A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Fall Chores

Last year I was reading about how to make your own suet balls. I had bought a few and found  that only the outside of the cake was covered with seed. The middle was just fat. My birds enjoy birdseed and they didn't come around very much for these new cakes. I decided to take matters in my own hands and make my own. I loaded the car with chicken scratch, bird seed, lard, cranberries, peanuts etc. I was glad that I opened the bags of seed and scratch in the garage, because they were full of bugs. Little flying moths that might get into my cupboards. I melted the fat and mixed the ingredients together and tried to form the cakes. It was a very loose mixture and finally I just put it into zip lock bags and then into the freezer. Frozen bugs....yummy! The first day that I used it...I could see that there might be a problem. Our feeders have a very fine mesh screen on the bottom...so that rain water will drain through them. There was a problem....the screen got all caked with the mixture because of the chicken scratch. I couldn't put it in a regular suet feeder, because it wouldn't hold together. So, I just crumbled it on the bird feeders and the birds loved it. If you are a regular reader, you might remember the possum  that frequented the feeders....he loved it too. Finally I sent some home with my daughter. She feeds tons of birds at her Wisconsin home. Well, here I am today with caked feeders and still some chicken scratch in the big metal can. This morning I vowed to get rid of it all.I dumped the can into my lawn cart and hauled it back to the woods. Let the critters eat it back there. I washed the two cans out with the hose and soaked the two feeders to get the caked mess off of them. When I was finished, I felt really good. I had accomplished my first job on my very long to-do list. I sat on the red wooden bench, in the sun, and watched the hummingbirds flying back and forth to the newly filled feeders. It was in the 80's, and there was a buzz of insects in the air. I looked up at the maple tree, and saw a faint color of red at the top. The school bus went by and I could sense  a change in the air. It even smelled different. Fall is on it's way and I have such a long list of things to do. Joe BBQ'd some chicken on the grill and I fixed a little potato salad. Soon our meals will change to comfort foods...soups, stews, and roasts. I'm getting ready one day at a time. There's no hurry...
Balisha

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You will have some happy diners for sure. Can hardly wait for the comfort food times.

Have a great weekend!

GIVEAWAY ends 9/9

TTFN~
Hugs,
Marydon

Balisha said...

Hi Marydon...So nice to hear from you. Comfort foods are the best aren't they?
You have a nice weekend too...
Balisha