ONE WORD WEDNESDAY

                          ~  staring  ~

(Please feel free to join in One Word Wednesday, just leave your link in the comments).

                                                  happy day!

IMAGINE ICICLES

                     Do you have icicles hanging from your house? Try to reach one from an opened window and bring it inside for the children.


Touch it and hold it. How does it look? How does it feel? Is it smooth or bumpy? Does it glisten in the light? Is it heavy? Is it COLD?
               
                                       What can you do with it? 
                                How long would it take to melt?

                                      
                            happy day! happy winter!

OUR BIRD HAVEN IS A JOY

Our Bird Haven that we made on our deck is as beneficial to us as it is the birds. We have a close- up view all day long of them visiting the feeders. They are getting used to us moving about and don't fly off as quickly anymore. But many times we peek through the edge of the curtains so as not to alarm them.

    It's amazing how many birds will visit at one time. Can you count them? Click on the picture to enlarge it.


         (Click to enlarge and see if you found all of them. Look for the yellow stars)

                                We keep pen and paper nearby to write down the names of our bird visitors. It's fun to go back and see what bird visited on what day and when certain seeds or suet were offered.


 The field guides are kept by the window to look up the birds we don't know. These are the two we use the most.

We also have our bird chart hanging by the window, especially for people who visit. Before long they are trying to identify the birds themselves. Birding is contagious.

The birds visit the haven in all weather.

There are those who hang out and wait their turn.

sometimes on a nearby fence.

BUT there are others who come and partake of the birds' food. . . 
 but after all, they are living creatures too, I guess there IS room for all. 


The squirrels are quite brazen and and don't even care when we appear at the window.

They are fun to watch.

The hens have discovered good eating here too, and make their way up the deck from their coop

The Bird Haven has also been quite the entertainment for the kittens in the house. Each morning they sit atop a chest by the window and watch. Sometimes they peek through the curtains .

or sit in their bowls. I know, silly silly kittens!

Children LOVE the Bird Haven. Perhaps you would like to make one. You can see how we made it HERE. You can make one now, even if the ground is frozen where you live, just buy potting soil from the store.

Activities to do with the Bird Haven.
- keep a list of the birds that visit and the date

- notice their markings, beaks, what they eat and where they eat 

- look up the birds in a field guide and learn more about them

- take pictures of them
- draw them as you watch them, or from the pictures you take
- paint them with watercolors or use watercolor pencils
- make a bird book, telling what you know about each one or create a story
 - fill the feeders and add suet. We provide black oil sunflower seed, shelled peanuts, niger (thistle seed), saffllower seed, and suet.
- put out a very shallow dish of fresh water


Supplies:
-colored pencils ( we love Prismacolor)
-drawing paper, watercolor paper
-watercolors
-paintbrushes
- field guides on birds
- camera
- binoculars



A great activity for the Hands On Homeschool blog carnival.
happy day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

"This is a time for reflection as well as celebration.

As you look back on the past year and all that has taken place in your life,

Remember each experience for the good that has come of it

    and for the knowledge you have gained.

Remember the efforts you have made and the goals you have reached.

Remember the love you have shared and the happiness you have brought.

Remember the laughter, the joy, the hard work, and the tears.

And as you reflect on the past year, also be thinking of the new one to come.

Because most importantly, this is a time of new beginnings

    and the celebration of life. " 

~Taylor Addison

                HAPPY NEW YEAR !

THROUGH THE WINDOW

the covered garden gate

 pine boughs adorned

a garden asleep

a teepee standing tall . . . 

amidst the white

 in stillness

and in peace.

                     ~mjs

I'm playing Tuesday Through. . .The Winter Window hosted by Swedish House . 
This is the view out my kitchen windows during the morning snowfall.
 Just delightful!


happy day! 
Wishing you peace and joy!

MAKE A HAVEN FOR THE BIRDS

 Use your empty summer flower pots to make a haven for the birds this winter. . . and invite a child to help.


Collect pine boughs and other greens and insert them deep into the soil of the pot. If it is already frozen just add some hot water until it softens enough to insert the branches and it will freeze again to secure them tight. 

We were lucky enough to make use of a young holly tree that our neighbor had cut down in his yard and had thrown on our shared burn pile to set ablaze in the spring. We were actually quite sad that he cut the beautiful tree and made sure it went to good use . 

So it become part of our bird haven and we will decorate with loads of holly this season.

The haven is in the corner of our deck opposite one of the kitchen slider doors, where we will have constant viewing of our feathered friends while we gather in the kitchen.

Two cattail feeders were inserted into another pot next to the holly and filled with shelled peanuts. The birds love them and it's great energy source for the colder months. The feeders can also hold sunflower seeds. We bought them here. White pine boughs complete the pot offering birds cover and a place to land .

Our haven wasn't even complete and we already had visitors! Peanut lovers!

There was even a "sweet birdy" walking around the pot waiting for any fallen remains. 

We set this up for the ground feeders, filled with Safflour seeds, which squirrels do not like.

Another pot we just filled with greenery for now. The birds can hide in there.

We also used a cedar branch we had saved, 

inserted it deep into a five gallon bucket filled with soil. We covered it with rocks and added greens. We wired it to the deck rails to keep it upright and sturdy in heavy winds and concealed the wire with pine boughs.  And now it holds suet feeders.

It is another terrific spot for viewing and we have easy access to refill the feeders.

I am especially excited to relax in the kitchen with my coffee or tea while watching the various birds.

 The Bird Haven also makes for some great entertainment for others in our household.

See if you can set up a Bird haven at your house!




Below is some helpful information about the different bird seeds and who likes what:

- Black Oil Sunflower Seeds are a premium feed.  Most birds prefer them to the striped sunflower variety. Sunflower seeds a high energy and nutritious food source packed with protein and fat and leave less waste than some other seeds.  

(Gold Finches, House Finches, Purple Finches, Cardinals, Bluejays, Scrub Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Mourning Doves, Buntings, Grosbeaks, Juncos and Sparrows eat sunflower seeds.)

-Thistle seeds (Niger) : nutritious seed  rich in protein and fat.   Thistle feeders with tiny openings limit attracted birds and squirrels do not like Thistle (it's debated). 

 (Goldfinches, House Finches, Purple Finches, Redpolls, Siskins, Juncos, and even Mourning Doves eat  thistle seeds.)

          
         -Safflower Seed: High in protein and fat.


                Cardinals, Mourning Doves, Finches, Grosbeaks, Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Song Sparrows, and White-throated Sparrows like Safflower.   Squirrels dislike safflower seeds. So this is a good option for those wanting to discourage unwanted "visitors".


       
       - Peanuts: Feeding shelled unsalted peanuts isn't messy and they are highly nutritious for the birds that can eat them.    Most birds can shell whole (unshelled) peanuts, with varying degrees of effort.  


Squirrels love peanuts. However, do NOT feed RAW peanuts to squirrels and other animals because it can seriously hurt them. Raw peanuts and other legumes contain a trypsin inhibitor or substance that inhibits or prevents the pancreas from producing trypsin, an enzyme essential for the absorption of protein by the intestine. Squirrels fed a steady diet of raw peanuts, soybeans. other legumes, and sweet potatoes could easily develop severe malnutrition. 


Roasting hulled raw peanuts for 20 to 30 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring them frequently, will destroy the trypsin inhibitor and render them suitable for feed. If that sounds like a lot of work, buy roasted peanuts but be sure they aren't salted. (Salted nuts of any kind should never be fed to wild animals.)


(  Bluejays, Scrub Jays, House Finches, Cardinals, Woodpeckers, Magpies, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows eat peanuts.)




                                          happy day!