While I am for the most part a big fan of winter, it does bring with it some dreary days where the weather is cold and blustery enough to trap us inside for the day. This is okay for me, but less so for my busy body of a little boy who gets cabin fever pretty quickly in our little home and absolutely loves being outside. So when we are trapped inside (like today!) we spend a lot of time staring out the windows, watching the snow fall, the branches blow in the wind, and the cars pass. The bus route just changed so the bus now goes up and down our street, much to Milo's delight, so there's that too. Poor man's tv.
In our yard we have a hedge of lilac and rosebushes where a banditry of chickadees (that is for real what a group of chickadees is called!) converge on our rose bushes to eat the rose hips. Milo has become obsessed with these daily visits. It's really been quite the love story. So to foster this relationship (and give us something to do!) throughout the winter we've been making pinecone and peanut butter bird feeders to hang on the porch and outside the windows as entertainment on these cold, snowy, sleety days. You remember making those in kindergarten? I do! So far they have provided us with hours of entertainment. Literally. And we also get to help out our little feathered friends make it through to spring time.
At our feeders we get regular visits from chickadees, wrens, flickers, and stellar jays. Aaah, simple pleasures.
Here's how you can make your own.