Pinecone Bird, er Squirrel, Feeders

It seems that with Spring’s arrival, inspiration is contagious.  For the last week or so, I am feeling full of energy (this, I hope, will last for another 10 to 15 weeks as I am entering my 20th week of pregnancy in a few days) and looking for this or that project to take on.  Well, yesterday, after meeting up with my sister and nephew for a visit at the Baltimore Aquarium, we came home, took a walk, and then sat down on our front steps to make these delightful bird treats.

While Jean, over at the Artful Parent, made her pinecone bird treats in a pretty, tidy way, Annabelle and I sort of, well, got a bit messy making ours.  Outside messes though, well, they don’t bother me so much as a muddy entryway or dirt and leaves tracked across my floors.  But anyway, we made our pinecone bird/squirrel feeders following the steps that Jean and her daughter Maia did, except we used our cement steps as a surface for spreading the seeds out, then we globbed lots of peanut butter onto the pine cones, and last, we rolled our peanut buttery cones in the seeds.  The only step that I asked Annabelle to let me take care of was handling scissors for cutting yarn.

Well, after making our first pinecone treat, this is what Annabelle looked like:

Wouldn’t you smile if your mom let you get covered in peanut butter and then let you do it all over again, 6 more times?  In total, we made 7 bird/squirrel feeders.

She eagerly toted each treat over to the woods . . .

. . . and then handed each one back to me since she’s under 3 feet tall and can’t quite reach the tree branches yet.  I hung them up in our trees.

And then we sat and sat and sat and sat and waited and waited and waited and waited.  We heard many many birds.  We waited some more and then after a little while, as the sun started drifting below the horizon and I started feeling hungry, we headed inside.

But this morning, when we woke up, we peaked outside at our cones and guess what . . . only one cone remainded hanging.  And do you know who I saw scampering away?  About 3 different squirrels.  Darn!  Still, I have no proof that the birds didn’t get to enjoy the treats, and I really don’t have anything against squirrels (though I do know of a woman who wears an “I hate squirrels” hat . . .  and my mother-in-law says that squirrels remind her of rats) . . . it’s just that, well, I thought we’d be feeding the birds, and I really like birds.  Oh well.

Now we’ll just have to build a birdhouse.  That’s it.  I’m inspired again.  We are definitely building a birdhouse.  Tips?  Ideas?  Thoughts on squirrels?

I appreciate your comments and ideas,

Jessica