We finally filled up our bird feeders today.  The wind last week broke one, but the others survived.  (Notice how the wind peeled the lattice off the deck.  I fixed that today, too.)

The big feeder sits outside our den window, so we watch the birds in the morning after breakfast while we’re drinking our tea.  Squirrels, too, because the feeder is not squirrel-proof by any means.  But, we don’t mind the squirrels getting some of the black, oiled seed as well.

Our local Southern States farm co-op is not far from our house, so we picked up a 25 lb. bag of seed the other day.  We keep the seed in a galvanized can under the potting bench.  This winter we’ve seen lots of cardinals, small finches, tufted titmouses (or is it, titmice?), and a bunch of other birds we don’t know the names of.  Oh, the other day we also saw a bluebird.  So, the bluebirds are back, or maybe never left.  We watched a robin chase the daddy bluebird away from the dogwoods in our front yard all the way into the neighbor’s yard.  Nature is rough!

Helping us feed the birds today is Pretty Kitty.  If you don’t know Pretty Kitty, you can read all about him on Debbie’s blog, Goodthoughts.  He’s the neighbor’s cat, but makes his rounds on the street visiting one and all — especially if there’s food to be had.  Pretty Kitty would like to be a “bird feeder” too, but we discourage him from that.  He did bring us a mole the other day.  Laid it right on the front walk as a little parting gift.  So far the birds are safe, as Pretty has put on a few pounds this winter.  All those handouts, I suppose.  If you look closely at the photo, you can see Kitty licking his lips!