Small Town Living

There's something to be said about living in a small town. This morning I went out to the kitchen and saw a murder outside my window in the backyard. I tried to get a pic, but as soon as I was spotted the perps flew away.

A terrible photo through the blinds. The only way to capture this guys!

We have lived here over 9 years and this is the first year that the crows actually came down close to the house and visited the feeder. They have become daily visitors, with only 6 coming in at a time. They are extremely skittish and are far from aggressive with the other critters and birds that visit the feeder. I'm really surprised with that as I assumed with their size that they would be bullies. 

If you look closely, you may see it under the lowest branch.

We also have another surprise daily visitor - a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! It is January and cold, and certainly not an area that this bird would normally be. We are in the nesting/breeding migration area, and this guy should be many, many miles south of here. The poor thing looks so cold and sits perched on the tree all puffed out. It took me forever to figure out what he was because of how puffy he was. I knew he wasn't normal for here but it wasn't until the one day he was at the suet feeder that I saw his yellow breast. Oh gosh! The poor thing!

We now have another regular visitor. I'm not sure if it's a stray or just someone that thinks what we are feeding "him" is better. Every night, usually right after dark, we have a lovely gray, white and a tiny bit of orange cat appear. It stays in the yews next to the house and will not come out until one goes inside. It has now become vocal when I call it. It lets me know it's there by answering my call with a long "meeeoooooooooow". I then bring out warmed canned cat food and he will come out as soon as the door is closed and latched. As soon as he's finished, he runs back in the bushes. I give him a second can warmed, and then after that is done I put dry out for him to eat if he wants. Nights have gone below zero (F) and I know he needs the calories. He is starting to look better, but it really bothers me that he is outside in this cold weather. I put a shelter out with a nice soft, fuzzy blanket in it, but he won't use it. I wish I knew where he went and could rest easier knowing he had a warm place to stay.

Unfortunately, the only way to photograph our shy visitor is through the window.

Hummingbird Feeder Brushes

Every year I put out at least 2 hummingbird feeders starting at the end of April. I love seeing those gorgeous flitting jewels of the air as they stop by and take a sip. They always brighten my day. One of the problems that I've been having is finding a small enough brush to clean the feeding holes. I have been using pipe cleaners but they don't always have enough of a bristle or strength to clean well.

 While browsing Amazon, I found some cleaners designed just for the feeders called Droll Yankees PLB Perfect Little Brush (see link here). I was amazed at how much the brushes cost and was looking at them thinking I've seen something like that before. For the life of me, I really couldn't remember. I just knew it looked familiar - VERY familiar.

While I was looking at them, my husband came by and I stopped him and asked him if he thought they looked familiar. He gave me the dumbest look and said, "Don't you recognize mascara brushes when you see them?" Yah - one of those face-palm moments. That's exactly what they look like! So I went looking for Mascara brushes and found packs of disposable ones for TONS less than the Droll Yankees brushes. I took a chance and purchased the Leegoal Sheenroad 100 pcs Disposable Eyelash Mascara Applicator Wand Brush (see link here) for under $4 shipped! They were shipped from China so I didn't expect to see them for quite a while, but it took less than 2 weeks to arrive. These things work perfectly!! They fit in the holes and clean better than anything I've tried before!!

If you compare pictures side by side, you might notice there is a bit more loft on the mascara brush. I like that. These also can be bent  at the end so you can reach in places you might not have been able to with a straight brush.

I'm happy with my purchase. I got 100 for about 2/3rd's the cost of 3!!!