There.

Bad photo, but it was dark. Anyway, this is a trash panda/warshing bear, escaping up the tree after having eaten an entire block of suet, and all he (or they) could reach from the log feeders.

Now, we’ll see how the fat bastards like mama’s special recipe for bird cookies. Lots of fatty goodness in the form of tallow, lard, peanut butter, and just a little bacon fat. Lots of seeds, peanuts, and a little dried fruit. Also about three tablespoons of ground cayenne pepper. Birds can’t taste it, and mixed into fat, the powder can’t sting their eyes, but animals with salivary glands can taste it, and I hope it burns. If this works–some say it does, and others say it doesn’t–I’ll buy cayenne by the pound.

EDIT: Ha! I found ghost pepper powder on Amazon. It’s expensive, but at nearly a million Scoville units, I shouldn’t need much.

ANOTHER EDIT: My big accomplishment today was to drag up another piece of the crabapple and make a couple of log feeders. My bit took a beating on the osage-orange, though…getting rather dull. Birds don’t mind; if it holds goor-met suet, they like it. I stuffed these with my special recipe suet; we’ll see how it goes. Otherwise, all I managed to do on an unseasonably warm (if windy) and mostly sunny day was to skim the pond and pick the leaves out of the bird pool. Well, that, and stuff my face with turkey and gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn. If I can waddle to the kitchen, I might have some pumpkin pie, and then a NAP!

P.S. It just occurred to me that the trash panda showed me something useful. If my feeder easily held that fat bastard, lying on top to feed his face, then at least I know it’s sturdy!