Birds On The Brain

Last week Durwood and I talked about maybe getting a real tree for Christmas this year so we stopped at a few tree yards to see if we could find one and in our price range. We didn't find one and gave up. This morning I went out to fill the bird feeders and the need for a birdie tree really hit me. It's a bright sunny day with new snow on the ground, just the kind of day I like to be out playing in the yard so I went to find a new bird feeder and then went down the street a block to the neighborhood greenhouse. Which was closed for the season. But there was a pickup truck in the lot, the gate was open, and one of the garage doors was up too, so I wandered around (good thing I wore my boots) calling out to see if I could find anybody. I was standing next to the side door of the cashier's building preparing to set off into the wilds of the lot when the door opened and a (fairly good-looking) man poked his head out to see what I wanted. I asked if he had any misshapen or rejected trees I could use for a birdie tree and he pointed to the half dozen or so leftovers in the yard. They all looked too perfect to be left behind to me but what do I know. I asked how much they were, he said "ten bucks," and I said "sold!" I had a ten spot in my wallet so I handed it over and picked a tree. This one. It's perfect. I can't understand why it was left but I'm glad I ignored the big red "closed" sign and walked in. (Actually I was prepared to damn myself to Hell for stealing a Christmas tree if there was no one around. Thankfully my immortal soul is safe--for now.) He cut the string tying it to a stake, shook the snow off, and shoved it into my trunk for me. When I got it home I nailed it into a holder Durwood made a few years ago, dragged it into the back yard and stood it up. I put weightbelts on the stand so it stays there until we get enough snow to hold it up. After DIL2's nap, we're going to make little net bags of suet cake, pop popcorn in the micro, and spread creamy PB on the branches that will hold birdseed and shelled corn on. I'll post more pix once it's decorated. Oh, we played a fun party game last night called Who What Where. You draw 3 cards, a who, a what and a where and you have to draw it so that the other players can guess, like Pictionary but all the guessing happens at the end when you pass your drawing around so everyone can guess on their guess paper. We didn't keep score, just played. You try drawing "Snow White making out in the ER" and see how far you get. DS & DIL1 came for supper (meatloaf, baked white or sweet potatoes, and mixed carrots & kohlrabi), it was great to all be together for the evening. By the time bedtime rolled around I was too bushed to write so I'll say sayonara for today.

P.S. I thought I'd show you that we haven't forgotten Porter, the grand-dog and Henny & Penny, the grand-chickens. That's a peanut butter filled knuckle bone, some squeaky balls and some cheeseburger flavored treats for Porter and some shelled corn for the chickens. Lord.