It certainly took no time at all for the resident cardinals and chickadees to re-discover the sudden appearance of their winter-time birdfeed source again. Scarcely was it set up than did they arrive, to our surprise. Although we hear migrant birds like redpolls and others in the backyard sourcing food there, they have not yet appeared at the feeder. It's those who overwinter who recall the presence of the feeder that sustained them over last winter, and tend to look out for its reappearance, obviously.

And, although the feeder is now on a quite high perch, the challenge has proven not too much for the resident squirrels to overcome. At least, the more acrobatic and determined among them. One little black squirrel simply shimmied up the pole, no problem, although he slid back from time to time. Another one managed the pole but couldn't figure out how he would sling himself over to the feeding platform. And a grey squirrel was simply content to take advantage of the seed that had spilled below.

My husband went off to Ritchie Feed & Seed to acquire one of those cones to prevent the little rascals from continuing to deplete the feeder. And to Canadian Tire to pick up enough building material to construct a feeding platform for the squirrels rather than use the casual one he had put together last winter. It will come complete with a roof, shingled no less, and open sides for ease of entry. We hope to see rabbits and raccoons taking their turn at it this winter as they had last winter.

We're well on our way to preparing the gardens for winter. No longer placing protective coverings on anything usually considered on the edge of coping with Canadian freeze-ups. Those that manage to make it through the winter will, they've been hardened off sufficiently through years of acclimatization, we feel, not to require special treatment any longer; the azaleas, rhododendrons, roses, Japanese maples, tree peonies and Magnolias have done very well for themselves the past few winters, including last winter which was unusually bitter.

But cutting back, tidying up, cleaning away detritus and generally emptying all the garden pots and urns of their tender annual stock must be done before freeze-up. Yesterday morning we awoke to ice rime covering the roofs from an overnight temperature dip into freezing territory. Not so today; it rained last night, and this morning the sun is out, and we're preparing to enjoy a day whose temperature is set to soar into the 20s.