Good morning and Happy Friday everyone! Time for a cup of coffee and relax for a few minutes. Wow, another week has gone by already. Hard to believe how fast time goes by. Here it is, another DIY day and I am just not ready for it again. I must admit, the loss of my brother really hit me hard and my schedule has been really thrown off track because of it. Hopefully by next Friday I will be back with another DIY project for you.

The next DIY project will be nice, especially if you have certain antiques. But even if you do not, the idea can be used with modern items as well. But I will leave it at that for now. It felt so cold this morning when I went to put the bird feeders out. There are still so many birds coming around. The number of grosbeaks and purple finches had been going down, but now have started going up again.

Since it is now too warm to put out suet for the birds, the male Hairy Woodpecker is back to picking up peanuts again.

So there are at least 100 or more of them. And those birds can really eat! Now, my problem is, will I have enough seeds to last until Monday when I go shopping again? I doubt it. I thought I had more than I actually did, so I did not buy any last Monday. I should have known better. Sigh. If I run out of seeds, I will run out of birds. Sigh.

I really want to keep these birds around as long as possible, especially since I am not walking to the river right now. So I kind of need these birds to keep coming since they will attract other birds that are returning from the south. Birds attract other birds, even if those birds do not come to the feeders. Birds just like areas where there are lots of other birds.

And without the suet, the Pileated Woodpecker will not be coming back.

Perhaps it is the ‘safety in numbers’ idea. Whatever the reason, it does work. There are not many birds around at the moment though, something scared them a while back and they have been gone for about half an hour now. That is a long time for them. It must have been that hawk again. Well, it has gotten cloudy again, it was clear and sunny earlier.

So I will just show a few of the last pics I took of him.

And there is a strong east wind which is making it feel cold. This has been such a windy year, not normal at all. A few grosbeaks and finches have returned. So has Jasper. And he is sitting on the feeder consuming the sunflower seeds. He does like them too, but he prefers peanuts. Sigh. I have lots of peanuts Jasper. Somehow I do not think he cares.

I really did enjoy having him around.

For some reason I do not have many chipmunks this year. I had 8 of them last year, there were 5 earlier this spring, now there are just 2 of them. And one of those has lost his tail. I think perhaps the neighbors cat has been busy. He does look quite fat these days. I certainly hope I am wrong and my chipmunks will return again. Pocket was here, but is now missing.

Same for Coffee and Skitter. Scooter is still around, minus the tail. There is one other one around, but I cannot remember his name. How could I forget his name? Oh well, wait, that is it, I named him GPS. I had one with that name when I first moved here, but he was here only one summer. So I decided to name this one the same. I just like the name. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2023 Steve McLeod.