Spot Shot is a great stain remover

This is a little off-topic for a gardening blog, but I’ve discovered a super good carpet stain remover.  I bought Spot Shot for pet stains. The claims made on the can were impressive, so I gave it a try.

It worked very well, and the following explains why I was so impressed.  We had old stains from 15 years ago when our sons were babies, and they tossed around their leaky sippy cups with iron-supplemented formula.  The dark brown stains came right out with Spot Shot. I thought I had to live with those stains forever! 

This product is manufactured by the WD-40 Company.

Bird Watching While on Vacation

One of the exciting things about getting away is to view wildlife that may be different from that seen at home.  This year we took an early Spring trip to Corolla which is at the Northern tip of North Carolina's Outer Banks.

The following species of birds were spotted along Currituck Sound:

 Red-winged Blackbird

Boat-tailed Grackle

Other species seen, but not photographed, include the Great Black-backed gull and other seagulls as well as Sandpipers. An Osprey pair had a nest at the top of a pole at a water treatment facility.

The following species were seen at the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge:

 American Coots

 Double-crested Cormorants

Great Egret

Results from the Great Backyard Bird Count 2013

The Great Backyard Bird Count lasts 4 days. I've been counting birds for about 5 years, and it's hard to predict what you will see during those counting days.

Goldfinch Fluffed by the Falling Snow

This year most of my counting was limited to window viewing because of the extreme cold and snow. The day before the count, a spectacular pair of Pileated Woodpeckers visited my yard. There was no sign of them, however, during the next 4 days. I love the brown-headed Nuthatches that have come regularly to my feeder. Again there was no sign of them during the count days.

During the count, both the male and female Eastern Towhees made a rare appearance in my backyard. A wild turkey swooped out of the sky and scurried into the  woods at the back of our property. A couple of Mute Swans graced a pond near our church.

Female Eastern Towhee

 Male Eastern Towhee

The summary of birds counted for 2013 is not yet available, but 134,935 checklists were submitted. In 2012, 104,151 checklists were tallied.