This am I went to a free talk on feeding the birds at a local Agway. I had gone to the same talk last year and got a free 5 lb. bag of mixed seed, so for that reason alone it was worth it. I've been feeding the birds for about 20 years!

It was nice to see a mixed group of about 15 people. It just seems so few people I know do anything like bird feeding, or vegetable gardening. It's all about video games and fancy electronic systems.

Anyway, they had a decent price on suet, so I picked up a 12-pak. As I was walking out the door, I also noticed a very good deal on something new called "suet pellets," which are little balls about the size of a pea that are made of suet and bits of seed, held inside a mesh bag with a handy hanger. They were selling 2 for $1 and had 12 oz. compared to the 11 ounce suet cakes I'd just bought on sale for .67! So I bought 4 of the suet pellets and am considering returning for more.

In the parking lot, a man who'd been at the talk said he'd never tried bird feeding before becus he'd been told you had to attend to the feeders every day, and he sometimes went away. I assured him there was no reason he had to "attend to" the feeders every single day. The birds won't starve if the feeder is emptied. Now hummer feeders are a different story. On very hot, humid days, the sugar water can get moldy in 2 or 3 days, so you've got to be religious about refreshing the water regularly.

I stopped at the library and got 6 more DVDs after learning at my last visit that there is no longer any limit to the number of DVDs you can take out at one time. The librarian said that yes, i could take out 20 DVDs at a time if i wanted, but it sure would be a big late fee if I didn't get them back in time. I think they increased their late fee to something like $2 each.

I'll watch one of those tonight, as soon as my banana walnut bread is done. It's baking now. I also bought some ingredients for a slow cooker recipe I'm trying tomorrow with chicken, black beans and sweet potatoes.

My mother had a recent big sale of one of her woven paintings, and after reducing the price at the customer's request (they do that all the time) and paying off the gallery its share of commission, she'll still net $2,000. So she's shopping for a new kitchen stove (hers is 26 years old) and new kitchen floor and possibly, replacing the carpeting in the bedroom with linoleum or something better for her dust allergies.