Blog for adaysouting.com

It’s time to welcome birds to your home by giving them a place to nest.  Small birds, such as house wrens, chickadees and blue birds, will happily raise their young in birdhouses.  Here are a few tips to attract birds to your birdhouse.

•   Hang a birdhouse at least five feet off the ground.

•    Birdhouses can be attached to a tree, but a freestanding pole with the birdhouse mounted on top is best.  This way you can also attach a guard to the pole to keep unwanted predators out.

•    Clean out old birdhouses to remove the prior season’s packed bird’s nest. New birds will rarely want to nest in old materials.  Cleaning will also help control insects, mites and lice that can hurt baby birds.

•    While a perch on a birdhouse is cute, birds don’t need one. A perch really only helps predators get a better grip.

Early March is the best time to get a new birdhouse or to prepare your old ones for the new season.  You want to be ready when the weather warms and birds start looking for a new place to raise their fluffy brood.

It’s February and while spring is still a few weeks away, flowers are blooming at garden shows around the country.  Now is the time to get ideas for new plants in your garden, to see beautiful display gardens in dozens of styles and browse among the booths in the garden marketplaces that many shows host.

I recommend that when you visit a garden show you take a camera along with you.  Not only do I like to take shots of the large garden displays, I also like to take photos of the individual plants that I want to remember.  Instead of trying to write down a description of the plant along with the Latin and common names, I take a photograph of that plant’s name tag, as well.  I found that if I have a photo of both the plant and its name, I could more easily find that plant for my garden.

With garden shows popping up around the country, I hope you can find one near you to visit.  It’s a great way to get ready for spring.

Here are a few that I found:

Cherokee County Home and Garden Show
Indiana Home and Garden Show
Minneapolis Home and Garden Show
Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show
West Michigan Home & Garden Show

I love musicals and I am not ashamed to say it.  I grew up seeing every musical that the Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, VA produced.  As a really small child, my favorite part of the evening was intermission and the lemonade we would drink, but as I grew older, I loved the music and the costumes, too.

We took a long weekend trip to Philadelphia and my sister-in-law recommended that we take all the kids to see “Oliver!” at The Media Theatre, in the borough of Media.  This was a great musical for the children to see because the play had a dozen or more kids on stage, and of course, the story is about a little boy.

After the play, we talked about who their favorite character was and what they liked the most.  My son liked the character Bill Sykes, and my daughter liked Nancy.  I thought they would say Oliver but no, they like the bad boy and the pretty girl, instead.  Their favorite part of the whole play was intermission, which was made complete with yummy candy canes.  Hopefully, this one experience is the start of a lifelong love of the theater and musicals.

Railroads have a long and illustrious history dating back 500 years.  Early railways were created on wood and stone rails - and were powered by people and horses.  The first commercial steam engine was introduced in 1812 in England.  In the 1830s-1860s there was an enormous railroad-building boom in the U.S.  President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act in 1862 authorizing the construction of the first transcontinental railroad.

Today, you can visit railroad museums all across the country.  You can learn about the history of rail transportation, see how railroad technologies have changed over the years and climb aboard some of the retired engines, cars and cabooses that made rail travel possible.  If you really love trains, there are also miniature railroad museums that highlight the amazing toys that have been created.

You can also take a ride on a train yourself.  While passenger train travel isn’t as popular now, I really enjoy it. My family took a train from Charlottesville to Philadelphia during spring break.  My husband and I loved not driving and the kids thought it was an adventure.  Cathy wrote about her family’s trip on the Auto Train from Virginia to Florida. Whether you are riding on a train or visiting a museum, you are sure to have fun.

Elizabeth’s post on hiking in the winter made me start to think about all the things we can do to get outside in the winter. After watching many of my neighbors out walking and running on a freezing cold New Year’s Day, I also decided that it’s really just about dressing for the weather.

My kids and I spent a great birthday weekend with my sister and nephew snow tubing at a ski resort near my house. We bought a family season pass this winter to go skiing and snowboarding there, but tubing was something we all (and virtually anyone else) could easily do. We had a blast. As you can hear in the video below, on of the littlest in our group thought it was “awesome”.

A few tips for snow tubing -

-Make sure you are dressed to be outside in the cold for about 2 hours and the for brief periods you will be going up to 25 miles an hour.

-If you do not have reservations (many of the sessions at some resorts sell out on weekends and holidays), get there a few minutes early to purchase the tickets and make the most of your time slot.

-Remember, like anything, it can be dangerous. Make sure the heaviest person is in the front when making a train, keep your feet from hitting the berms, and make sure you look before stepping into other lanes after your trip down.

Here are a few of the things I found on A Day’s Outing -

Candlelight Ski & Snowshoe Hike Winter, WI  February 5th, 2011

Turtle Fambeau Flowage Ice Fishing Jamboree Mercer, WI  February 26th, 2011

Ice Fishing Rumble Phillips, WI  March 5th, 2011

Cross Country Ski & Snowshoe at Bristol Mountain Nordic Center Canandaigua, NY

Utah Olympic Oval Ice Skating Salt Lake City, UT

Wenatchee River Road Snowshoe Trail Leavenworth, WA

It has been cold in Virginia. I won’t tell you how cold, because some of you might laugh and consider the temperature to have been down right balmy. However, cabin fever has been settling in and I had to get the kids out of the house. So we bundled up and went for a hike in the woods.  Of course, I was freezing, but the kids were fine. Walking along, I would say, “put your hat back on”, but as they ran along zigzagging back and forth in front of me they would call back, “we’re not cold”.  And, of course, they weren’t. They were getting five times the exercise I was, and their hearts were beating like hummingbirds’.

I admit that even though it was my idea to get outside for a hike on a cold day, I was the one letting the weather stop me from enjoying the walk. A good thing though, I realized part way through our walk that I needed to embrace the weather. When I did, I settled in, and I enjoyed the adventure and ignored the cold.

Now I know, anytime is a good time for a hike!

I fell in love with miniature rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago. I have seen miniature portraits before at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, S.C. but never an entire miniature room. You might think that a miniature room is simply a type of dollhouse, but they are so much more.

Miniature rooms are created on a scale of 1 inch in miniature to 1 foot in real life (or 1:12). Everything is precisely represented in this scale, from lighting fixtures to the minute decorations on dining room chairs. One of the most famous collections, created by Mrs. James Ward Thorne, is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. Mrs. Thorne began creating the rooms in the 1930’s using a collection of English and French miniature furniture pieces she had purchased during her travels abroad. Mrs. Thorne employed craftsmen during the depression to create and furnish more than 100 rooms. Many are exact replicas from houses in the United States and Europe. The rooms faithfully depict the architecture and interior design of their periods and countries, including rugs that she had specifically woven for each room.

English Reception Room of the Jacobean Period, 1625-1655

After you marvel at the craftsmanship in the Thorne Miniature Rooms gallery, there’s still so much more to see at the Art Institute of Chicago. There are famous French paintings, iconic American works, modern collections and Asian ceramics to enjoy. Whether you live nearby or are visiting Chicago for a few days, make sure you spend time at the Institute. You’ll be glad you did.

French Boudoir of the Louis XV Period, 1740- 1760

I grew up traveling down to Pawley’s Island, SC each year for a week with my family.  This wonderful destination is home to beautiful beaches, great surf fishing and the famous Hammock Shops.   As the name implies, this is where you can find the original Pawley’s Island Hammocks. Not only can you buy a hammock to bring home, but you can also watch craftsman weaving the hammocks in an open-air shop.

I am on my third Pawley’s Island hammock.   This last one is strung between two trees in a shady spot in my garden. It has happily been there for three straight years spending our snowy winters outside.   I had grown up with cotton hammocks, but my last purchase was one made from “duro-cord.” Duro-cord is some kind of blended fiber, and I find it to be softer than the polyester hammock they sell.  And, I know from past experience that the all cotton hammocks do not last very long when left outside in the rain and cold.  Since I like to plop down into our hammock at anytime of the year, I want one that can stay outside and handle the wear and tear from the elements.  Now I have a hammock that I can enjoy all year long, come rain, shine or even snow.

I know this may sound terrible, it’s actually really good and even my kids like it. I was looking for healthier recipes to start off the New Year and get some new things into what had become a very boring dinner rotation at my house.

You can use any marinade and veggies that you like. I’d love something with chilies and lime, but I was trying to make it agreeable to the whole family. You will need enough marinade to coat each of the pieces AFTER they are cooked and enough to add to the tofu and veggies.

Marinade-
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos Soy Sauce Substitute
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1/8 cup canola oil
2 garlic cloves minced
2 inch ginger piece, peeled and grated
3 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil

For the Tofu-
2 16 ounce bricks of extra-firm tofu
Cutting board and knife
Several Paper or dish towels
Non-stick or a very well-seasoned cast-iron pan
*I love my oversized Lodge cast iron pan
Marinade

Veggies-
Stir-Fry cut veggies (onions, carrots, celery, red peppers, shitake mushrooms, snow peas, bean sprouts, etc)

Dry-Fried Tofu Directions-
Tofu comes packed in water. Drain the tofu and cut it so that your pieces are a half an inch thick. Then cut those pieces into triangles.

Put the tofu pieces between several paper towels or woven dish towels and gently press enough to get a lot of water out, but not hard enough to squish it.

Using a non-stick or well-seasoned cast-iron pan at medium heat on an electric stove, low to medium-low on a gas range. Slow cooking is the key to keeping the tofu from sticking and insures that the water has time to evaporate out before the outside is browned. Do NOT use oil. You want to leech all of the moisture out of your tofu, so do not use oil–leave the pan dry. Leave the tofu down for enough time to brown, when you first place it in the pan, it will stick. As the water leeches out, the tofu will release from the pan. I have a really hard time letting it cook long enough.

Place your tofu in the pan leaving room around pieces. You will need to fry several batches to give them enough room. As the tofu cooks, use a spatula to frequently press down on each piece. You will see the water seeping out and sizzling in the pan. Once the bottom sides are very firm and golden in color, flip the tofu pieces and fry the other side, again frequently pressing each piece with a spatula. When they are golden and firm on both sides, they are done. The ones in my picture above are a little over done.

As they are done frying, coat them in the marinade. Begin cooking your veggies in a large wok, adding extra soy and toasted sesame oil as needed. When all of the tofu is fried, add it and the marinade to the veggies and serve over rice. I also added a few toasted sesame seeds for texture and taste.

You can find festivals that celebrate birds and local bird watching events happening year round. Even though it is cold outside right now, there are amazing new birds to be seen. After migrating in the fall, birds have arrived to their winter nesting grounds.

Many birds migrate long distances over entire continents and oceans each year. The typical image of migration is of northern birds, such as swallows and hummingbirds, making long flights to the tropics. Many geese and ducks also migrate long-distances, but they only move from their Arctic breeding grounds far enough south to escape the frozen waters.

Now is a great time to see birds in your region that only come once a year. You can also make it a bigger bird watching adventure and take a road trip to a warmer part of the country to see birds that you have never seen before. Here are a few bird watching events to enjoy:

14th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival Titusville, FL
January 26th - 31st, 2011

Bird Walking, Newport News, VA

Bird Walk on Pepper Creek Trail, Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, FL

Migrating Through The River Valley Bird Weekend, Dardanelle, AR
February 4th - 6th, 2011

Whitefish Point Bird Observatory, Paradise, MI
Year Round