It's not a competition

My honorary title as the Crazy Pet Lady may be giving way to the Crazy Bird Lady. I have seven bird feeders: oil sunflower seed, striped sunflower seed, peanuts, niger thistle, cracked corn, safflower seed, and suet. My neighbors have only two. Ha!

But look what I have now!



My hope is that this heated birdbath will attract non-seed-eating birds. So far, I have seen a grand total of one sparrow actually drink from this thing, but today is only the first day. If the birdbath does not attract more species, I may have to resort to dried mealworms and roasted caterpillars. Ew!

Yesterday I witnessed a flyby of a small hawk chasing a sparrow. Then a gang of thugs, commonly known as starlings, descended on the yard. Initially, they were only interested in the neighbor's ornamental pear (do those things produce fruit?), but today they shouldered aside the usual visitors at the feeders. Fortunately, they did not stay long. Mr. Downy is happy about that.



If last Friday was our January thaw, it didn't do much. I tried to get some of the snow and ice build-up off the driveway, with little success. Now it is cold again. I'm not done with winter yet, though. It has to get more miserable than this before I am really ready for spring. Besides, I have new slippers to keep my toes warm.



Maine Isle slippers from LL Bean. On sale!



Shoot. The sale price dropped again. Just can't think about that.