Pinterest Fail

Looks easy right?  My co-worker and I were going to make these minus treats for decorations around the office. 

We so rocked it.... or not.

We think the problem was our glue to water ratio; that we didn't have enough glue. Needless to say it was a good laugh when we checked on them the next morning.

The Effects of Homemade Suet

The animals seem to appreciate homemade suet.  I've had our homemade stuff out for a little over a month now - and we've gone through 8 of our 12 bricks. In the last year, we've only gone through 4.

Even the neighborhood squirrels have gotten picky. I tossed the store bought suet into our glass jar squirrel feeder. They haven't touched it. Instead they choose to do some daring acrobatics to attempt to reach the good stuff. We have some very fat squirrels.  I think our resident female squirrel has found a mate.  He's not the brightest squirrel in the tree, although he has made for some great laughs because he cannot figure out how to make it over the squirrel baffel.

This past week, I noticed that a pair of Robins have claimed territory over the feeder station and bird bath.  Then I noticed some strange behavior.  The female would attempt to hover and eat from the suet!!  I've never seen a robin feed at a suet feeder!  Drew and I felt sympathy, so he shoved a dowel into the cage so she could perch.  It took her a few days, but she has finally figured it out!

The male was perched in our Maple; keeping watch over the awesome territory which is our yard

Also since we put up homemade suet, a downy woodpecker is visting daily. With store bought suet, we maybe saw it once a month.

I am completely sold on homemade suet.  It was quick, fun, and it made the house smell like bacon.
For my recipe click here



I prefer organized...

This next project got a "You're a nerd" approval from my dear, sweet husband.  Maybe so, but I think I prefer organized.

I have limited space in the garage for my gardening supplies.  I *had* 2 shelves, but one has gotten over run with rags, bags, and many other things not garden related. So my one shelf needs to store my bird seed supplies and my gardening tools.

As you can see, it is a disaster. 

*Side note* that "Poverty Inn" sign was made by my father when he was in college and it hung outside of the house he lived in. He gave it to me when I moved into my first apartment after the dorms. I don't know why, but it means a ton to me.

My seed packets were tossed all over and gave my shelf a real sense of chaos. The other day I got a brilliant idea to try and find a photo box or address box to store all of my seeds in. I was in Jo-Ann's yesterday and there on an end display was exactly what I was thinking of! And SCORE, it was on sale for $5.99

It even has a magnetic flap to help keep it closed!

Now is where, according to my hubby, the nerdiness comes in.  I made little dividers for the seeds. It's all so nice and neat and I don't have to shuffle through them like a deck of cards.

Of course they had to be alphabetized :)

All the packets in their new homes.





The box was perfect and since the sale was so good... I had to get 2!



The blue one now stores all of my bulbs. All of those bags are now nicely stuffed inside!

Now that I'm all organized.  I need to buckle down and get some plants started.  The weather this spring is incredible! Maybe after I get that done, I can attack my shelves and make them more user friendly.

Tulip Experiment and Finger painting

Tulip Experiment Day 9
I love this!

Today was the first time I had to water them since I "planted." This is too fun!

We watched my nephew on Sunday. We let him finger paint for the first time! I got a recipe for homemade finger paints from Easie Peasie (via Pinterest) - it was so easy and way less expensive than store bought paints. It took him a little while to get the hang of things but then he had a great time scooping up a lot of paint and getting me to rub it all over his hands.

We used one of Drew's old shirts for a paint shirt... how cute is this?

The Masterpiece

Like a good 2.5-year old, he was entertained for about 15 minutes and then was done. Ideally he would have painted all around his name. Then take the tape off and have his name stand out in white.

What a week!

Today is Day 4 of my Tulip in a Jar experiment. I'll let you judge the results for yourself!

After just 4 days every single bulb I planted has started growing.

Half of the plants are almost sticking out of the jar

The roots look so cool!

If you try this, make sure that the water is not touching the bulb. I had my jars a little too full and there were some small spots of mold.

After the windstorm that bent my metal feeder stand, Drew put together the Taj Mahal of bird feeder stations. We're going to put a tray feeder on the top at a later date. I'm trying something new this year: We put wool and cotton fibers into a suet feeder for the birdies to use for nesting material. I'm interested in seeing if they actually do it.

The electricians came and I finally have lighting under my cabinets. I can actually see what I'm doing now.

Finally the best part of the week: After three days of rain and a little warm weather my plants think Spring is here!

My first garlic plant has popped up.

Prairie plants never let me down. The Golden Alexander is growing like mad!

The Catmint is also doing really well!

I have garden fever really bad. I think I may have to plant something tomorrow with the attitude of: If it grows Awesome, if not I can just wait until May like normal. :) Have a great weekend!

Blooms and birds

Ah Pinterest. You have me addicted and inspired!

For my latest experiment: Tulips in a jar.

I'm really excited to see if they work. We got a great garden themed wedding present and there were two packages of tulips: Apeldoorn (red) and Yokohama (yellow). I tried to do a mixture in each. We'll see how it goes.

I love spring because of all the birds and blooms.
We had an unusual visitor to our bird feeder yesterday: a Red Winged Blackbird!! RWBL are one of my favorite birds. Nothing describes a walk in a wetland than the song of a RWBL!

I think Spring is here

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012 I saw my first Robin of the year! In fact, I won first Robin! My hubby and I were taking the puppy for a walk in the neighborhood and I saw the Robin out of the corner of my eye. I WON! I love winning first Robin!

Then on Wednesday, March 14, we went for a walk down by the river and I heard my favorite song... Red-wing blackbirds!

THEN on Thursday, March 15, we were playing fetch with the puppy at around 7:30pm when Drew got buzzed by a mosquito! Not 5 minutes later, we saw a bat zigzaging around our evergreen trees. I KNOW that is the earliest I have ever seen a flying bat. I think this will be a crazy spring!

Enjoy the beautiful weather... take a walk!