We have a dryer, but never use it anymore. Laundry can be dried outside year round, as long as it is not raining. When I lived in the Midwest it surprised me to see people hang their laundry out when it was 20 below zero. Ice, however, has a vapor pressure, and evaporates too. You could tell when the sheets were dry because they rippled in the breeze rather than looking like a board on hinges.
The birds are getting ready for spring!
Terri refers to it as part of our yard art. If the weather is bad, I can hang it indoors.
David---You are tooo funny! A board on hinges???? Yard art????
What is this World coming to?
Gita, if a damp sheet is pinned on a clothes line in sub-freezing temperatures it becomes stiff like a board and swings in the breeze like a sign hung by rings from a horizontal support.
SO????
WHEN does this serve the purpose of hanging one's laundry
outside in the winter????
It has been years that I ever ironed anything....with a dryer--it is not needed...
Sorry--I just don't "get it".....
G.
LOL about recycling Boris!
Thanks for the link about dryer lint, ecnalg. I need to clean the dryer lint from the outside vent; some always ends up on the ground.
Birds use the most interesting things in their nests. I see a lot of moss in the nests I take down in the fall, also paper and plastic. Once I wasn't sure whether a bird was using a nest, so I put something across it; I can't remember what it is. When I went back to check, it had been woven into the nest.
that's funny Muddy, like 'Hey check this out! It's my lucky day, I can use it!"
I'm noticing white throated sparrows lately, as if maybe there are more here in spring and fall than midwinter.
I only see white throated sparrows in winter if I feed white millet... had 2 pairs this year... otherwise I guess they are finding food elsewhere, but I think they're around. My binoculars aren't good enough to ID the birds in the back treeline, esp, those flitting around in the brush piles. LOL
Both pair of binoculars I've picked up at yard sales are great for long distance bird sightings but all the birds closer than 40 feet are blurs! I use a pair of kids plastic ones for the close in details. I need birder bi or tri focals!
Heard a news item this am, seems the Capitol Parks people are having trouble with all of the geese eating the grass and fouling the reflecting pool water this winter. They have put out a call for owners of border collies who would be willing to privately contract with them to use their dogs as 'harassment factors' and keep sections of the mall area clear of geese 95% of the time.
Pat is very creative about where she hangs the laundry LOL. There isn't really a clothes line, rather pieces of clothing are hung or draped here and there in the garden. It always makes me smile and it really does look like yard art!
We have moved the deer feeder further away from the bird feeders and I stopped and got a bag of Milogranite at HD to spread on the beds after tomorrows rain. I may also stop by our dog groomers and grab a bag of dog hair also. I want these critters to move on by the time the lilies start to come up. I keep telling myself that I should be able to harvest one of them for ourselves since I care for them all winter.
Sparrows are hard to ID because they move so quickly and look so similar. I try to memorize the pattern of light and dark stripes on their heads and the color of their tails because that's about all I can see. They're ground feeders so it's hard to see their chests and bellies. Plus, their appearances change throughout the year.
Even the white-throated sparrows are tough; I have to watch for awhile before I get a glimpse of their throats.
I need better binoculars too. I've dropped hints before Christmas, Mother's Day and my birthday, but so far I keep getting more bird feeders and bird houses,..........not that they're not welcome!
My family has it made; between my gardening and bird obsessions, they can always think of something to give me. One year I got 3 books: one on birds, one on gardening, and one on gardening for the birds!
too funny, Muddy.
I am not IDing by sight, that is hard, ever since many years ago when I studied one with a nice reddish brown crown...stumped me. I'm relying on what I hear.
Looks like I'll have a nest of Carolina wrens. I walked around the side of the house with kitty Chester, and a pair of C wrens came busting out of the bush making a big fuss. They may be the ones making an unfamiliar trilling call lately. I have not yet heard the longer and more complex house wren call, but I'm sure I will. Those guys will fill a gourd birdhouse with twigs in no time.
I know! Remember the one that had a nest, WITH newly hatches babies in it,
in my big pot in the WS bed?
Before I realized that--it darted out fussing at me many times...
I di not know the difference between the C. wren--and the House Wren.
There IS one living here--as I see it often. I also saw and heard it a lot
last fall. It would often sit on the roof of my shed.
The other bird that was always around here was a (not sure) Flicker??
The one with the undulating flight...
Gotta go fill my feeder. It has been empty for a few days--thanks to the Grackles.
Also need to hang up more suets. Will do all that today.
I bought a new Blower/Vac the other day. $75. My old one's motor burned out.
Anyone need the accessories that came with it? Bag--vac tube--
I also have an older Torro "Grass Hog" trimmer whose line used to break every couple minutes.
It was supposed to be an Auto-feed. I now have a new one as well.
I also have 4 packs of roofing siotting in the deep back abyss of my shed.
These are pretty old--maybe from the late 70's? Are these any good any more?
My shed is so full old, useless things.....G.
put the shingles on free cycle and leave them at the curb. Or curb them first with a FREE sign. Maybe somebody will take some for a doghouse or chicken coop.
Wow, it occurs to me, those packs of shingles are very heavy.
YES! They are heavy--beyond my ability to pick them up.
Next time I get the urge to unload all my shed--I will see if I can
find some way to get those shingle packs out.
They sre Wayyyy in the back on the floor...
G.
Shingles especially unused shingles are great for covering dirt driveways and parking areas. Back when I first moved here I laid a pad of shingles down for a back porch and the floor of a small thrown together lean to shed. It was free and lasted for years, until we were ready for something else. When we pulled them up they were still good.
Gita, leave them in the shed and let who ever wants them dig them out.
Holly, that is an excellent use for them.
coleup :"Heard a news item this am, seems the Capitol Parks people are having trouble with all of the geese eating the grass and fouling the reflecting pool water this winter. They have put out a call for owners of border collies who would be willing to privately contract with them to use their dogs as 'harassment factors' and keep sections of the mall area clear of geese 95% of the time."
Addy says "WHERE DO I SIGN UP???!!!"
This message was edited Mar 26, 2015 8:44 PM
Sally don't think your link is working right.
I remember seeing a news story about a girl with her border collie that did the same thing at an airport. After all they are working dogs and need to fulfill there herding instincts. I wonder if they get frustrated when there herd flies away. LOL
Sally, which shrub did the Carolina Wrens pick for their nest? It's nice that the nest won't be in a bird house; it'll be easier to see the little ones and addle any cowbird eggs that might appear.
A Mockingbird has built nests in a shrub by my front door for the last several years. I'm curious to see whether it does this year, because I cut that shrub way back.
There was a little bird high up in a tree today making loud "chew chew" sounds while we were sitting outside today, cat on leash contentedly chewing on grass.
I took the cat in so I could see what it was, and a little Tufted Titmouse crawled down to the peanut feeder. Titmice aren't supposed to make such sounds. Does this ring bells with anyone?
It wasn't a Cardinal; the sound was clearly coming from that little bird which I could not see. My S-I-L thought it had a yellow breast.
Chew, chew, chew? Is that the one that sounds like a ray gun in a video game? I'd love to know what makes that call.
Also, does anyone know the name of the "microwave" bird that goes beep, beep, beep?
We all have our own sound associations. :-)
This message was edited Mar 26, 2015 9:45 PM
chew chew...couldn't tell you. not an abbreviated cardinal? WHIT chew chew chew chew. I had one cardinal that would carry on so many times, I was sure he'd pass out and fall from a tree one day. I guess they do not exhale to sing. ??
Holly, it was not an important link, it was just the tag that DG adds when you copy from someone else's post.
Muddy, they came out of a big Euonymus 'Manhattan' . Do you think I should look for cowbirds, and risk upsetting them?
David we had a mocking bird that made cell phone ringtones. LOL I've also heard them sound like the reverse alarm on construction vehicles.
Then there is this fella, a Lyrebird, nicknamed the laser bird or Star Wars Bird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA0tP-p7m40
Cowbirds... I don't mind them for the most part, but I'd hate to see a little wren try to keep up with feeding a cowbird chick! Hard enough keeping up with their own younguns... think I read recently that a wrenling eats 400 caterpillars a day. ??!
We've had such a lot of song out back the past few mornings... I'm pretty sure we must have warblers migrating through, although I wasn't patient enough to try to spot them along the treeline. I just cracked the back door a bit so I could enjoy them while in the kitchen!
I'm beginning to feel like the little guy in the donut commercial. Time to feed the birds.
I think they're taking to go bags of late. I need a shovel instead of a scoop to keep up. LOL
My bird population at the feeders sure has decreased.
Maybe b/c the feeder was empty for 3 days--but it is now
refilled. Maybe they don't like the seed? Pennington's Wild bird mix...
I even put out 3 new suet cakes--and 2 of them are untouched.
See the little flickers snooping around them.
Hardly see any black birds....(YEAH!!!). I do see a red cardinal on a regular basis.
Mrs. Cardinal may be sitting on eggs? Is it too soon?
I do see birds "fighting" more that before. They may be trying to mate?
or protecting their territory. Whatever~~~~~~~~
Jill, a nest-full of wrenlings eat between 400 and 600 a day between them, depending on the number of brood.
These caterpillars have to be teeny-tiny---like hatching Fungus Gnat ones....
It would never be any of the big ones----would it?
G.
Thanks for setting me straight on that number, GT! 400 did seem like an awful lot for one baby bird... I've seen as many as 5 eggs in a wren's nest but usually 3 or 4, so that still means around 125 caterpillars per day, per nestling.. good golly! No wonder it takes so many eggs & cats to produce a few adult butterflies!
This whole caterpillar thing sounds illogical to me...... nuff said....
All caterpillars hatch out from eggs and are very small. Monarchs are like a short eyelash at first.
After the first two shedding of skins (in stars) they are like a grain of rice. I think other caterpillars are similar in itty bitty size until at least the third or fouth in star when they become The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar. Not all caterpillars are fed whole to baby birds. Many birds are able to eat a caterpillar or worm and then regurgitate for babies.
Sally, I'm pretty sure the "chew chew" sound wasn't coming out of a cardinal. I haven't been able to spend much time outside lately (relatives visiting), but I'm sure I'll hear it again. Maybe it was the mockingbird, although he/she is a pretty quiet bird.
From what I've read, if small birds like wrens try to feed a cowbird, the rest of the brood isn't likely to live because the cowbird hatches first, grows much larger much more quickly, and eats more and the parents just can't keep up. I don't think they'd abandon the nest if you took an egg; or you could just shake the egg so it wouldn't hatch.
Greenthumb, I'll keep an ear out for "microwave" birds!
I'd take a cowbird egg out of a nest of any much smaller bird, except English sparrows... There, I'd probably leave the cowbird egg alone and shake the English sparrow eggs. I shake English sparrow eggs when I can get to them, anyway.
Pat and I have fun ID's for birds we hear but can't locate, so Muddy, also keep an ear out for the fajita bird. Fajita! Fajita! Fajita! Its entertaining to sit outside and just listen to the sounds of the birds. There are several that sound like they are part of a video game.
It can also sound like it is saying Virginia, Virginia, Virginia. Thus, I've assured David that it must be a native bird.
I heard the Virginia bird yesterday!! Could be a wren?
Looks like both Carolina wrens and cowbirds have brown speckled eggs.
http://www.sialis.org/nestscarolinawren.htm
Maybe the cowbird egg is bigger? "~One of these things is not like the other ones...one of these things doesn't belong..."
Sally, the same organization also shows these photos of cowbird eggs; they also resemble chickadee eggs: http://www.sialis.org/cowbirds.htm I think your idea of looking for the one that is larger and/or looks like it doesn't belong is good. It probably would be the largest egg, because bigger birds like blue jays can eject the eggs from their nest.
I just remembered, however, that cowbirds are protected under the Migratory Bird Act, so one bluebird trail group recommended Critter's idea, i.e. putting the cowbird eggs in a house sparrow nest. Of course, if one takes the egg out of the nest to get a close look at it, and rolls it over in one's hand to get a close look, it could accidentally get addled.
Greenthumb and ecnalg, one of the difficulties with ID'ing bird sounds is that descriptions of the sounds are subject to interpretation. I don't agree with a lot of the descriptions I read.
One idea would be to go to this site and listen to the different sounds made by birds you've seen or ones known to be common in your area.
I haven't seen pine siskens here, but to my ears the "goldfinch sound" they make sounds a bit like a microwave beep: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Siskin/sounds