This year I am givng away bird feeders for Christmas!

[Kansas Terri]

It is always a strain to think of what to give to my far-flung family for Christmas, but this year the stores all seem to have bird feeders that look like handsome little log cabins. So I bought a bunch of them to give away with bird seed, and a little candy tucked inside each box.

One exception would be my youngest brother, who has lately expressed an interest in vegetable gardening. So, keeping in mind that he hates yard work, I am sending him a no-work garden kit.

He already has a watering system set on automatic, and so I am sending him some heavy shade cloth with instructions to double it. I am also sending him a roll of edging plastic so that he can spike it down over the edge of the weed barrier so that he can mow right up to it without damaging the shade cloth.

Then all he has to do is put slits in the cloth and plant!

The only thing that might go wrong is if he waters every day, but where he lives water is too precious for that. If this set up is watered daily then any seed that blows on top will sprout and send down roots, and that makes a mess if they get too large. And my brother does not like yardwork, though he is VERY fond of fresh veggies! And he was talking about growing some!

 

[Becky]

Sounds excellent! You're far more organised than me, I still need to figure out what I'm getting for most people. Bird feeders are a lovely gift idea though

 

[marlingardener]

Gee, I wish I were on your Christmas list! We have several feeders, but none as cute as a little log cabin. Could you post a picture of one? I'm not a woodworker, but my husband is, and he doesn't have anything else to do but to cater to my every whim!

 

[IcyBC]

I would love to have a bird feeder but since my bad neighbor putting down rat poisoning around his home, I had to stop putting bird seed out in my feeders for over a year now.

You have thought of everything for your brother and that is so nice!

 

[Pat]

Gifts would be so easy for me if there were members of my family that like to garden or even had plants in there home. I am the only person that loves plants indoor or outdoors. When my youngest daughter was given plants when she was sick the ones that did not dye were given to me.

 

[Kansas Terri]

HERE is a drawback!

I tried to order a hoodie for my nephew-they are popular with young men out here- but the one I got in the mail was tiny! And, I had asked for one for a very tall, thin person because I did not understand their size chart.

I am returning it, and I will get him something else as all I can find on-line are sizes for very fat people. My nephew is Six feet four inches ( 2 meters high) and, as a growing teen, he is as skinny as a bean pole. So, the sleeves would be too short unless he wants his hoodie to be incredibly around his waist, and wouldn't THAT be noticed by his friends!.

I give up: the only hoodies for tall, thin people I can find cost $250 and up on-line, and ordinary sized cost $45. I will go to a sporting goods store later this week and see if there is anything there. Fooy. I thought I was done for the out of town people and all I had to do was load the boxes. So I have mailed everything BUT the box for my sister and her family!

Mail order: I love it and I hate it.

 

[Corzhens]

Gee, I know that bird feeders are common there so that would be a good Christmas giveaway. I would love to have that here but it's not common here and probably the birds wouldn't appreciate because they prefer the tree branches. For this Christmas, my giveaways are the usual plants but it is an assortment now. I have potted some mint and repotted welcome plants plus small fruit trees.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Birds are very useful in gardens: they eat the bugs!

 

[Maelalove]

I second the notion that you are incredibly organized! You had your planning down so well, meanwhile I'm over here scrambling to figure out what to get most of the people I know for Christmas. However, most of them also are not very into nature or birds, and so that's made it difficult for me.

Beautiful idea, though! It wraps all your Christmas worries up and away, too!

 

[Kansas Terri]

Not so organized: I have not yet shopped for my husband or the kids! LOL! I will probably start that tomorrow.

DD will be driving down Christmas Day if the weather holds, and she is bringing her Fiance' with her. My youngest is still living at home, though he has been looking at apartments a lot.

It would be lovely to have both kids home for Christmas: I just hope the weather holds!

 

[Maelalove]

Well, at least organized for everyone else Lol! It still seems like a majority of your shopping is done. Even if your husband and kids haven't quite been fulfilled yet. And I hope the weather holds for you! It's this time of year that this kind of thing works the best! Especially since your youngest is looking to move out. All grown up!

 

[Kansas Terri]

AN UPDATE!

Well, the weather on Christmas was most excellent, for December, and DD and her fiancé had a good trip down and we all had a LOVEY weekend! There was no trouble at all until it was time for them to return. That is when the OTHER storm hit: the one we were to busy having fun to notice. The one where it sleeted all day on the day they were supposed to drive 160 miles north.

So they decided to stay another day, and everybody kicked back and chilled for the entire day. Oh, OK. No problem!

The fiancé was expected to work the next day but he works afternoons and evenings, and since he is young and full of energy he figured to drive out in the morning and go to work at 3 PM. At his age it sounds perfectly do-able! OK! No problem there, either.

So, they headed out at 9 AM the next day. They got 100 feet away (30 meters) and THEN the problem hit. The car smoked and died. RIGHT! A tow truck was called for, but it was just after Christmas and everybody was short-handed and so the tow truck did not arrive until 4PM! So he next day we loaned them my car and they got back a day late, where the fiancé was able to get back to work and also filled in for an absent worker on what SHOULD have been his day off! So that is sorted out.

SO! Their car is now fixed and we swapped cars the last weekend.

The moral of the story is, never trust the weather in December, LOL! There is a REASON why we keep a cupboard full of canned meat: I prefer to stay in when the roads are covered with ice! Just a few degrees is the difference between an ordinary rain and freezing rain, and the weather men do not always get it right! We ignored the second storm all weekend long as it was supposed to fall as rain, and so we missed the update! But, it was good that they had not driven home in a vehicle where the radiator fluid was leaking into the engine. They were actually very lucky!

 

[Becky]

Oh goodness, that's not an ideal end to the festivities! I'm glad it turned out ok in the end though!

 

[Maelalove]

Oh man, at least they're okay, and didn't go so far. I'm now having weather issues myself, since it just started snowing here. My car hates the snow, so we'll see how this works out tomorrow... Anywho, thanks for the update :]

 

[Kansas Terri]

Oh man, at least they're okay, and didn't go so far. I'm now having weather issues myself, since it just started snowing here. My car hates the snow, so we'll see how this works out tomorrow... Anywho, thanks for the update :]

The weathermen in the U.S. all predict lots of precipitation this winter, courtesy of El Nino.

Blast it.