From my kitchen window

A lot of my day is spent in the kitchen. I don't mind. I enjoy cooking and creating in my kitchen. Clean up is made more bearable by the two windows behind my kitchen sink. They certainly don't offer the best view of the 100 Acre Wood, but if I look beyond the drive way, beyond the vehicles and equipment, I can see the hills, the tress and some of the reasons we chose to live here. It is also one of the few times, like hanging clothes on the line, that I can accomplish a task and enjoy a stolen moment of peace and quiet.

From my window, I can watch the kids playing, but I often find myself watching the birds. Last spring I watched a momma bird and her babies. This winter we put bird feeders on a small tree near the window. Our feeders are nothing fancy, but the birds don't seem to mind.

On the small tree you will find two stale bagels covered with peanut butter that Lydia and Nolan made at story time. They were covered with sunflower seeds, but one particularly greedy bird removed them all over the course of a day.

There is also a feeder made from an old milk jug. We washed it out and cut two large holes in the side. Then filled it with seed and tied it to the tree.

The final feeder is the net bag from some apples, filled with "bird cake." Making the "bird cake" was part of our science lesson one day. The recipe was on page 268 of "Further Up and Further In"

Bird Suet
2lbs lard (do not substitute shortening!)
6 cups cornmeal
3 cups wheat flour
4 cups oatmeal

Soften the lard to room temperature. Stir in the other ingredients a couple of cups at a time until the mixture is quite thick. Freeze in tuna cans or small plastic tubs.

I enjoy watching them at the feeders. There are a few varieties that come. I need to invest in a field guide to birds. I should keep it in the kitchen, then maybe I would actually learn to identify these birds. Today, I spent a little time trying to capture them with my camera. They tend to grab and go, so, I didn't get any great shots, but here are a few things I saw today from my kitchen window.