Well, after several years of fighting them, I have finally found a bird feeder that squirrels and chipmunks cannot get to. I’ve been through the cylinder type feeders, the “squirrel proof” ones and several others. Not only is it frustrating to lose out to the four-legged critters, it’s a real pain in the back. The feeder I have created is 100% guaranteed to be squirrel proof. Here is a photo of the Isobardave Platform Feeder in my yard in Michigan. It’s been in operation since last fall, so I’ve proved it’s success in the fall, winter and spring. Yeah, it ain’t pretty but it works.

Isobardave Platform Feeder

There are two key things that you must do to make a feeder squirrel proof. First, you have to place the feeder away from trees and high enough off the ground so critters cannot jump onto it. Second, the post has to be covered with 4″ PVC plastic tubing. You must use at least 4″ tubing.

Doing these two things will greatly enhance your success rate. The benefits of this feeder are that you can attract all kinds of birds, even the larger blue jays. Another benefit is that there is virtually no seed wasted, so it keeps the cost of feeding birds to a minimum.

Want to build one? It’s really easy. Here’s what you need.
-6 feet of 4″ PVC tubing
-2 feet of 1 1/4″” PVC tubing
-10 feet (or one full section) of 1″ galvanized piping with threads on each end
-1 three-inch galvanized platform mount with threads
-10 feet of 1″ x 3″ pine (or 2″ x 4″)
-6 feet of 1″ x 1/2″ strips or other thin pieces of wood to secure the screening on the wood box
-Screening – like you’d use to replace a screen window on your house

Here’s how to build it;

-Cut the PVC tubing to specified sizes. A hack saw works great.
-Cut the galvanized pipe so that about 18″ goes in the ground (6′ feet plus 18″)
-Build the box by cutting the wood into 18″ long pieces. Nail them together at the corners to form a square.
-Cut another piece of wood to fit inside the center of the box and nail/screw it in place
-Mount the galvanized platform mount to the center of the inside board
-Cut screening material so that it hangs over the edges of the box by about 2″ on all sides
-Use screws or tacks to hold the screening in place by fastening the pine slates on all four sides, making sure to pull the screening tight across the top of the box.
-Dig a hole about 18″ deep
-Place the 1 1/4″” PVC pipe in the hole and fill in the remaining dirt. Make sure the pipe is exactly vertical.
-Screw the long length of galvanized pipe to the mount on the feeder box.
-Slip the 4″ PVC onto the galvanized pipe.
-Put the galvanized pipe with everything attached into the 1 1/4″ PVC pipe in the ground
-Push the 4″ PVC into the ground and surround with dirt (so the devils cannot climb up inside the PVC)

Platform Feeder Box

Here is a closer shot of the galvanized mount.

Platform Mount

The Isobardave Platform feeder has had a huge impact on the number and type of birds visiting my yard. It’s a constant buzz out there. There are so many birds that now there are two Coopers hawks that have made a home in my neighborhood as the food supply has sharply increased. I guess this is the only downside to my new feeder . . .it feeds the hawks too.

I am providing the plans for free because the birds deserve it (and so do the squirrels!). Do me a favor and comment on my feeder plan so we can hear what others are experiencing. And also, spread the word by emailing to your friends a link to this post. If anyone has any improvement suggestions, please post them here.

I know, it’s pretty ugly. But it works!

Jane Scott, my Aunt Jane turns 90 next month. Jane spent most of her writing career at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She loved being a reporter.

One of her friends created a video tribute to her on YouTube. Pretty nice. Take a look

One of her characteristics that often gets over looked was her interest and passion for new artists entering the music scene. In fact her interest in discovering new talent is what drove her each day. She spent hours listening to demo albums and long nights in the clubs around town. She wrote about what she found. This real interest in new talent and her hard work set her apart and established her as the ‘must meet’ journalist in Cleveland.

She was a night owl for sure and we all realized that when she visited the family up in Michigan. We were unpleasantly reminded each Christmas morning. We were not allowed to open any presents until Aunt Jane woke up. After a few years we got smart and pre-set the alarm clock in her room. She got wise to that really quickly. She followed her own clock that’s for sure. That was a pain in the back for us kids!

On her visits to Michigan to see our family, I remember her opening up the trunk of her car and it being filled with albums. There must have been 100 albums scattered across the trunk with just a few stacked nicely in a box. It was like that on every visit. As a teenager at the time, I recall recognizing very few of the artists. But that was how she worked.

I went to see Paul McCartney and Wings with her back in the mid to late 70’s. The concert was at the old Olympia Stadium in Detroit. It was a great show and Aunt Jane was taking notes the whole time. During the concert the person next to me passed over a joint and I looked at him and said “hey man, knock it off, I’m with my AUNT!”. She and I left our seats towards the end of the concert to go back stage. We got down there and she pressed hard to get in, not taking no for an answer and as I remember it she got in but was unable to get with Paul.

I went to London to attend the University of London for a semester. While I was there I spent a lot of my free time in the clubs. I made notes of the bands that I saw and sent a letter to Aunt Jane. She created a column covering the music scene that summer in London and referenced the bands that I had pointed out to her. Dixies Midnight Runners was one of them. I thought that was really nice of her.

She developed a national reputation and all the acts that came to town had to grant an interview with her. Her celebrity skyrocketed and People Magazine and the Wall Street Journal each wrote a piece on her. I remember seeing her in People. I was standing at a bus stop in San Francisco and glanced over the shoulder of a woman next to me reading a magazine. I recognized Aunt Jane in the article she was reading and blurted out “holy crap that’s my aunt”. The woman looked over at me and just frowned. The WSJ article was on the front page, center column, which I think amused my dad some (her brother) as he was a captain of industry at Ford but never got on the front page of the Journal (which might have been a gift actually).

So, congratulations to a real rock and roll legend. And a pretty good aunt to boot!

Do you have any memories to share about Jane Scott? I’d love to hear them.

Online video. Thank goodness we’ve got so much of it to watch. Videos are everywhere today. So much so that in many cases site publishers are pushing video over regular text pages. For consumers, this makes it more difficult to get information; I mean good information, quickly. Most videos are really not worth the wait. For example, the network news and TV sites are slow to load. They require users to suffer through boring pre-roll commercials, which are usually not produced to be pre-roll at all. Many are just cut downs of :30 TV spots which in many cases fail to deliver the goods. And if you pursue more than one video on a site’s page, you are very likely to see the same pre-roll ad. Oh boy! And the videos themselves are just underwhelming. Boring or uninspiring content isn’t any better in a video than in text. It’s worse because you had to wait for it. The copywriters who develop clever headlines describing the videos are continually over-promising. When given the choice, I’d much rather consume content in text format than through a video clip pulled from broadcast. For others like me, the use of online video is really becoming more like the use of regular television. When I want to sit back and be entertained, I embrace online video on sites like YouTube. When I’m leading forward looking for information, I skip videos entirely. What used to differentiate the television experience (entertainment) from the online experience (information) years ago is now segmenting online behavior in similar ways. We’re being trained to avoid online video because it just ain’t that good.

In March of 2008 my son and I spent a week trekking through Zion National Park. The weather was perfect for hiking. While we didn’t get into any intense free climbing or backcountry sojurns, we did hike Angel’s Landing and Observation Point. The latter of which is an eight mile hike taking about 5 hours.

The view from observation point, looking up canyon

At a park like Zion you expect to see lots of hikers, which we did. But what was amazing was the size of the packs most of the day hikers were carrying. Sure, some of them might have been carrying large parks to train for more extensive trips, but for the most part, people were carrying a lot of stuff for what appeared to be no good reason.

When we got up to Observation Point, we sat with several groups of hikers who had these large packs. It became apparent that they brought a lot of food snacks with them to munch at the summit before the long climb down. Lots of snacks with nothing of substantial value in them; potato chips, apples, water, etc.

We brought a half loaf of Waugoshance Delight and two bottles of water. That was it. If you want to travel light, but also make sure you have enough food to fuel your trip, try Waugoshance Delight Energy Bread.

In March of 2008, the snow there was more than we had expected, which made the hiking very difficult. The hoodoos are really something to see, but the other parts of the canyon are unremarkable.

We did have some Waugoshance Energy Bread with us on this hike. One of the great uses of this bread; to help re-energize during a hike.

Taking a view of the Hoo Doos

This great energy bread is made with natural ingredients. It is a strong-tasting bread that satisfies. But enough with the hyperbole, what’s in this bread?

Anatomy of the Waugoshance Loaf

Waugoshance Delight contains the following ingredients; Wheat Flour, Rye Flour, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Molassas, Water, Fresh Oranges, Raisins, Butter, Shortening and a host of spices including Clove, Cinnamon and Black Pepper.

If you’re fond of Clove and Molassas, this bread’s for you.

I’ve been pretty active over the last few weeks providing people with the chance to taste this great energy bread. Local businesses here in Michigan and friends and relatives in Michigan, New York, Florida, California, New Mexico and Wisconsin have been sent at least one loaf for tasting. If you’re one of the lucky ones, I’d really like to hear what you think of Waugoshance Delight. Just click on the comments link below and post a comment to this site. Or, if you’d prefer to send me an email, you can reach me at dave@waugoshancedelight.com.

If you’ve never experienced the powerful taste of this great energy, drop me a line and I’ll set you up.

Thanks!

I’ve received a few emails and calls regarding the name for this amazing energy bread. Yes, it’s a little difficult to sound out on first glance. Let me help with this.

Waugoshance is pronounced like this;

• Waug: Say ‘waug’ like you’d say ‘dog’
• O: Say ‘uh’
• Shance: Say ’shawnce’

When were out on an expedition, we ususally refer to Waugoshance as Waug. As in “pass the waug”.

So there you have it.

If anyone has heard a different pronunciation, I’m all ears.

Breaking news! Now available on the market is a new type of bread made specifically for outdoor enthusiasts. It’s called Waugoshance Delight (TM).

Waugoshance Delight (TM) is a high octane energy bread for outdoor enthusiasts. It was born in the 1970’s in the north woods of Michigan’s lower peninsula. This special loaf played a major role in many strenuous winter camping expeditions in Wilderness State Park. It continues to satisfy campers, day hikers and expeditions by providing enormous flavor, protein and carbs. Helping give you the energy needed to maximize your enjoyment of the outdoors.

This strong and durable loaf is a blend of molassas, honey and spices. It is a meal in itself.

If you’re interested in trying Waugoshance Delight (TM), a high-octane energy bread, for a camping trip, canoe expedition, backpacking adventure or whatever trek you’re planning, send me an email to place an order.

isobardave@yahoo.com

One of the great benefits of Waugoshance Delight (TM) Energy Bread is that it can be formed into a wide variety of configurations. This no-yeast bread bakes well in large and small portions, which makes it possible to create a loaf to fit the pocket of a backpack or a compartment in your Kayak. Here is a photo of a petite loaf of Waugoshance Delight (TM). You can see the rich texture and a few raisins. Compact in size yet loaded with energy for any kind of outdoor adventure. This is a great energy bread, a perfect loaf for backpacking or day hiking.

Waugoshance Delight comes in petite sizes as well as in the traditional bread loaf size. Contact me at this email address to place an order; isobardave@yahoo.com