Ideas For Your Backyard

Decorating your backyard and/or garden needn’t take alot of time or money.  Get your children or grandchildren involved.   How about some handprints or footprints for starters?  These can be used in the sidewalk, patio, on a garage or shed wall.  Use your imagination, I’m sure you can come up with an idea of your own.

You say you would like to have a fountain, but you really don’t want what everyone else has.  You want something that is unique.  Something that will really catch your eye and that of everyone else that can see it.

 How do you find one? The garden centers all seem to carry the same ones.  If you are not in a big hurry I suggest that when you’re on a drive through the country, stop at one of the smaller garden centers.  You might be surprised!  Or search the internet…..there really is a great selection if you have the time to search.

The Mountain Chickadee or Poecile gambeli has a white eyebrow through its black cap and lives in and west of the Rocky Mountains, where he calls chick-adee-adee-adee.  The Chestnut-backed Chickadee has a chestnut-brown back and a brown cap and lives in the northwest and along the California coast.  His call is more of a tseek-a-dee-dee.

The Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees like mixed forests, open woodlands and suburban areas, while their western cousins prefer coniferous forests.

Chickadee belong to the titmouse family.  They are largely an insect eaters, but in winter they may depend greatly on seeds and berries.  They are adept at foraging for insect eggs and larvae from twigs and bark, and this accounts for their active hopping and climbing around on trees to spot their food from all angles!  Their favorite foods at feeders are sunflower seeds, peanut kernels, other nutmeats, peanut butter, and suet. 

In the non-breeding season chickadees tend to flock together, and sometimes the flock may even include titmice, kinglets, nuthatches, and other birds.  During breeding season, the males will drive others out of their territories, so you may have only one pair of chickadees in your yard, where you may have had a flock all winter.

From the beginning of courtship through the period of egg incubation, the male chickadee feeds the female.  They typically raise one or two broods a year of 6 to 8 young and are year-round residents.

Since chickadees’ natural means of nesting is to excavate a hole in a rotting tree, you may make your nest box more attractive to them by putting a little sawdust or wood chips inside it for them. They will not use it for nesting, but since they usually work in pairs to carry a little sawdust away from the hole they are making in a tree, they will perceive that this hole in a tree is appropriate for them, and they will carry the sawdust away before nesting there.

Chickadees move to denser woods for breeding and nesting, but the rest of the year they like open areas and forest edges.

Do you like sitting on the patio?  When you are decorating your backyard and patio area you might want to consider adding a firepit.  It is a greatway to get that woodsy feeling and smell of camping and the great outdoors.  It also adds a little fun to roast hot dogs and marshmallows for the kids.  You might even be tempted to make a s’more or two.

The water that flows in a water fountain never sounds exactly the same from one moment to the next. This dynamic quality keeps our listening experience from growing monotonous or predictable, which can easily happen if we listen to sound machines or audio recordings regularly. We can also choose to dramatically change the “song” of the water in our water fountain, simply by rearranging rocks or other features in the basin or by adding a new element – such as a seashell, leaf, or small piece of wood – along the water’s path.

Are you a true bird lover?  What do you think about this feeder?  I think this is a wonderful idea!  It is fun to be outdoors and watch the birds, but this is the ultimate.  You can be sitting in your living room and the birds will come in to your room.  Well almost.  This way you can see them up close.

Spring is here!!  And if you haven’t prepared your flower pots it is time to do.  What? You ask.  Yes, you heard me right.  Before you reuse your flower pots you should prepare them.  By that I mean you should clean and sterilize them.

Scrub your pots with warm soapy water then rinse them in a bleach solution.  This will get rid of any disease or fungi that may remain from the previous potting.

Water fountains don’t have to be large or take up alot of space.  There are many on the market that are smaller and perfect if you don’t have alot of room.  Just look around and you’ll find what you are looking for.

Just remember that you will need an electric source to run your pump.

Those who love the bluebird have begun a massive effort to save it through the erection of thousands of nesting boxes appropriate for this species and predator- and competitor-proof. And the bluebird is beginning to reappear in areas where these bluebird houses are established.

There are three species of bluebird: Eastern, Western, and Mountain, and they belong to the thrush family. The Eastern Bluebird or Sialia sialis breeds in every state east of the Rocky Mountains. It is bright blue with a rusty red breast similar to the robin’s. The Western Bluebird or Sialia currucoides breeds in the western states from Canada to Mexico and east to Colorado. It has a blue throat, and the red color extends to its upper back. The Mountain Bluebird or Sialia mexicana breeds in the Northwest, east to the Dakotas, and north into Alaska. It is entirely blue, with a white underbelly.

Bluebirds are primarily insectivores, eating many insects considered pests by man: cutworms, grasshoppers, and flying insects. They supplement this diet in fall and winter with wild berries and may starve if snow covers the ground and berries are unavailable.

Sometimes just little things can change the look and feel of your backyard.  The flowers, bushes and trees add beauty.  The  can also add food and refuge to the birds and other critters in your area.

How about “tucking” in a sculpture or statue here or there.  How much fun would that be?