My poor, neglected garden and my poor, neglected birds got a little long-overdue attention today. I didn't feel much like watering, but I had more energy than I did yesterday, so I gave the plants a good soaking this afternoon. It's really a pleasant activity, when I can get myself out of my chair to do it.

Watering the garden also means cleaning and filling the birdbath, which stands exactly in the middle of everything and is impossible to ignore. Not impossible, I guess, because I walk out my front door every day and see it empty (when it is) and make no attempt to fill it. I don't know if that's considered "ignoring" it or just being "lazy." Can both be true? Thank you.

While I have the hose out, I water down the back porch as well. That's where the birds congregate, so that's where the most cleaning is needed. There's a nest in the window high above the porch, and I always find droppings on the camellia bush below. The porch boards have the most, though, and they're getting bigger and gloppier.

In retrospect, maybe being so indulgent with the towhees and giving them the run of the place has turned out to be a miscalculation. They're the ones leaving most of the birdy residue behind, I'm sure. All that filth doesn't seem to bother any of the other birds, as long as the feeder is full. When it's nearly empty, as it has been since late last week, they still come around, but they don't stay long.

In my own defense, I went to a play Friday night and a ballgame Saturday night. Yesterday, if you recall, I was playing the part of a useless lump (and well-received in the role, at that). And it does no good to water during these hot summer (summer!) days, because everything is dry before I can get the hose rolled back up. So I wait until near dusk, and then if no one talks me out of it, I do as much as I can.

The birds must have been lying in wait, because they set a new record for returning to the feeder. I'd barely got back from washing my hands (yech!), and when I looked out the sliding glass door, there they were, the finches and sparrows, chittering over the food and chasing each other around the porch. That's all the thanks I need.

I really should get another feeder, but I'm not sure what would happen. Either I'd have to fill two feeders half as often as one, or I'd end up attracting twice as many birds and would have to buy twice as much wild bird food. Maybe I should try it with three feeders and see what happens.