FOR THE BIRDS...
Here is a throw back. A craft from way back in mom's Girl Scout days. Mawmaws was the troup leader and mom was eager to earn as many badges as Mawmaws could find time to sew on. EXIBIT A--the bird feeder.
It was a real family adventure, this one. We don't have pine trees in our yard. In fact, as we came to find out, most of our neighbors don't either. We headed to the duck pond in search of pine cones. It is surrounded by loads of trees. We took along 2 loaves of bread and boy were we glad. The ducks must have been starving! They were quick to approach and even quicker to quack. They followed me every where I went (hey, that is an idea for a new book...Reagan had a little duck.) I challenged my feet to grip to the slippery slope and mom and dad's ability to let me be a kid as I walked right by the water in search of turtles. I guess they were snug underground because we did not see a one. Ducks a plenty. By this time I was beat! I had scooted my scooter all the way there, chased ducks and I was ready for a ride. After a few hundered whines, dad gave me a lift on his bike as mom toted my scooter on back.
I had the best view (atop dad's shoulders) as we searched long and hard for a messy yard with lots of needles and cones. We did not have much success. We carried a sack thinking there would be lots for the choosing, but as it turns out 8-12 cones is about it. Our neighbors must be highly dedicated to the raking process. No fault to them, but it is a little difficult to make a bird feeder with out the proper supplies. Mom remembers huge pine cones with large gaps in between each section. These were tiny, little cones and bunched up tight. Never the less, we were excited. We grabbed our jar of smooth peanut butter, a bag of cranberries and the most delicious bird seed Kroger carries and headed to the front porch to slather. And that we did. I was stuck to myself, my porch, the bird seed and at least 5 pine cones and I never blinked. Mom made her way through the process a bit neater and when the cones were covered and looked good enough to sample we tied them up with floss and strung them in our trees like Christmas lights. Now the waiting game began...who would be brave enough to try them? We quickly found birds and squirrels alike munching and crunching and pecking at our treats. We even had to discipline a few...just kidding, but we did watch as one squirrel jumped out of our tree and ran into our neighbors yard toting a line of 2 pine cones with him. I guess he was storing our feeders up for the winter. Well, that is what they are there for so the throw back adventure was a success. Such a sweet memory for mom and one she is sure will "stick" for me too.