Birds in our backyard

Last week, I took a trip to Lowe's with my friend and her sweet baby...and we spent a good while on what I like to call "the bird aisle."  Bird feeders, bird seed, bird houses...anything bird, they have it.

I've been buying the cheap $2.50 "bird bells" for a while now, and I decided that it was time to upgrade to a proper bird feeder.  That, and the cat-sized squirrels in our back yard keep making off with the bird bells, and dammit, I'm not paying to feed squirrels!

Since I am trying to attract as many cardinals to our yard as possible, I decided a cedar birdfeeder would be the best bet, so I bought one similar to that pictured below:

A random, but nice older man suggested that I try safflower seeds, as squirrels don't have an affinity for them AND cardinals and other sweet little birds love them. SCORE.
Since putting up the feeder, our backyard has become Bird Paradise.  Seriously!  I have seen more unfamiliar birds in the past 4 days than in the 6+ months we've been here.  Since my orinthology skills are a liiiittle rusty, I've been using http://www.birdsource.org/ to identify my birds.

So far, these are some of the birds of our backyard...

Cardinal (male and female)

Tufted titmouse

Eastern towhee

House finch

Blue jay

Redbellied woodpecker

Carolina chickadee

Mourning dove

Mockingbird



There are more species to showcase, but I'll save them for another day :)

let us rejoice and be glad in it

I have a tendency to be reactive instead of proactive, and often that means that the stresses of life get to me more than they should.  As I was sitting in my comfy chair, sipping my caramel macchiato, the thought came to me:  "This is the day that the Lord has made, so I better rejoice and be glad in it!" 

Here is the list of things for which I am glad...
- coffee, caramel macchiatos, and caffeine
- a functional washing machine (up until today, it had a bit of a "regurgitation issue")
- Turbo Tax
- warm weather
- daffodils and hyacinths
- my wacky feline child and her crazy antics
- new friends who are kindred spirits
- cedar birdfeeders and the flocks they attract
- weekends and time with my husband
- MY HUSBAND <3



oh, and how could I forget...FOOD :)  haha!

Happy sunshiny days, friends!