A great return

I spent a good hour on Saturday cleaning out one of my bird feeders. It is a relatively decent feeder that I bought at our local hardware store about two years ago. I have yet to see a squirrel dangling from it. I tell you, had my yankee frugality not kicked in I would have definately considered just starting over by buying a new one. In the old days that is exactly what I would have done. Paul Parent, that garden guru told his radio show listeners to make sure that we cleaned our feeders so here I am. This one had caked-on thistle on the bottom of it and it gave me a run for my money cleaning it. Suffice to say that the squirrels are not the only ones who have difficulty with access. It must have had a distinct odor of bird to it, despite having been left outside for the last 6 months. My cat was fascinated with my cleaning it. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. One hour, some soaking and one sacrificed sponge later, the job felt done!
This morning the very first yellow finch of the season appeared at the feeder. I guess it was worth the work.