It's the little things...
Comments (23)
8 months agoMe! I have always loved bird-watching. I got one of those smart feeders for Christmas that takes pictures for you and sends them to your phone app. Wonderful invention, and I thought I’d get some great pictures today since we’re in a winter storm. Alas: my feeder is facing north, it’s snowing and -5°. I’m not going outside to clean the lens now! 😩
orchidrain thanked littlebug Zone 5 Missouri
8 months agolast modified: 8 months agoI'm perpetually fighting the *!*!*!* grey squirrels which raid the nut feeders. They're not even a native species but an invasive. I live in a town but we do get various small birds.
A blurry robin, one of my favourites and very intrepid around humans.orchidrain thanked floral_uk z.8/9 SW UKRelated Discussions
It's the Little Things that Count
Comments (10)Ingrid Yippee! I am celebrating with you!! These tiny darlings are truly our little rose babies. I have a RVR Botzaris that subjected me to similar parental joys and frets. When the postal stork arrived with it, Botzaris was just a minute green sprout tucked into its cozy 4" pot. I watered it and then transplanted it to a larger plastic cradle in a very special corner of my nursery. I checked on Botzaris several times per day, testing its soil diaper and nursing it diligently. One morning I went to the nursery to peek at its progress and discovered that...it was gone! Eek!! I practically stuck my nose in the dirt in my frantic search for traces of Botzaris. Then I spotted the remains. An 1/8" stub just above the soil line. The fluffy-tailed tree rats had struck my garden again. In a tearful panic, I ran to the garage in search of anything resembling armor-plating. I spied my rather expensive English riddle teetering on a shelf at the back. (This unique piece of equipment was purchased from Smith and Hawken back in the day when S&H was truly S&H.) Yes, the riddle would serve the purpose. But the riddle would rust and disintegrate in Portland's late winter/spring downpours. Hmmm. Rose. Riddle. Rose. RIddle. As you may have guessed, Botzaris--my precious baby Botzaris--won the debate. After keeping a watchful eye (like a mama hawk), enduring more stretches of constant nurturing including many gentle feedings of compost tea, I spied a microscopic stem with even dinkier leaves emerging next to the stubbins. My neighbors must have heard the WHOOP for blocks! I left the rusty riddle in place and maintained a constant vigilance against further attacks by fluffy-tailed rose assassins. When I finally witnessed my little white damask growing into a strapping young toddling beauty, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Ahhhhh. The joys of parenting! Please post photos of your first grandflower! Still cheering for you in PDX-- Carol...See Moreit's the little things that make you nuts
Comments (4)I'm not familar with your truck, but if this shift indicator is mechanical and not electronic, it's probably very simple. A number of these are nothing more than a weatherproof string clipped to the shifter. As the shifter moves about, it pulls on the the string. The other end of the string is attached to the indicator drum that supports the indicator needle, and finally, the end of the sting is held taut by a spring. The adjustment is simple: adjust the end of the string where it clips to the shifter. That's the easy part. It may be buried under a bunch of stuff under the dash. If you are lucky, the adjustment end will be accessible. Consult a repair manual for your particular vehicle. Sometimes, these indicators get pulled out of adjustment by someone poking around under the dash and unknowingly snags the string - also, these may slip on their own accord. This indicator is merely a convenience item and does not affect the operation of the truck. You can ignore it or fix it if you like to have "things right" on the instrument panel. It isn't critical unless the a driver depends on it, as might be the case when the vehicle gets passed around among several different drivers....See MoreIt's the little things
Comments (4)I was the one who had posted it a while back, but had forgotten it since then. Because you brought it up again, I passed the 'good' word on the 2 friends recently. They were adults, and did not roll their eyes, but were thankful to learn of the free directory assistance. Regular directory assistance (1+area code+555-1212) used to be $1.75 per call, if you got your number or not. I wonder with a prepaid cell phone (like I have), how one is charged, or if there are just a lot of minutes ($1.75 worth), deducted. Hmmm, will have to check that out sometime. With my page plus, I have to buy $10 worth of minutes every 4 months, to keep the phone account active. Since it is just used for calling out convenience occasionally, I always have minutes stockpiled. Sue...See MoreIt’s the little things…..Holiday edition
Comments (9)Lower left corner, the santa nesting dolls that I got in Estes Park probably 30 years ago. 2 year old grandson gets to play with them, but last nite he took off with them. I cant find them anywhere today. First place I looked was toilets. Little things! Not $$ valuable but I love them. My children played with them in the car all the way home from Estes. He will come over today to see if he knows where he put them....See More- 8 months ago
Last winter, we had a flock of bluebirds come to our heated birdbath - they stayed for quite awhile. We don't see bluebirds very often and sadly didn't get a photo of them. We do have birdfeeders, but only put sunflower hearts in them. Bluebirds prefer mealworms. We tried suet cakes but the squirrels just drag them off into the woods. The squirrels also trashed our thistle feeder so we keep it simple - a heated birdbath (which our dogs love drinking from) and we feed the birds (and squirrels) that will eat sunflower hearts from our sturdy tube feeders and what falls on the ground.
Cardinals, chickadees, finches, titmice, nuthatches, juncos, bluejays, woodpeckers and flickers are always present. We do occasionally see painted buntings, cedar waxwings and once a rufous sided towhee. American robins hang around here all winter, as well.
orchidrain thanked seagrass_gw Cape Cod 
8 months agolast modified: 8 months agoWe have Brome Squirrel Buster feeders and 2 suet feeders and they do a decent job of thwarting the squirrels. This photo is from Brome's site - these work!
orchidrain thanked maire_cate
8 months agoI live in NYC and you’d be surprised how many birds I see. I love the birdsong, and I have the Merlin bird ID app. You can identify by photo or recording. I get a kick out of the names. Here is s screenshot of the most recent. I identified by recording (not my photos…I wish!)
I finally have a Red-rumped Cacique and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 🤭
I think we get a lot of birds through here because the East River is just one block away and there’s a fairly big park across the street.
Here’s a little squirrel humor for you. We have tons of those too. Raccoons and possums too believe it or not
orchidrain thanked Michele- 8 months ago
8 months agoMichele, I have never heard of the red-rumped cacique. It didn't show up in my Audubon app. When I looked it up in Wikipedia, it says it is found in South America. Is that the bird you saw??
I fed the birds for over 20 years at this house but I finally gave it up. It attracted the pigeons that live at the hardward store. They were awful. Besides being so pushy and running every other bird away, they ate all the seed and none of the other birds got anything. One neighbor still feeds the birds but the feeder is hung under a blue spruce and only the squirrels and deer fight the birds for seed.
I do still have a hummingbird feeder up right outside my back door so I can watch them easily.
I have Merlin ID too and I love having my window open and using it to identify the birds within earshot.orchidrain thanked murraysmom Zone 6a OH- 8 months ago
- orchidrain thanked raymondz7a
- 8 months ago
I am sooo loving your photos! I gave up trying to feed birds when the squirrels began emptying the feeder in 1 and 1/2 days. Then a friend gave me a Yankee feeder. Best feeder ever! those squirrels only get slung off it once and don't come back. I get mostly commn birds, but the cardinals make my day.
orchidrain thanked ladypat1
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