Another birthday has come. (Yay!)  Not having Hannah home has changed the dynamics for the day.

For the first time ever, Paul made a birthday cake for me. Even BH (before Hannah) he would buy one from the market. Last night when I walked in the door I thought I smelled chocolate chip cookies. it was the the cake layers cooling on the stove. What a treat! Thank you, Paul.

Mom gave me a fancy bird feeder pole – with a squirrel baffle! The ground has thawed a bit so i was able to install the pole today. You can’t really see it here, but there’s a squirrel in the background staring longingly at the feeder that is no longer hanging from the tree within his grasp. I can’t wait to see him try get passed the baffle. This is a nifty system. Unlike my wobbly shepherd’s hooks or the poles buried in concrete, this pole is movable. It screws into the the ground and has a stabilizer to keep it upright. From there you customize your Advanced Pole System with various styles of crossbars to hang feeders from, feeding cups, perches, and finials. Pure genius.

It didn’t take long for the birds to figure it it out.

And then there were the Woodstock Chimes that arrived in the mail from Hannah. Such beautiful and thoughtful gifts warmed my heart.

It was a good day.