How To Keep Squirrels Off Your Bird Feeders

Last time we were home, Travis' parents told us their secret for keeping squirrels off their bird feeders.  When I was growing up, my grandma would grease the bird feeder poles, so the squirrels had a hard time climbing them.  I remember watching them scramble up a little ways and sliiiiiide right back down.  While it was an entertaining thing to watch, there were still a few highly skilled rascals that made it up.  This solution also required regular "greasings"...not much fun.

Terry and Jenny's solution started in their toy box.  Are you ready??  It's...a slinky.  Yep!  Check out what they did!

The solution was as simple as dangling a slinky from the top of the string or pole, so it hangs down the length.  When a squirrel grabs on to climb up, the slinky stretches and sends the squirrel right back to the ground.  No traction on the pole = no  reaching the yummy seeds!

Hope it works as well for you as it has for them!  

Buying a New Mattress

Last weekend, as I was getting ready to go to my photography class, I plopped down on husband's side of the bed only to be horrified by the crater he'd been sleeping in!  I guess that's the thing about a mattress - it sloooowly gets a little less comfortable, so you don't realize it's awful...which is what happened to us.  I always assumed the "buy a new mattress every 8-10 years" rule was made up by the mattress companies, but since ours is 10/11 years old, I guess it's true.

Since husband is on the verge of needing back surgery, I knew we needed a new mattress IMMEDIATELY, so decided to spend Sunday looking for one.  We got lots of suggestions from friends about their favorite mattresses, and decided we'd visit Jordan's, Sleepy's and Bob's to see what they had, but we didn't end up making it past Jordan's!

Our helper, Ann, started us out by laying on their "Jazzzz" machine.  You lay on the bed on your back, side, and stomach, and it maps your points of contact (no contact, some, or pressure points) with the bed.  Then, based on your needs, they are able to recommend mattresses that will help support you while you snooze!

We tried out three mattresses and were completely sold by the second one - Jordan's 10" version of a TempurPedic.  It was so comfortable, but took me a minute to get used to since it was SO different from our current pillow top (which I've loved until now).  I felt like I was being suctioned to the bed...but in a good way...does that make sense?  With free delivery and take-away of the old mattress, we were sold.

If you're from around Boston, you're probably saying...whyyyy didn't you check out the Bob-o-Pedic??  Well...I did on my cell phone...and their mattresses are $100 more.  Easy decision.
  

The bad news was the earliest it could be delivered was that coming Saturday (SIX days away)!  After laying on the new mattress, I realized how bad ours had gotten.  This week couldn't go by quickly enough.  Yesterday we got our delivery schedule - it would arrive today sometime between 7:30-10am.  Really...we couldn't have gotten the 10-1pm timeslot?  Oh well.

Thankfully they were right on time this morning - in at 7:45, out by 8 am!  I was planning on taking pictures...but they were SO fast there was no chance.

We can't wait to try it out tonight!

Even Toby likes it!

Wine Cork Bulletin Board!

When we first moved to Boston 5 years ago, one of the first places we ate was John Harvard's Brew House in Cambridge.  It's a really neat brewery and restaurant in Harvard Square that has hilarious stained glass (recognize any of those guys?), good food, and the most amazing cork board I'd ever seen.  Once I saw their board (probably 4' x 6'), I knew I had to make my own (smaller) version!

Last spring, while packing for our move from Watertown to West Newton, I found the stash of corks we'd started several years before, and I caught the cork board bug again.  Once we moved in, Travis and I decided to go to Target and buy a picture frame so we could judge how close we were to filling up our board.  This is what we ended up with...

When we realized how far we were from full, we had friends start saving corks and I even hit up the Trader Joe's tasting guy a few times and got some of their corks!  Once we had more people chipping in, it came together much faster.  Here are some tips to make your own:

1)  Pick a frame you're going to fill in with the corks and take the glass out of it.  You'll be gluing the corks to the frame's back board.

2)  Start mapping out your corks!  Fill in the frame with whatever "pattern" you like - we chose alternating 2 corks vertically/horizontally.  Make sure you vary the colors, patterns and even the red dyed portions as you plot your board.

3)  Once you fill in the entire board, you'll need a really strong glue that will stick to cork.  We decided to go with Super Glue.  The "gel" super glue worked really well, and the corks aren't going ANYWHERE soon!  Pick each cork up and glue it back down (so tedious...but it only took me about an hour).  After gluing down a section, I laid a brick on top of the corks to make sure that they were touching the frame's back board while the glue dried. 

I'm really happy with how it turned out and now we're saving corks for our NEXT project!  What's your favorite thing you've seen make with wine corks?