Cheep therapy…
And all it took…
… was putting my birdfeeder back up. Not dark chocolate with almonds, Diet Dr Pepper, or even warm apple pie topped with whipped cream - not even piquant Bolivian chicken soup with avocado and cilantro. (You can see I’m easily swayed in the direction of happiness with oral incentives.) None of ‘em! Just my birdfeeder..
And the story is…. a mysterious bird disease was making the rounds and our state wildlife commission recommended that all birdfeeders come down for several months to disrupt the infection’s spread. Such reluctance on my part. I love watching my birds. Cheep therapy. It. Came. Down.
A month passes. Two months pass. I dunno. Should I put it back up? Oh god, I hate disinfecting birdfeeders! Such a pain in the you know what! Spilling smelly Clorox all over the place. Yuck! Birdseed is also more expensive now. Blah, blah, blah…
I’m beginning to see my favorite perky little Carolina wrens pecking in the cracks between the deck floorboards. OMG, there’s a HUGE brown thrasher on the deck doing the same. My shoulders are rising and being re-introduced to my ears. The birds are starving and it’s my fault! (I’m great when it comes to anthropomorphizing.)
Guilt. Thy name is Jan. Reassembled (not without FRUSTRATION) the well-cloroxed and now clean 9 (!) part birdfeeder. (I sound like a birdfeeder drama queen!) Plied it with (yes) increasingly expensive birdseed and hung it on my deck’s shepherd hook. Last night. Just at dusk.
Forgot about it UNTIL I opened my shades this morning and saw a dizzying array of birds, in need of flight control, pirouetting around the bird feeder. Let’s face it, I just dropped into total FLOW where time doesn’t exist. A shower? Breakfast? What’s that?? Leave me alone, I’m watching the birds…
First posted May, 2022
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I love cheep therapy!! I don’t own a TV. I hang bird feeders. Usually I take them down just before planting season, but this year, I refuse. With the warmer weather, the migratory birds are coming back earlier and earlier. The caterpillars they predominantly feed their babies have not reached “food” stage yet. So I’ve been putting out more suet than seed. The bluebirds are already feeding their first clutch from it here.
I'm the same! I put out sunflower seeds by the lbs. on top of my fence. I attract birds of all kinds, also raccoons, skunks, and opossum. Many squirrels too. My neighbor calls me the zoo keeper.