Wooden blinds...cheap and easy.

 Until this winter, I'd not been home enough during the day to realize how the glare from these windows would be strong enough to even wash out the TV. I love the old  windows though, and don't want to cover them too much.

 These are some cheap wooden blinds I'd had in a room at the shop. With the move at the shop, I took them down and brought them home. They are the perfect width for these windows! woot! Pretty much free blinds! I did shorten them a bit so they wouldn't be so heavy.

One down, one to go. I think it's going to work! You can see it cuts the glare quite a bit, and when they are up, the pretty old windows are still showing off.

 All done! I think it looks pretty good and solves the problem just fine!

Recycled Christmas Tree...feed the birds!

 This year, I hated to throw my Christmas tree on the curb just yet, so instead I stood it on the back deck. My yard has no shrubs yet....and I think that is why I don't have many birds. They don't have any cover. Then I decided it looked pretty bare, so I collected some pine cones, and spread them with peanut butter and pressed birdseed into it. Just like we made in grade school!

 These were messy and fun to make.

 I tied them on to the branches with bits of ribbon. It looked great! Next thing I knew, it looked like this:

And the culprit is the squirrels of course. So I tied it off to the railings. That seems to have worked so far...no more falling trees.

 The squirrels are really enjoying it. I've had a few birds, and I hope they tell their friends.

The temperature dropped way down, and I went out and got a heated birdbath at the local Big R farm store. It's super cold now, below 0 and it is still keeping the water open. I also moved the bird feeder with the squirrel guard up to the railing.  Seems to be a great way to enjoy the Christmas tree a little longer!