The Post

Posted on November 27, 2017 by TJ

Yesterday–or maybe Saturday–I was sitting in my chair by the window when I saw Miss Madeline Meadows trotting along the edge of the forest, heading downhill. Suddenly, some birds flew up to the birdfeeders. Their movement caught Madeline’s attention. She turned around and headed back toward the house with her eyes focused on the bird feeders. I thought, “Uh, oh, this is going to be a problem.” I don’t mind Madeline hunting mice, shrews, voles, and moles, but I don’t want her hunting birds.

I worried that the bird feeder poles were too short, giving Madeline easy access to the birdfeeders…and the birds. This morning I sat in my chair and considered how to lift the birdfeeders higher, out of reach.

I decided that I would use a tall wooden post. The problem is that all the posts are in use. Most of them are holding up the fencing to the duck and chicken pens and a few are holding up climbing roses. I decided to “steal” one of the wooden posts holding up the climbing rose bush. I’ll find something else to hold up the roses next spring. I pulled out all the metal birdfeeder poles and used the post hole digger to dig a hole. Fortunately, the weather has been relatively warm so the ground is not frozen or covered in several feet of snow. Once the hole was deep enough, I put in the wooden post. I went inside the house several times and sat in both EJ’s chair and mine to make sure we could both clearly see the post through the window.

I nailed two pretty brackets that we had lying around to the post. I think EJ had bought them at a thrift store or yard sale years ago. (I’m not sure whether to call them brackets or hooks. I’ll call them brackets.)

I hung up some of the birdfeeders on the brackets, but I really needed more brackets to hang up the rest of the feeders. I couldn’t find any more brackets in the garage. I eyed the metal bird feeder poles. They have brackets that would work perfectly–except that the brackets are permanently attached to small metal tubes that were made to slide onto the metal poles. There is a hole in the tube to attach it to the pole with a screw. With the tube on the bracket, there was no way that I could fasten it to a wooden post. I studied the problem and figured out a solution. I got a slender wooden board from EJ’s supply in the garage. I slid the board through the tube, and nailed the tube to the board using the screw hole. Then I simply nailed the board to the post. It worked really well. I took another bracket-tube from a birdfeeder pole and fastened it to the other side of the wooden post in the same way. Then I hung up the rest of the birdfeeders.

Of course, Miss Madeline Meadows can climb trees so I assume that she would have no problem also climbing a wooden post. To prevent this (hopefully), I loosely fastened a bit of chicken fencing around the lower part of the post.

As I worked, birds constantly flew around the feeder. I could hear the thrumming of their wings all around me. It was pretty cool.

I figured that my plan would work, but I was surprised at how pretty it was when I finished it. Best of all, with only one post holding all the feeders, my view is actually less hindered than when I had multiple poles set up. And the birds seem really happy with it. I am proud of my work.

We’ve had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets lately. This is a photo of tonight’s sunset: