Hobbies and Crafts

After our early morning rush, the birds here have been absent all day! The wind is really getting up now and it looks very threatening! Cas has had a really good walk today so hopefully she'll be too tired to notice any fireworks that might go off this evening!

We have not had any birds either Gill, but if you look around there are lots of plants with berries on for them to feed on, and plants like sunflowers that have gone to seed. Explain to Sandra that they are filling up with food in the hedges and when that runs out they will be back.

Don't stress about the insulation, it won't hurt to leave it for a few days much as you want to get on with it, you will only make yourself poorly stressing so it won't get done anyway. Hope the jabs went ok.

I think our bird food is going to last forever at this rate Liz, we've seen no birds at all using the feeder for the last few days. I'm hoping when the weather goes colder they'll start using it. The only visitor we've had to the feeder today is the squirrel, she climbed up our screening like a ladder and jumped onto the top of the feeder. I have put Vaseline on the top so she soon jumped back off again as she felt herself slipping, I haven't seen her since then.

Yes, Sandra is really enjoying her book Ann, but is a bit disappointed at the moment with there not being any birds on the feeder, hopefully they'll start eating off there soon, then she can find the birds in her book.

Off out shortly, OH and I are having our flu jabs then it's a bit of shopping for the roast dinner. We're having a new fridge and freezer delivered on Tuesday so I don't have anything in the freezer for tomorrow now. All that's left is a bag of sausage rolls, so I'll cook those this afternoon and de-frost the freezer so OH can take it to the tip tomorrow.

Needless to say it's put paid to me starting the insulation in the spare room. I hope I have some free time next week as it desperately needs doing, the room is a mess at the moment with all the furniture moved around, so it'll be nice to get back to normal. I've just been so busy these past few weeks I haven't had the time to get on with the job.

We put up another bird table yesterday a bit further away from the other feeders and table so that we can watch from our sitting room. So far no takers, but its early days! We mostly watch the birds while we have breakfast (about 8pm) and the activity this morning was, very active!!! OH is soaking yet more meal worms!! but they give us so much pleasure so well worth all the seeds, nuts and meal worms we are getting through!!

Jane I would have liked to have seen that pigeon, it sounds so funny.

Gill pleased to hear you have got a bird book for Sandra, she will soon get good at recognising them.

Vera I hope you have/had a good weekend

How funny Jane, I told Sandra and she laughed. Pleased to hear the Pheasants survived and didn't get run over. Good job you weren't the driver if you shut your eyes and hoped for the best LOL. Yes, you're probably right and the squirrels will have another go at some point on the feeder. I did see one this morning jumping around the lawn she didn't seem to notice the feeder, but how long that'll last for who knows.

We sorted our loft a few years ago Ann, but still ended up putting more stuff up there, so I'm not quite sure what's up there now. It's not as full as it was so that's something.

I bought some mealworms yesterday so they're on the feeder now. I also bought Sandra a bird book which she's been looking at today. We have noticed that there hasn't been as many birds on the feeder over the last few days, but OH said it's probably because it's gone mild again. I must admit it's quite warm out today. The food and water are there for when they're ready though.

How lovely to have a little Robin in your hedge Liz, Robin's are Sandra's favourite bird.

After reading the book I got for Sandra Vera, I noticed that not all birds go in all areas of the UK, it differs from place to place, so maybe that's why we have different birds to you around here. It's still nice to see them though, no matter which birds they are. I've had to put the feeding dish under the water dish today with a smaller gap between them as the pigeon managed to balance on the edge of the feeding dish and take all the food, hopefully this way there be only enough space now for the little ones and because the feeding dish has mealworms in it, it won't matter if some of the water falls into it from above.

Sorry to hear poor Kandj has had another funeral to go to. I hope she's okay, she's having such a bad time lately. Thinking of you Kandj <3

Yucky day today . Just wet and miserable. But I did have a laugh earlier . There was a Wood Pigeon in the Bird Bath ,actually lying down in it,and it had one wing held up letting the rain in and then it turned around and lifted the other wing. It was just like it was washing its armpits :-D :-D :-D

Have been thinking of dear Kandj today as she attends yet another funeral <3

Very wet again today. None of the feed has gone down so I think the birds are all sheltering from the horrid weather, though I did laugh at a pigeon walking round the ground feeder trying to work out how to get at the mealworms. After a while he gave up.

Gill, I am as sure as I can be that the feeders are in the right place. They are hanging from trees and the birds that do come seem comfortable with that. I think we just don’t seem to have the variety of birds nesting in this area. When we stayed with OH’s sister in Surrey she had a garden full of birds but was saying that they never see sparrows. I think that’s because the world population live with us :-). We hardly see anything else, but I am glad that there are plenty of birds for Sandra to enjoy.

Poor Kandj, yet another funeral for her to attend. Sadly this happens as we all get older but she has had more than her share of sadness. Thinking of her and sending love <3

It feels good doesn't it Ann when the loft has a good clear out. We did ours a couple of years ago . Mind you things do start to creep back up there :-S. But at last we know exactly what is there now :-D

We had a hard frost too this morning .Bird Bath was frozen and my Son had a job scraping his windscreen.

Kandj has asked me to thank you all again for all your kind words and thoughts. Sadly she has yet another funeral to go to tomorrow.A close friend of her Hubby.

Well we have made nother trip to the tip we had another load of those boxes that you keep when you buy things in case you want to return them!!. The big Tesco is on our way home (one of them, we have two) so we called in to their cafe for lattes and a shared sausage bap which was very welcome after all that lugging around. I think it must be that everyone is having a pre- Christmas clear out as it was very busy at the tip. We have just been up in the loft and it is looking a lot better up there. found three more lots of curtains, two of which are probably no use, a load of toys which do come in useful for the Greats and a few more Christmas bits which can migrate downstairs now I have cleared another cupboard down here. So feeling very virtuous now. Seeing that much of the stuff that was buried at the back of the loft has been up there 26 years, I think it can safely be disposed of without us missing it. One mystery, there is some sort of exercise machine up there which neither of us remember having/using, got to find a home for that. :-D

Very cold here this morning with a hard frost! The birds have been very busy on our table and seed/nut hangers! We have two robins in the garden now, OH thinks one of them is living in the hedge half way up our paddock, but they were both diving about this morning, they do love those meal worms!! The sun is right out now promising a lovely day! Better make the most of it as the forecast is not good!! OH is going to clear up round the back of the greenhouse where he has been tidying up the side of the hedge and get the trimmings onto the bonfire (another good job done!) then we're off out for the day!

Gill, Sandra is going to really enjoy her new Bird Feeder. I bet the Squirrel will have another go .They are such determined creatures. I am sure the bit of fur was nothing to worry about.
We seem to have so many Blackbirds at the moment.
Yesterday we were driving along a country lane and almost decimated a whole group of Pheasants !!!!. . OH just managed to put the brakes on .There were about 8 Pheasants all in the middle of the road. It was a close call :-S I shut my eyes and hung on to my seat belt . They are such daft birds and should be thankful they all survived :-D

When I put the feeder in place I was only thinking of where was the best place for Sandra to see it properly, she has problems with her eyes and can't see properly right down the garden, she was having problems seeing the little birds down there, but when I saw the birds going to the plants then back to the feeder I realised it was the best place all around Ann. She watched them all this afternoon, she was watching her TV and said she heard the birds first, then sat and watched them until they'd finished eating. I'm really pleased we bought it now. The pigeon went down the bottom of the garden to the bird table and ate the nuts off there, so did the squirrel, so I'm pleased everyone is getting something. :-) Only OH saw the squirrel slip off the feeder and with there being a bit of fur on there I doubt he'll be back, if he does come back I'm sure Sandra will find it amusing watching him slip off again, I just hope he doesn't hurt himself again though.

I was surprised how quickly they found the feeder Vera and also how many there were too, we've hardly seen any birds this year apart from the usual Blackbirds and Pigeons, so it's lovely for Sandra to be able to watch the little ones every day now. I'm gong to buy her a book so she can learn what each birds is called. Sorry to hear you don't get as many birds as us, hope you get more soon. Do you have cats around maybe that is putting them off, our feeder, although it's in between to large plants is in quite an open place, so maybe the birds can see around them more and feel safe. Have you tried moving your feeder, maybe that will help?

You have obviously got your feeders in the right place Gill. I am very jealous of your birds. They have found you very quickly. Five years in this house and we still get mainly sparrows or starlings, a few blackbirds and the occasional robin or bluetits.

It sounds like you have definitely got that positioned right Gill. The blue and great tits usually take a seed and retreat to a bush or tree branch to eat it and the small birds like to shelter in trees and shrubs/bushes as well.Poor squirrel but funny to watch I expect.

Sandra is beside herself at the moment, the bird feeder has had so many little birds on there, she is so excited and settled herself down on the sofa watching them. We've had Great, Blue and Coal Tits and of course the Robins and I think a Wren, although I'm not very good at identifying the small brown birds as they all look so similar.

The Vaseline worked to keep the squirrels off the feeder, OH said he saw the squirrel try three times to jump on the top of it from the fence, but slipped off every time, he's now given up. I did noticed what looked like a bit of Squirrel fur stuck to one of the hooks, hope the poor thing wasn't hurt, but at least I know he can't get to the food so the little birds can happily come and go as they please now.

We did have a pigeon on top of the feeder but again it was to slippy for him to go anywhere else, so he soon flew off. I've put some nuts on the bird table down the bottom of the garden for the squirrel as he had eaten all the food that I put down yesterday. So now everyone's happy. Sandra was watching two squirrels chase each other around the lawn earlier.

I think I put the feeder in the right place, in between my two large 10 foot Red Robin plants, the little birds go from the plants to the feeder. It's so nice to see <3

Pity you haven't got a video camera with a night light on it Vera, you could point it at the ground feeder and then you'd know who was eating the bird food. Yes Sandra has always been called Sandra, or if I call her for something I sometimes just say San. Her dad sometimes calls her junior, I can't remember where that nickname came from as she's had it since she was little, but mainly she is called Sandra. She was named after my sister who is known as Sandy, although our mum still calls her Sandra, much to her annoyance.

Our Sandra is a happy bunny today. We went out this morning and bought a large bird feeder with all the feeders included, so that is now up in the back garden full of all sorts of goodies for the birds. It just pushed into the ground and I was worried it might be blown over so OH and I made a stand for it to make it more stable. I then covered the metal pole with Vaseline to make it as slippy as I could in the hope the squirrel won't get onto it, whether it'll work remains to be seen.

I did put some nuts on the bird table for the squirrel which is way down towards the bottom of the garden well away from the new feeder which is closer to the bungalow where Sandra can see it better, so hopefully it won't be to long before she'll see some birds and maybe have a laugh at the squirrel slipping down the pole if he attempts to climb up it. I even put some Vaseline on the top of the feeder incase it jumped off the fence and got onto it that way, so either way he tries to gain access, is slippy now. It'll also protect the metal from the rain so hopefully won't go rusty.

Isn't that funny Ann, I was thinking the same thing, that stars might be a bit to much for Sandra to sew so mentioned hearts to her which she liked the idea of. I didn't think of a runner for her chest of draws, that might be a good item to start with as she'll be doing things by hand, so having straight lines would be a good beginning, then she can move onto the hearts if she wants to, if not I could make those for her.

The strips at the bottom of her bed is a good idea to Vera and if she had a cushion or two to match it would look lovely. There is so much material that I think I might make a long dressing gown for myself too, I've been meaning to make myself one as I'm having problems buying a cotton one. I made myself a cotton dressing gown last year but only a short one and now it's getting colder I could do with a longer one. I'm only small about a size 8 to 10 and around 5ft tall, so it won't take up much of the material and there'll be plenty over for Sandra to make something to.

I don't normally wrap up Christmas presents until the end of November at the earliest Liz, but I have so many jobs to get through I decided to do them the other day while I had some spare time. I still have a few more presents to buy so they'll probably be wrapped up nearer the time, but for now most of them are done so I don't have to think about it.

I've noticed a lot of plants are still in flower, it must be nice to see your roses still going well, good idea to wait until they've finished flowering before pruning them. It's gone really cold here now, I only went to put some rubbish in the bin and I was freezing when I came back in. They say it's going to be -1 tomorrow, I'm pleased we've put the food out for the birds as it'll be harder for them to get to the worms if the ground freezes over. There's plenty out there for them, they just need to find it now. I'm sure it won't take to long though.

I'm wallpapering a spare bedroom for my neighbours daughter tomorrow, she has problems with her hips and might need a hip replacement ,so although she was going to do it herself she's in to much pain, so I offered to do it for her. She's the one who gave me the material and she also gave me a chest of drawers the other day, so I thought it would be nice to help her out to. OH has done the painting and I'll paper it. It's only a small room so should only take a few hours to do, then I'd like to make a start on the insulation in our spare bedroom, then it can be wallpapered. Can you tell I like to keep busy? lol ;-) ;-)
We've still got the kitchen to finish, but that's only 4 drawer fronts, so again won't take to long to do.

Ann’s suggestion of a runner is a good one if Sandra has a suitable chest or dressing table surface or perhaps she could even make one of those decorative strips of material that hotels put across the foot end of their beds.

By the way is your daughter usually called Sandra? When ours was born I said I wanted her known by her proper name but I wasted my breath. Everyone but us and our son calls her Sandy. In fact even her identity card at work is in the name of Sandy ———.

All the food on my ground feeder had gone by this morning. The cage over the food only lets in small creatures so a larger bird or a hedgehog can’t get at it. It may just be the sparrows who are around all the time who are eating it. There was a robin and a blue tit in the garden this morning so I hope the robin at least got some.

However, I have my suspicions. We haven’t seen starlings for a few weeks but today there were a couple in the garden. They are quite a slim bird and I know they can just about squeeze in and out of the cage. They were the reason we stopped using it a couple of years ago. They are such greedy birds :-|. I’ll put some more food out in a while and keep an eye on it.

Very blustery here this morning. Birds are loving the meal worms as well as the nuts and seed. No gardening today, although the roses will need pruning at some stage. At the moment they are still in bloom and looking a treat, so we're leaving them for a while.
Haven't even thought about Christmas yet! We don't reckon to until after Remembrance Sunday as for us it seems a bit disrespectful. But each to his own!

Stars might be difficult for Sandra to sew Gill, how about small hearts, or a heart shaped cushion for her room Is this going to be hand sewn? Does she have a chest of drawers? If so she could make a runner for it.