Day 241: more birding

So tired.

We are having night terrors here, Sam not Avery, and I cannot figure out why they are happening or how to make them stop. Any advice? But it means long, sleepless nights for me and some really hard nights on Sam. Everybody is tired and crabby.

But we did get something neat done this weekend.

After a recent big melt we discovered that the bird feeding station had pretty much completely fallen apart and was just a big mess. So we took that down. This meant we didn't have much up for the birds.

So I splurged and bought a nice bird feeding set-up.

 
 But I can't do anything without adding a little green touch so I borrowed an idea from Child Central Station and Sam and I made the third bird feeder that you see.

It started out as a juice container, two old pie plates, some wire, paint and bird seed.

Sam painted it first. Then Chris helped us cut a small square at the bottom, drill holes for the wire and fill it with bird seed.

 
Once we got it all up the family had fun on the couch watching the birds that were already flocking to the railings and feeders.

 
 
So the birds only had a little while where they had to find food elsewhere. And Sam and Avery have their couch entertainment back!

Happy Sunday everyone.

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The Nitty Gritty!

The other big log bird feeder that you see is a pretty simple one to make. Just get a log and drill some big holes in it. Then fill that with a homemade suet mixture. But make sure the squirrels can't get to it or they will tear the log apart!

Homemade Suet recipe that we use -

1 cup boiling water, 1 cup peanut butter. Stir and add 1 cup flour, 1 cup cornmeal and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix well and let cool. Fill feeder. Freeze the rest.

I know I still owe you all a book review and another giveaway. Look for that tomorrow morning.

Really quickly before I call it a night I have a quick question. I am thinking about hosting a "Zero Waste Day". Basically I would pick one day and try to get as many bloggers, Facebookers, Tweeters, etc. to not throw ANYTHING away for one day. You would be able to compost, recycle and yes, use toilet paper but nothing else. I think it might be really interesting how much we all have to change our routines, change what we eat or how we play with our kids. If you had to throw something away you would have to admit it, document it and then talk about how you would have had to change to not have thrown that thing away. The goal of this day would just make us all more aware of the amount of waste that we have. I think it is just way to easy for us and our kids to throw things away. Out of sight out of mind. We need to become more conscious of our trash so we can become more aware of just how much of it we are creating! BUT I am not sure if anyone else out there would be interested in participating or if you all would just think I am nuts! I have heard from a couple of folks via twitter and FB that say they would do it; is anyone else out there that might want to join in? Would love to get a bunch of people involved and all blogging about it on the same day. Let me know!

Okay, need to get some sleep.

Good night!

 

 

Comments

[butterfly wishes and wonderland dreams]

we love watching the birds, yesterday they were getting mud, sticks, and stuff for nest building. One little group is building in our gutters not a good idea little birdies :(

I'm in for zero waste day! keep me posted

[Amy A]

What a great adaptation! I love that Sam painted it :). We are going to make a few this week to add to our areas. The children have noticed birds in lots of different places, so they are requesting feeders in different places too. I LOVE the log feeder too :).

[del]

My middle child had night terrors when he was younger. I researched and found out that they sometimes happen if a child doesn't get enough rest. Sure enough, they only happened on days he didn't get a nap. After that, if we had a very busy day and he didn't sleep, I'd put him to bed at least an hour early...usually by 7 but sometimes as early as 6:30. If I put him to bed at his usual time with no nap, he'd have a terror.

Hope this helps!!

Love your bird feeder.

[Gwen]

So sweet that you all feed the birds. I avoid them at all costs but I love to watch them in my neighbors yard. :)

[Angela]

Birdwatching is so fun. I never thought I would enjoy it so much! I don't have too much advice for the terrors. I have heard people say the child isn't really conscious at the time when they occur. Some say turning on a light, helps the child when she eventually "wakes up". Also just saying quietly, "it's okay" has helped. I have heard if the child remains asleep while having a terror, not to do anything purposefully to wake her. These kinds of terrors (when they stay asleep) can go away and th baby never knows what happened. Good luck to you!