurora borealis due to the amount of energy available in the air. Question 2. (What about sound, which is another form of energy? You have neighbors so you can't just go blasting out strange music (or you shouldn't), but if you set up a camera indoors you could play with sounds of very low and very high pitch, as well as everything in between). True, even though I might be inside the house, I know there is some 'music' that seems to bring more of them around. I will show you the test when I get the cameras up in the house. I had to order more cameras because two of the ones that came in were bad and not working. I will be pointing more cameras upward to see how they act with the auroras. I will be testing frequencies as well. Question 3. (Do they come out when it snows? You said you didn't film when it snowed because you "didn't want to get a false reading/observation", which is very reasonable, but maybe you could put a cover of some sort over a camera and a dark background to see if they're there. My thought is that snowflakes are charged so that might affect the orbs). The orbs do come out when it snows and you can see them going against the direction of the snowflakes and some go sideways. I can also do the covering of the camera with the black background just to see how their behavior is. Question 4. (What type of light did you use for your test? Incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, LED? Maybe a 'black light' bulb that produces UV light would have an effect). I used an LED light. Good idea on the black light, I need to get one and perform that test. Question 5. (Would they react to a battery? Batteries have an anode and a cathode so there might be an attraction or repulsion to one end and not the other). I went and did that test, here is the video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI_h1gnm6w Question 6. (Winter Soltice is coming up this weekend and it might be worth looking to see if there's any difference in activity. There's a lot of cultural history and also hype about the solstices, but maybe there's something to be seen). True, I took a video at 1am because they were acting different, shocking- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef18lpRjQow It's my pleasure passing on information like this. If you look into lets say Orgone Pyramids, you'll understand more about the energies around us and how you can change things for the better where you live. P.S. Almost forgot to mention about the ravens that have been coming by lately- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Pgb-KrsBU Ed This post was edited by Trickyfingers on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 9:38

Hi Jules...Yes I agree, you have probably got that dear little birdy for life. It is so cute they are a joy those magpies we dont have many here any more They go over the road now, too many other birds here, hubby used to feed them all the time. They used to come over at 3pm every afternoon as they knew hubby used to dig up lawn grubs for them. Very clever birds. I miss them, Good luck with your little one you are doing a fantastic job. Well done ......Cheers..MM.