With "The Kid" off to college, the Easter Bunny didn't leave a basket this year but we did receive a visit from a pileated woodpecker! We have two pileated woodpeckers that frequent our suet feeders. One is much bigger than the other; our visitor today was the biggest of the two. I've tried to snap photos of them for quite some time now but these monsters are very skittish birds. Even when they are focused on suet they still see the slightest movement inside the house. They're usually gone before you can grab the camera.

Last week, we made a quick trip to the farm to visit "The Kid" and my folks. Over morning coffee, I told Grandpa Pillywiggin about our two pileated woodpeckers. He was surprised that they came to our suet feeders. He agreed they were skittish birds. He had only seen them deep in the woods. I'm excited to show him these photos!

We have two suet feeders outside of our dining room window. We fill the feeder closest to the window with songbird suet. On the farthest tree we hang woodpecker suet. (Although, I'm not sure what the difference is beyond .29 cents.) Today, our pileated woodpecker chose to dine off the songbird suet just outside the window. I won't begrudge the Easter Bunny for skipping over us this year. Our visit from the Easter Woodpecker was a rare treat.

With little sap to boil Jason decided to get an early start with our yard work. Today he installed the bluebird boxes he built this earlier this winter. (Watch our "Build a Bluebird Box" video HERE.)

Last Saturday we officially kicked off our 2016 Event Season with the "Spring Garden Conference & Luncheon" hosted by the Alpine Master Gardener Association and MSU Extension. It was great to connect with fellow gardeners. Everyone is itching to get back into the garden! We took a mix of gourds & glass to show and said goodbye to our Monarch butterfly inspired candle bridge made special for this event.

We called this "Bob Wire" when I was growing up and four strands was usually enough to keep the cattle in. We have several rolls of barbed wire on hand but no critters to contain so we're repurposing our barbed wire into rustic garden art.

Apparently, we're not cutting ourselves enough with our glass work. After the first few attempts at a barbed wire star Jason's forearms looked like he had been crawling through the briar bushes. We quickly discovered it takes a great deal of patience, a little finesse, long sleeves and a good pair of gloves to manipulate the wire. I guess you could say we put our blood, sweat & tears into our work!  :D