Birdfeeders and Burgers

It got over 70 degrees outside - we cooked out last night and had some burgers and chicken sausage on the grill tonight. I also had to concede to a birdfeeder design change to battle the squirrels. I looked out this morning and a big fat one was munching away out there - hanging right off of it! So we went to the farm supply store near here and walked around getting ideas. Which included a solar powered electric fence! ha ha The best design seems to be one with a screen around the feeder itself. I was trying to keep the birds off the tree to prevent them from jumping over. So armed with expensive ideas, we went to Wal-Mart and implemented them! I got the feeder you see above. It is a good idea actually - a metal cage is affixed around the feeder tube (and portals) with springs. Strategically placed metal leaves in the cage slide down to cover the feeder portals when a squirrel jumps on the cage. Online reviews say it works pretty good. The springs are the weak link but I can replace those if they go bad. And some people reported that some birds got their necks broken if a squirrel jumped on the cage while they were feeding! We'll see. I moved the other feeder to the front yard where there are no squirrels. For now.

Our Pastor asked me to pick up the missionary speaker tomorrow. It is Missions Sunday with a banquet at night.

My thumb continues to improve but it is pretty gross looking. I should have gotten it stitched up - it looks like an overcooked hot dog but it is pink and healthy and not infected. I fashioned a metal finger protector over it so I could play basketball Thursday night. That gave me a good excuse for my missed shots!

The warm weather melted all of the snow from last weeks storm. Which revealed a bounty of dog poop. But I got that all cleaned up today too.

Our neighbor across the street put his house up for sale today. They are moving down-state. They were nice people.

I picked up Elliott's trophy with his name spelled right this time. Ashleigh got selected to be one of 3 students from her high school to represent the school at a state driving competition later in the month.