Bluebird Houses

As early as the end of February and as late as June, the male bluebird will locate a nesting site, establishes a territory around it of two to five acres, and sings to attract a female and warn other male bluebirds to stay away.

The nesting box - well, the location says it all. Select an open area with scattered trees and sparse ground cover. Avoid underbrush, tall grass, dense woods, farm buildings, and areas where pesticides are used. The nest box should be placed on a pole (not a tree) about five feet high, facing the entrance hole east to south.

Last year, the bluebird house in the garden didn't have any tenants. The one in the front yard had one and then they left after the eggs were destroyed by another bird.

I need to move the bluebird houses to another spot. You would think that'd be pretty simple but it's not - there's bushes, trees, barns - all kinds of stuff get in the way.

Bye Bye Blackbirds

In the garden and all around the yard yesterday were blackbirds. There were hundreds (well, it looked like hundreds) chirping and flying from one tree to another.

I tried to take a photo but the camera and I were a little to far away. But you can see the birds in the trees if you look closely.

But here's Henny Penny - she's black and she's a bird.

Krispy Kreme Challenge

6,000 folks signed up for the Krispy Kreme Challenge Saturday - run 2.4 miles, eat 12 doughnuts and run back another 2.4 miles!

Yowee . . . . I can't even eat 2 doughnuts at one time!


This is the sixth year of the run starting at the NC State University Bell Tower to the Krispy Kreme store on Peace Street then back to the Bell Tower. Over $45,000 was raised for the NC Children's Hospital.

Temperatures were in the 30s but some of us are tougher than others.

© 2010 NCSU Student Media

Eggs - Blood Spots

Can you eat eggs with blood spots? Does a blood spot mean an egg is contaminated?

Both chemically and nutritionally, eggs with blood spots are safe to eat.

Eggs with a visible blood spot on the yolk are safe for consumption. The spot can be removed with the tip of a knife. Blood or "meat" spots are occasionally found on an egg yolk and are merely an error on the part of the hen. These tiny spots are not harmful and are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel on the yolk surface when it's being formed or by a similar accident in the wall of the oviduct.

Blood spots do not indicate a fertilized egg (I don't have a rooster so that would be a big surprise). If desired, the spot can be removed with the tip of a clean knife prior to cooking.

No, the egg is not contaminated. You can’t see bacteria with the naked eye.

These eggs are safe to eat.

For some reason now that the hens are laying again, I've had some eggs with blood spots. It's good to know I can still eat them but thank goodness I have enough I don't have to eat those eggs (I know - there's starving folks out there that would love these eggs but Lily needs an egg now and then too).

Heart Quilt

This is a quilt I started working on at our bee meeting in January - all that's left is putting on the binding and a label. The background fabric is white with pink dots and all the other fabrics have hearts in some shape or form, one red and one green with hearts, and a couple of pink stripes. And a couple of reds with hearts too.

The backing is a dark brown with cute little birdhouses and pink hearts and pink birds. I've had the backing fabric for many years and all the other fabrics were from my stash.

The pattern was a freebie from the MODA website - Posh by Chez Moi.

Cleaning House

NO - not that kind of cleaning house - the bees!

And they were working hard yesterday afternoon (Mon) even with weather in the 40's. There was a good amount of dead bees in front of Hive #4 but not as many for the hives.

The Swarm '09 Hive had some bees bringing in pollen - unfortunately this bee didn't make it back to the hive in time.

The bees were flying all over the garden looking for pollen.

Greenhouse

Lots of snow and ice on the greenhouse. I swept off as much as I could and let the sunshine melt the rest yesterday. It's supposed to be in the low 40's today but there's still a lot of snow and ice on the ground.