Birdhouse Gourds

Last year my older brother bought and painted several birdhouse gourds. It looked like fun and like something I could do, so when I saw some dried gourds for sale on craiglist I bought them. I gave him some and kept some for myself. Before you can paint gourds they have to cure over the winter. Then you have to soak them in water to loosen any remaining skin, and scrub them on the outside to remove the skin, dirt and mildew. I used a metal pan scrubby. It helps to add a little bleach to the soaking water to kill any remaining mildew. Then after they dry completely for a couple of days, you need to cut the hole and clean out all the seeds. I use a hole cutter that goes on the electric drill. It's a lot easier than trying to cut out a round hole with a craft knife or something. I have heard some people leave the seeds in and let the birds clean them out but I always remove them. I used a long screwdriver and ran it around inside the hole and then shook the gourd to dump the loose seeds out. Keep repeating this until you get most ofthe seeds and dried center out. You can plant the seeds to grow more gourds.

I decided to try and do something besides just paint them. On the one titled Little House I cut pinecones up and glued them on for shingles. The top part is supposed to be a brick chimney but it didn't turn out too well. I gave this one away last Christmas. For Here Kitty I took parts of other gourds and cut triangles for ears and glued them into notches on the head. It's one of my favorites. Dots has metallic paint which is fun. I'm actually using it outside and the dots shine in the sun. Violets is just simple and sweet with a couple of lady bugs on it and Africa was my idea of an ethnic look. I have more gourds so I'll have to think of some more ideas. Any suggestions?

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Bird Watching

Hubby and I love to watch the wild birds and have about 10 feeders placed in the yard where we can see them from our windows. You can see some of the male cardinals in a tree waiting to eat in this photo taken Friday. We only put out suet from the locker and sunflower seeds with some occasional peanut butter mixed with seeds but we are amazed at the variety of birds that come. In the winter we get cardinals, blue jays, juncoes, goldfinches, purple finches, titmice, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and several types of sparrows. We also get starlings at the heated water bowl and occasionally at the feeders. They come in groups and sit around the bowl together like they're having a party. In the summer we also get rose-breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore orioles. Believe it or not, the orioles eat at the suet feeders.

A surprise this winter was seeing robins at the water. It used to be that seeing a robin was a first sign of spring's arrival. Now they, like the Canadian geese, are spending winters in Iowa. Our local paper even had a story about it and said we would have to watch for the return of turkey vultures instead! I doubt many people in town will be calling each other to report seeing the first vulture of the year in their yard!