PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

Recent entries july 4, 2018 - 2018-07-04 the triangle continues of courtney, boobear, & nyota - 2018-07-03 Cookie so cute telling, "Hello" to sparrows - 2018-07-01 lovebirb in love - 2018-06-30 wren with fluffffff - 2018-06-24 Read my new book, The 10 Best Things You Can Do For Your Bird at Amazon or at many other fine distributors like Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Kobo, and more. By public demand, and after a delay of an embarrassing number of years, I've finally put my notorious essay, Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman, free on the fabulous internets. A bibliography of my published books and stories. Here's a simple card-counting FAQ to get you up to speed on the basics. Here's the true story of the notorious DD' blackjack team, told for the first time on the fabulous internets. No other team went from a starting investor's bankroll of zero to winning millions of dollars. A Sadean take on Asimov's classic Three Laws of Robotics can be found in Roger Williams' NOW REVIEWED ON SLASHDOT!!! The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. Adult readers only please -- explicit sex and violence. For updates on the "Dead Tree Project" and other topics, you may visit the official fan site, Passages in the Void.. My Bird Lists -- My Louisiana State Life List, My Yard List and, tah dah, My World Life List. HEY! What happened to the Peachfront Conure Files? The world's only OFFICIAL Peachfront Conure site now features free peachfront conure coverage, including a magazine length Intro to Conures previously published in American Cage-Bird Magazine, now free on the web. I offer the best free Peachfront Conure information on the internet. If you have great Peachfront Conure info, stories, or photos to share, contact me so I can publicize your pet, your breeding success, your great photograph, etc. on my site. Thanks.

stone mosaic project #2: the birdbath -- easy, direct method 2011-07-23 - 7:31 a.m. all photos � 2011 by elaine radford OK, the world's slowest stone artist finally produces the long-promised stone mosaic birdbath. The historic drought has broken in southeast Louisiana, almost single-handedly due to my efforts on this birdbath. The story begins when 1) I got a bunch of really nifty polished slabettes in a trade with "Snuffy," and 2) I was guilt-tripped by a Brown Thrasher who was pitifully, repeatedly, sand-bathing in my drought-stricken yard. I don't know if I ever saw a Brown Thrasher sand-bathe before, but now I have seen it several times. And, trust me, it's an agonizing sight. The bird fully flattens itself on the sand and gapes with its poor mouth panting like it's about to have heat-stroke, and it really works on your heart. So no more excuses. My wild bird families must have their own bath, and not just a wide spot in the yard where we dumped out the old sandbags from Hurricane Katrina. In addition to Snuffy's stones, I had a large piece of Picture Jasper with a huge, horrible fracture and all kinds of holes and saw marks in the lovely picture. We decided to cut up this picture to make the center portion of the mosaic. I think the blue, tan, and green, gives a hint of a distant island, maybe viewed from a cave? Or maybe I just have too much imagination. I also wanted to see if it mattered whether the stone tiles were polished or not. Since they will be underwater, it doesn't much matter for this project. However, in the future, I vote that it would be best to polish all of the stone tiles before you go further. There was a difference in "gloss" between the polished stones and the tile that went directly from saw to birdbath. Anyway, I cut up the stone tiles to some sizes that seemed easy for grabby bird feet and applied the tiles with a tub/shower adhesive that people have recommended because it's meant for standing up to wet conditions. Grouted with a black sanded grout. Sealed with clear polyurethane and then, ultimately, with Thompson's waterseal. It took an amazingly long time to go through all of the steps of curing and waiting and spraying and waiting. Also, in an added twist, since DH had never made anything with concrete to hold water before, he ended up making TWO birdbath bowls. I thought the first one had some pinholes. He patched it, and then as an experiment, I also made a mosaic in this bowl, only with ceramic, since I wasn't sure if it would actually hold water. I didn't want to invest the stone tiles in the project if it was defective from the get-go. Holy moly, no wonder it took me so long to do this project. That's right. I somehow ended up making two birdbaths. Finally, as of Friday afternoon, it was time for the final test. They BOTH hold water. Hey! I don't need two birdbaths to clean, so I put the nice stone mosaic in the hummingbird garden, where it is destined to be a true birdbath. I flipped the ceramic one on its side and placed it as lawn decor at the base of my pecan tree in the front yard. The neighbors may wonder what it is, but they can't say much, since the house across the way has sprouted about eight pink plastic lawn flamingoes. They can take the blue ribbon for irony, but my folk art is more organic than their folk art, so there. This is an easy, direct method stone mosaic project. The serious birdbath creator might have also created a concrete base for the project, but I haven't got that far yet. I just propped it up on some old papercrete cubes that were hanging around. Note: The birdbath has been in place since around 4 P.M. Friday afternoon, and it's now 7:45 Saturday morning, and it has been drizzling or raining every daylight moment since I put it out. Yet, even though no bird has yet bathed in it, I can tell that it's a success, because the number of hummingbird visits to the feeder near the bath has immediately EXPLODED. One bold immature male has already flown over and challenged me -- twice -- instead of just giving up when he sees me watching. Not sure of why, but the existence of the bath seems to be the final element in making the hummingbird garden a place once again that's worth fighting for. back - next All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2002-2017 by Elaine Radford