Like jays, these birds will go for just about anything but fish....unless the fish is already in the trash. :D They usually go for easy meals, like insects and eggs, fruits and veggies. I love watching our 2 local maggies bathing in my creek. Brenda

Jane, Right now DH is outside making a stone retaining wall and steps (has he ever done this before? No...). But he is an engineer through and through and loves to figure things out. Of course, he has never made furniture before, but that won't stop him. (He once even helped me figure out a complicated (to me) crochet stitch! He has done some woodwork, making shelves, etc., but I think it's great that your DH has actually made the beautiful furniture, and loves to get requests from you! I will put up some pix when the packing boxes are gone and the furniture is in. Yachter, It's SUPPOSED to look like a cabin in the mountains, even though it's a house in the foothills. Sorry about the snow is your area, we love it here 'cause it's light and only lasts a day or two at a time. Gail, Christmas will be fun to do. I'm embarassed to say how many big boxes of Christmas things I have, but suffice to say it's a number somewhere between 20 and 40!! (probably closer to 40). I simply MUST have a yard sale... DD, That's the look I'm going for (As I said to Yachter, I would have even preferred to have a more primitive cabin look but DH has a little more "elegant" taste)--the "lodge" look. We have some rusty red leather furniture and the pine coffee table you can see in front of the fireplace. We are also skiers! Keep us posted on any redecorating plans. Lynn, It's not snowing yet, what you see is our grassy hillside. I agree that I need some bigger items, and since the LOW part of the ceiling (which is above the fireplace) is 13 ft high I need some serious wall decor there too! - Magpie

And don't they have such a wonderful morning song. They just love the lawn mulch here and go digging for the curl worms themselves and really are good at aerating[goodness , how do you spell that] the pile for me. You have a lot of them in that group. Marion

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.