New Shop, New Name

Here's a photo of the beginning of my office/shed. Things are coming together. I whitewashed the shed yesterday and painted the cedar trim. The old Habitat ReStore windows on the shed look great. I love them. Brian put the "shakes" on the roof. The shed looks awesome....what fun, what character! I'll take a photo of the windows so you can see them.

I'm off to pick up pickets and inside shed framing for the windows and door. Also need to figure out what color to paint the inside as well. Lots of details and lots of worry as the money just flies out the wallet. But then amidst all this stress and turmoil, I come back home and see the birds. It stops my mind and my body. I relax, smile, and remember why I'm doing this in the first place. Those beautiful beings calm me and remind me to slow down and enjoy my life. I want to help bring that to others and be able to share the experience with my customers and fellow birdwatchers.

And in the middle of all this process, I get a Certified Letter telling me that my business name is infringing on an already trademarked name. My heart sinks. The company with the Feathered Friend trademark is a Fortune 200 business. And because I had previously toyed with the idea of doing a name change for the business anyway, I decide this was the little push to go ahead and do it. The timing might be good and especially with the store being new, it is probably a good time to do it, anyway. So good-bye Feathered Friends Bird Feeding Service, LLC. Hello, Go Wild With Birds. A new shop, a new name, a new adventure.

Habitat ReStore Treasures

I love the Habitat for Humanity ReStore! My decorator Julie and I have decided on going with a "Potting Shed Shabby Chic" theme for the bird feeding store. And it is just too much fun! I told her today after our second trip to the store for more stuff and ideas, that it was like "hunting through a grandpa's shed" experience. You never know what cool old stuff you'll come upon and what you can use it for as character decorating. Our imagination was out of control. Hopefully, it will all go together and be spectacular, but if some of it doesn't work.....oh well, that's okay, it wasn't very expensive to try, and it sure was fun.

Here is a picture of some of the stuff we found on the first trip. Old wooden trim windows and screens. A round metal and stainless steel topped rolling table, some metal screen fencing. The cart is not part of the purchases. It just wanted it's picture taken, I guess.

We had a meeting at the shop this morning to discuss the layout plan. I'll need Brian, the carpenter-husband-of-Sandi-who-I-lease-from, to build me an office structure for my bookeeping and supply ordering work, and then we need a checkout table and some task work areas. I also need an area to dispense bulk seed from for customers, so we went back and forth about two different areas for that. Overall it caused me to become excited about it all over again. Julie, too, oozed with excitement.

I shared with Julie that yesterday I had met with my marketing team who is working on designing me some tags for my custom bird feed. The tag colors Nina had chosen correllated very closely to colors Julie had picked out for the store. It was almost spooky scary how these kinds of things are happening throughout this new adventure. Because not only were the colors similar, but there were exactly the same NUMBER of colors chosen in these two separate areas of the project. Julie and "marketing team, Janice" both said out loud what I was thinking, that "you just know something is right when things like that happen". I told Julie that I feel like I'm in a dream and all of these things are all falling into place effortlessly, like it's happening TO ME, instead of me making it happen. Hmmm.....but then again, I am living my dream.

Watch the Transformation

Hi All. I know, it's been quite a while since I posted anything. Let me tell you what's going on with me and my business.

Once upon a time a bird feeding business woman (that's me) decided to peddle her wares to a Downtown Menasha store in hopes they would be willing to purchase for sale her darling items. During the visit to the store's manager, he tells the friendly bird lady that if her wares don't fare well in favor with the upper management of his establishmentl, that he knows of another business woman who will be leasing a different space just down the block that might very well wish to talk to me about sub-leasing space to display my bird feeding merchandise.

The nice "bird wares lady" thanks the kind gentleman for his time, and referral tip, and heads across town to see the other business lady this fine man talked to her about. The business lady, who has a shop called "Nest" is very intrigued by the bird lady's particular wares she is showing her. Upon further discussion it is mentioned that the business lady has already offered the space to another acquaintance who has a dream of opening a bird feeding store and is thinking about the very space she has available to sub-lease. This particular bird lady, me, almost faints with fear that someone else just may open a bird feeding store right beneath her beak! Her heart (and stomach) continues to flutter until a day later she hears that the acquaintance is not in any current position to realistically open a shop at this time and so the space is mine to sub-lease if I would like it!

This was just the type of scenario I had thought could happen to me, that is, someone would open a bird feeding store right in my hometown area, and I would be sick with regret. So back in December, when I thought of that possibility, is when I determined that I would need to go into retail with my existing bird feeding service business sometime in the near future.

So it was during the time of me looking into commercial real estate and rentals that I thought I'd just see if this particular store, the original one I went to first, would be interested in selling my feed and cute container. The night before I walked into that store, I had torn out a newspaper ad announcing the moving of another store, and I tore the ad out because I thought if the first shop wasn't interested I would go to the one advertising it's move. It seemed like the kind of shop that my product may complement.

I had that advertisement in my car when I talked to the nice gentleman at the first store. As it turns out the woman he was referring me to is the very one who owns the store that had the advertisement about moving right down the street from him. Coincidence or Fate? You be the judge. I know what I believe.

So here, dear readers, is a photo of my new retail space in Downtown Menasha, Wisconsin. I offer you the opportunity to watch the transformation occur. I will post some ongoing photos so you can see the progress. I hope you enjoy the ride vicariously, as I enjoy the switch myself from home business to onsite retail.

Wish me well. I welcome your support.

Redpoll Vacuums

Feeder discussion will just have to wait due to the arrival of these darling new yard vacuums!! The Redpolls arrival are just too fascinating to not share with you. Their chestnut colored caps are adorable. I'm in the process of learning to identify the two varieties - Common and Hoary.


I'm debating whether the close up is a Hoary Redpoll. I think it has too much striping on the breast area however, even though it is more white than the others. I have invited some of the Wisbird Network readers to aid in my education and give me comments on the identification.

And just above the Redpoll, is that a Pine Siskin? I'm going to go back to my trusty guide and learn about the markings of that bird now, too. Bird watching can be so much fun!

Redpoll Rejuvenation

Good Day All. Was chastising myself for getting in a blog fog and not posting lately. I knew that I had promised to post some discussion on pros and cons of various wild bird feeders but couldn't kick myself hard enough to get going with it. Then something softer gets my attention.

Do you see them? Do you see those beautiful brown caps? Yes, Redpolls! Now I'm not the best at identifying juveniles and females of the bird species, but boy I sure can zone in on the men. So, if the birds along side the brown capped gentlemen are not female or juvenile Redpolls, would some of you please comment and let me know? Now, I was struggling with ID'ing some other birds that at the same time had been descending on the finch feeders with abandon. Those may have been pine siskins, and I'm hearing about those on the Wisconsin Bird Network, as well, these days. So I had gotten my trusty bird guide out and was studying that when these cute guys showed up. Now if that doesn't put a fire in a blog poster's posterior, at least this one's, I don't know what else will. So here you have it.....a blog post at last. Pushed by feathers.

I wish you plenty of surprise visitors in your yard to help your winter case of the drearies disappear! Ok, now time to bundle up and fill up...the feeders.

Sorry For Lapse in Postings

Hi Friends. I must apologize for no recent postings. Upon my return from vacation I jumped right back into work with both feet! I've been working diligently on shopping for some attractive packaging for my bird feed mixes that I hope to peddle to some local stores. I've gone back and forth about using and not wanting to use plastic bags. I am committed to finding recyclable and reuseable packaging for a product that feeds wild birds. I think I've come up with some good options for my finished product.

So anyway, I'm back to share more thoughts and ideas with you, my patient pals.

I hope, in the next few postings, to start a discussion on bird feeders. I plan to take pictures of some of the feeders I've used and am using, with the pros and cons I have personally found in using them. Today I went out to my snow filled backyard to refill my feeders. I don't get to them as often as I compulsively did in years past, now that I actually have my own business and work long hours from home.

I fill my feeders with my own tested and loved mix, but I recently filled my under deck space and ground feeder with plain sunflower. Today when filling my feeders, I was thankful that I did start that practice because even though the feeders I usually put my beloved mix in were empty, the under deck and ground feeder still had black oil sunflower in that the birds were using as a "last resort". So, they are still getting fed, just not the caviar they seem to prefer.

So let me leave you with that idea today. That is, allow yourself to experiment and try different feeds or seeds in different feeders. Those of you that are also compulsive and collect feeders like I have, will have plenty of options to experiment with. And if you do experiment, please feel free to leave your findings or thoughts here and we can discuss them.

So until my next posting, I hope some wild birds find a well filled feeder out your window!

Bye, Bye, 'Bama

The time has come for me to pack and prepare to leave this lovely scene behind. Tomorrow I will be back on the road again toward snow, ice, and cold temperatures. It has been a very relaxing and enjoyable time away from the normal routine and work tasks. Now, back to familiar. I do long to be back to familiar. This isn't home. It was a vacation. I have a longing to get back to what I'm familiar with....own bed, own space, own surroundings like rooms and furniture as well as stores, streets, and buildings.

It has to be good to get away and see new sights, though. It is refreshing to see new things and people. Yes, the people. I am definitely a people watcher, but one thing I discovered on this trip is that I am intrigued with people who live elsewhere. Do they like similar things as I? When I read local menus I can see they may offer some regional favorites that are foreign to me. Grits...I tried them at breakfast one morning. To me they were like Malt-O-Meal....a kind of oatmeal type dish. But I supposed people grow up with these regional favorites and it's like home and family. They have a certain meaning and comfort, I suppose.

I also learned about my own family. Where I come from. I had the pleasure of sharing this trip not only with my mother, but with two of her sisters. I haven't seen them very often for the past 30 years. This trip was a rare opportunity to spend time with them and see their unique personalities and understand that my own mother shares a life and history with them.

And I learned about myself. Will I be like them when I get older? What will I do for a vacation when I am retired? Is my body destined to look like their's? Can I fight it, or do genes have too much control?

Have any of you entertained any of these thoughts? What have you learned on your vacations or with your extended family? I would love to hear it.