Month: August 2009

My friend Ruby suggested putting a piece of wood diagonally across the railing of the fire escape and hanging it from there. A perfect solution, I think.

She also offered to make notches on either end so I could secure it to the railing instead of laying it on top.

Here’s the issue.  Because there’s no open end on the railing that would allow me to slide the feeder on and off, I bought this hook that I can easily open and close in order to remove and re-hang the feeder.  So the wood piece would have to be thin enough to fit that hook, which might make it too thin to cut notches into.  It might be easier to just use a more substantial piece of wood that I could just pull aside every morning from the end closest to me in order to remove and fill the feeder?

This morning, when I lifted the bird feeder to refill it the hanger fell off! I was terrified it would hit someone on the street, but I guess there was little chance of that given the hour and the fact that it was raining. It landed on the windowsill of a neighbor in any case, and never made it to the street.

I took this picture just now.

A close-up.

A couple of birds waiting for me to stop with the picture taking already so they can get back to breakfast. I guess I quit. For now. I’m going to put out a little more shower curtain in one more spot, but I’ve done my best.

The new bird feeder hanger is here and installed!!  It does the trick perfectly — thank you, Karen!!  The title of this post refers to the fact that I went down to the street to clean up the bird mess, and the second I got down there, guess what happened to me?  Mess on the head.

Feathered dudes, who is feeding you, hello???  The shower curtain I put down doesn’t cover all contingencies, apparently. Anyway, the downstairs is clean now, I am showered, and here are pictures of my new set-up.

View one.  I put down a new shower curtain, cleaned up the feeder and put seed in it to celebrate (I usually only fill it in the morning).  Two more pictures below.

The point was to get the feeder to hang over where I could put the shower curtain down so it actually catches more mess, and I didn’t think you could quite see that it’s working so I took a shot from a slightly different angle.

And then I thought it would be fun to show the cat’s eye view. I had to move it one pole back. The first pole I attached it to made it too close to the window, and Finney was beside himself. So yay!! Me and the birds are all set.

By now you’ve all seen this picture of a squirrel that got in someone’s vacation photograph.

Well, yesterday I was walking home, past the Sex and the City apartment, and as per usual, there was someone standing there taking a picture of it. Except she was holding a small stuffed animal of a squirrel in front of her camera!!  LOVE HER.  I didn’t take a picture of her doing this because it felt rude, but I just had to acknowledge her awesomeness here.

This is someone’s home. I love the glimpses you get into buildings whenever work is being done. This one just seems so perfect, a pretty building on a pretty green street, a garden to the side and you can see straight through to the garden in the back. I wish it was mine. Every day I could take my coffee and walk up those stairs to my study. Where I would study MY GORGEOUS HOME. I’d probably need everyone in America to buy one of my books before I could ever afford a place like this. Sigh.

The birds are going at the feeder as I type. I love feeding the birds. Even though it was more money and more work (keeping the area clean) than I expected it’s all worth it. Oh! Oh! That thing that Karen found for me so I could hang the feeder out over a different part of the fire escape arrived yesterday, but I was out so now I have to go to the post office and get it. Can’t wait! So I’m afraid more pictures of the bird feeder is in the immediate future.