As a follow-up to the previous article
Tomato Rocket (Dollar Tree item): My
tomato planter was invaded by tiny gnats. They didn't bite however the
bugs irritated me to the extent that I moved the planter outside. Then the
birds attacked the baby tomato plants and, well, it's all gone now. Once
again, tomatoes and life aboard Seaweed has not worked out as
anticipated... Bugs have been the bane of my tomato experiments thus far.
It all started with my Buddy. A young grey night heron began
visiting Seaweed. I bought hot dogs and began to cut them into
wafers for Buddy. The neighbors were fishermen and when cleaning
their catches would feed fish scraps to the herons. I thought that was cool,
so opened Seaweed's night heron restaurant.
Initially I
would knock on the hull three times to call them. The birds would
fly in. Feedings expanded to include among others great blue herons, crows,
catfish and mallard ducks. I was having fun. The the birds started
hanging out on top of my boat. They would see movement in my cabin
and use their beaks to tap on my hatch urging me to get up and feed
them. ARGH!!!
I
solved that by adding a cover to the glass above my bunk, so the
birds cannot see me in the morning.
Yes, I do hide from my birds. They get up early. I am
not a morning girl.
My
Buddy became a special part of my day. I fed him with the others.
Later however, after dark, he would fly into my doorway, eventually
working himself to the counter above my refrigerator where he would
wait for me to hand feed him.
Buddy ↑ looks hungry. I
know he isn't. He just works me and I weaken.
What's not to
love about this adorable feathered face?!?
In the
meantime I have become somewhat of an expert at cheap hotdogs.
I will admit that I buy
the least expensive dogs I can find for the birds. What I
discovered however is that there is a difference in brands.
The ones from Winn Dixie and Save-A-Lot (discount grocery
store) have a lot of liquid in the package. Bar S from Walmart
does not have that juice.
Because
opening the BarS dogs and slicing same is less onerous I
purchase hotdogs from Walmart. I don't know that the birds
cared, as long as the amount delivered was plentiful.
Some of the feathered kids:
In the above photo you can see crows, white ibis, and
a pair of snowy egrets.
From my favorite bird identification book,
Birds of North America:
The white ibis has a long curved beak. It gets longer
as the birds age. When young, the
ibis start out mottled brown, gradually growing in their white
feathers as they mature.
This is a link to purchase
your bird book via Amazon:
Free advice:
Buy the least expensive copy of the Golden Guide to Birds of
North America you can find. The edition really does not matter. If the
book is 50 years old the only difference besides the cover is that the
glue at the binding starts to harden. The Golden Guide series is the
most referenced books aboard Seaweed. I love mine.
Side Note:
In my spare time (stop laughing!) I'm learning YouTube. No, at present I have zero intention of starting regular
posts there, however I have read that it is a good way to share
videos with folks. Thus the following gizmo/thingy.
I have loved birds all my
life. This is one of my cross-stitched items.
The pattern is called Blue Birds is stitched on 32 count fabric.
I've
forgotten the designer of this ↑
piece. If anyone knows who wrote the pattern please let me know so I
can link to her site. This was a beautiful kit with silk floss if
memory serves me.
Thank you for being a part of my world. Thanks too
for reading.
Do you feed birds, and what is your favorite bird?
Are there any other folks who love cross-stitching with silks?
Regarding the Comments Section,
found at the end of every article:
Before you type in each block be
sure to hit the backspace key. Coding inserts a space in every box.
Your email address will come back as malformed unless you remove
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