Hi, Tweeters,

Several weeks ago, while cleaning underneath my bird feeders, a thought
struck me . (ow). I had a lot of hay on the ground from my hay bales. Raked
it up, and while it's okay, it wasn't fit for my horse to eat. So I scattered
it underneath my bird feeders.

THis morning, while cleaning up under the feeders, (in the rain) I found the
clean up went a heck of a lot faster. The hay caught most of the seed hulls,
dropped seed and bird droppings. I scooped it all up in less than ten
minutes, whereas usually a clean up job took an hour. Plus, since it's wet
and mucky, it makes great compost. Just don't put it in your regular compost
pile, because sunflower seed hulls retard the compost process. I don't know
how or why, it just seems to. (horse manure heats it up just dandy..anybody
want some manure, fresh from the horse???)

SO...you can use hay, but I suggest straw..it's lot's cheaper. Or I imagine
even shavings would do the same job. Spread it under the feeders and it will
make the clean up faster.

I spent several days in Yakima this week. I went to see the rock paintings
and there's a large number of white throated swifts nesting on the rock face.
That's a lifelist bird for me. I didn't know which to concentrate on..the
swifts playing and chasing and yelling, or the rock paintings. At least the
rock paintings didn't move....

Michelle
Littlerock