Bird Gossip

Do you ever find something at a sale, brand new, never used, and wonder why in the world no one ever used it? I’m sure lots of times it’s because it was a well-meant but ill-chosen gift. We’ve all gotten those! But Friday I picked up an item that I can’t help wondering what prevented it from ever being used.

I mean, who doesn’t like birds? Okay, I suppose there are people who don’t. But even if you’re not especially fond of them, how hard is it to walk outside and hook this over a tree branch? If you don’t have any trees you could take it to a park and leave it. I can tell you it took about two seconds to hang it in the crabapple outside my office window!

In fact, hanging it up was the quick part. It took a bit longer to corral all the seeds that ended up on my table – wish the packaging had mentioned that it should be opened outside!

What will take even longer is getting birds to actually use it. Some especially nosy sparrow or chickadee (hmmm, I’d better check and make sure we have chickadees here!) will fly down to check it out. Jackpot! Days and days of thistle seeds, all to himself! All he has to do it keep his beak shut and not tell anyone about what he found. But you know how it is when you have a particularly delicious secret – before too long you just HAVE to tell someone. And no matter how trustworthy that bird is, word leaks out. Bird gossip – it happens.

If they want to gossip, one of the ads I saw Friday on gsalr.com is even more gossip-worthy than a pouch of seeds. Wish I had copied it because it’s gone now, but it was something like “Big Sale! Emptying Grandma’s Storage Unit!” and then it went on to enumerate some of Grandma’s belongings…like guns, and tools, and motor parts. Gave me a very odd idea of what Grandma was like!

Or, the birds could gossip about who among their acquaintance needs this book. Me, I just add it to my list of Books I’m Really Glad I Didn’t Write. Nope, didn’t buy it!

Besides the bird feeder thingie, on Friday I found another item from my “watch for” list. (At this rate I’m going to have to come up with a whole new list!) Steven mentioned the other day that we need a replacement for our rolling pin. The current one had a crack in one of the handles and it kept coming apart. Very annoying when you’re trying to get that pie dough to the correct thinness. And there it was, a lovely hardwood rolling pin, just waiting for me to take it home.

Haven’t tried it out yet. But soon.

Then on Saturday the mister came along with me. Fortuitously. One sale had a few things sitting in the yard, including a ladder. It looked to me like the kind of ladder we already have, so I just passed it by. A little later Steven came up to me as I looked through the stuff for sale in the house and said that ladder out there was a really good one, and did I have enough cash for him to make an offer for it. I said I did, and he went out to inspect it again. While he was out there, I was schmoozing with the owner (hi, Martha!) about this and that, and I asked if she’d take five bucks for it. I was overjoyed when she said yes – and it was quite fun to stroll out and tell my husband I had just bought him a ladder.

Turns out it is similar to the ladder we have, but it’s both sturdier (a good thing in a ladder) and taller. Which is a good thing when you live in a house where some of the ceilings are rather high!

Martha also made my day by supplying yet another item that I had added to my watch-for list only that morning. Now that we have the compost bin from last week, we needed a container to keep under the sink to gather the scraps that will go in the compost. Something easy to clean, with an air-tight lid, and preferably clear so we can see when it’s getting full. And there it was – perfect!

  

Hmmm, now I’m starting to get worried. If I find everything on my list, will I have to stop garaging and just stay home on Saturday mornings?

Nah. Not a chance!