Weekend excitement

This weekend we had a bit of a scare or excitement depending on how you look at it.  During the early morning hours on Saturday, a horrible noise jolted us awake.  We later discovered that a section of the ceiling had fallen in and water was pouring from the hole.  Miss Sue and her husband were the first on the scene, then Mom and Miss Rachel came in.  It was a mess. Ceiling tiles were broken, the carpet was soaked and everything had to moved and cleared.  Then the cleaning company came in.

They took down the remaining ceiling tiles, punctured the plastic around the insulation and more water poured down.  They then vacuumed up the water, sprayed against mold and mildew (for which we are grateful - we are very sensitive to that stuff so we really don't want the library to get it) and set about drying everything out.

The drying was done with big fans and huge dehumidifiers which created quite a draft.  Mom moved us to the young adult section of the library so we wouldn't catch cold.  And that is how we spent the rest of the weekend - listening to huge fans and machines blowing.  By Tuesday things were back to normal.  It was an interesting weekend.  What a way to end the year!

The leaky ceiling without tiles

The drying out

Happy Holidays

We want to wish all our friends near and far a Happy Holiday Season!  And we have a request for all our little friends - don't forget to throw a little birdseed outside this Holiday Season, because whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or nothing at all, it never hurts to be kind to your feathered friends.  We know that not all little birds are taken care of as well as us.  Miss Renee says that no matter who you are or what you celebrate, this is the season to be kind to others, so we want to be kind to our feathered friends.  If you need some help we've created a birdy recipe sure to delight.


You can put this out in a dish, or smear onto a piece of bread or a pine cone - it doesn't matter. Though if you are using a dish you can skip the peanut butter part.

Materials:
peanut butter/vegetable shortening
bird seed
sunflower seeds
dried cranberries or raisins
oatmeal
pinecone, bread, or bagel
spoon

1.  Mix together the bird seed, sunflower seeds, and oatmeal together
2.  Spread peanut butter (or if you are allergic to nuts - vegetable shortening) onto your base (bread, pinecone, etc) with the spoon (or a knife if you're old enough)
3.  Roll or sprinkle the seed mixture onto the base
4.  Dip the dried cranberries or raisins into the peanut butter/shortening and push onto seed covered base.
5.  Place outside somewhere you can see

Now you can add a string to this creation and hang from a branch - but remember not all birds can eat that way.  Some birds are ground feeders so feel free to just place it out on the ground somewhere.

Now you may feed more than birds.  We had some friends a few years ago, who made a bird feeder this was with Miss Renee and when they hung it outside a squirrel stole the whole thing.  This is okay - if it happens make another one and place it somewhere higher.  But, honestly, we don't mind sharing with the squirrels.

Hope you have some fun with this.