For those who claim global warming is just dreamed up by junk scientist, here's a report from 40 years of bird watchers which say things are changing. Whether "man" is causing the warming isn't really the main issue. We are warming. Maybe, if we liked the weather we had we should do what we can to keep things like they were? Warming Climate Pushing Birds Northward Tuesday , February 10, 2009 WASHINGTON �" When it comes to global warming, the canary in the coal mine isn't a canary at all. It's a purple finch. As the temperature across the U.S. has gotten warmer, the purple finch has been spending its winters more than 400 miles farther north than it used to. And it's not alone. An Audubon Society study to be released Tuesday found that more than half of 305 birds species in North America, a hodgepodge that includes robins, gulls, chickadees and owls, are spending the winter about 35 miles farther north than they did 40 years ago. ⢠Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Natural Science Center. The purple finch was the biggest northward mover. Its wintering grounds are now more along the latitude of Milwaukee, Wis., instead of Springfield, Mo. Bird ranges can expand and shift for many reasons, among them urban sprawl, deforestation and the supplemental diet provided by backyard feeders. But researchers say the only explanation for why so many birds over such a broad area are wintering in more northern locales is global warming. Over the 40 years covered by the study, the average January temperature in the United States climbed by 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That warming was most pronounced in northern states, which have already recorded an influx of more southern species and could see some northern species retreat into Canada as ranges shift. "This is as close as science at this scale gets to proof," said Greg Butcher, the lead scientist on the study and the director of bird conservation at the Audubon Society. "It is not what each of these individual birds did. It is the wide diversity of birds that suggests it has something to do with temperature, rather than ecology." The study provides compelling evidence for what many birders across the country have long recognized �" that many birds are responding to climate change by shifting farther north. Previous studies of breeding birds in Great Britain and the eastern U.S. have detected similar trends. But the Audubon study covers a broader area and includes many more species. The study of migration habits from 1966 through 2005 found about one-fourth of the species have moved farther south. But the number moving northward �" 177 species �" is twice that. The study "shows a very, very large fraction of the wintering birds are shifting" northward, said Terry Root, a biologist at Stanford University. "We don't know for a fact that it is warming. But when one keeps finding the same thing over and over ... we know it is not just a figment of our imagination." The research is based on data collected during the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count in early winter. At that time of year, temperature is the primary driver for where birds go and whether they live or die. To survive the cold, birds need to eat enough during the day to have the energy needed to shiver throughout the night. Milder winters mean the birds don't need to expend as much energy shivering, and can get by eating less food in the day. General biology aside, the research can't explain why particular species are moving. That's because changes in temperature affect different birds in different ways. Some birds will expand their range farther north. For example, the Carolina wren �" the state bird of South Carolina �" has turned into a Yankee, based on Audubon's calculations. It is now commonly seen in the winter well into New England, as well as its namesake state of South Carolina. "Twenty years ago, I remember people driving hours to see the one Carolina wren in the state," said Jeff Wells, an ornithologist based in southern Maine. "Now, every year I get two or three just in my area," he said. "Obviously, things have changed." Other species, such as the purple finch and boreal chickadee, spend their summers in the forests of Canada and fly south into the U.S. for the winter. Climate change could be playing a role in why they are not flying as far south as they used to, and are no longer as common as they were in states like Maine, Vermont and Wisconsin. For other species, global warming may not be a major factor in the movements measured by Audubon at all. The wild turkey was second only to the purple finch in miles moved north �" about 400. But it's likely due to efforts by hunters and state wildlife managers to boost its population. In other cases, the range shifts are prompting calls to cull some bird populations. The sandhill crane, a large gray bird that migrates to the southern U.S. for the winter, has a range that expanded about 40 miles north in the last 40 years. This small movement has likely contributed to the bird's population explosion in Tennessee. The sandhill population has grown to a point that state wildlife officials are considering allowing the bird to be hunted. "You are seeing it all across the state," said Richard Connors, president of the Tennessee Ornithological Society. "As it increases, there is going to be pressure to hunt it. The bird watchers of Tennessee don't want that."

There are so many things you could do that it really depends on what the area around the shed looks like to decide what would look best. If you have any willow trees in the area you could weave some of those willow fences to enclose the area. Depending on what the shed looks like you could find some old rustic farm and/or barn doors and mount them around the base of the shed. You could make or find some punched tin panels to fill in any gaps around the doors. Or even better find some old windows with wooden frames and put them above some old, wooden doors with peeling paint on the 10 foot high side. That way you'd be able to conceal the stuff you're storing but still let in enough light so that you can see what's in there.

HOW EXCITING! You get to go on a new adventure that you hadn't planned for. I offer you this idea: Lighted Pedestal with a shelf on top You could cut the shutters in half. Paint with a good quality base coat and paint. Have fun with colors or paint it just one color.(For instance, Paint each of the four sides a different color or alternate colors between the sides.) And remember, if one idea doesn't make it pop. Then paint over that! Thomas Edison made over 1,000 light bulbs that didn't work. He said he'd just found 1,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb. Screwing the four pieces into a square base is probably the easiest way for this type of project. And it's probably a good idea to predrill your holes, as most shutters are made of soft woods and split easily. This will create a more finished look for you. Make the top with another piece of wood or GLASS. OR find a neat finial or something quirky (gargoyles, garden elf, or such) to be your top piece. This can be an outdoor or indoor pedestal. WOW, this can even look good enough to greet guests at your door. BE SURE attach the top piece securely. Perhaps you can have a piece of glass, acrylic, plexiglass cut to fit inside the "framework" of the top of the pedestal. Perhaps Gorilla Glue or some other strong adhesive. AND this is the part that will make your husband think that YOU are "the best thing since sliced bread": Put a small lamp or light base of some sort inside the shutter pedestal. Or use the ubiquitous always available and inexpensive string of "Christmas Tree/Fairy Lights". To do some type of lightiing wire "containment", you can use cup hooks (rubber coated, if available. Otherwise, any will do.) inside the pedestal to guide and support the wire(s). You would have access to the light by lifting the pedestal up. Then the lights stay in place because you've supported them. VIOLA! LOOK, it's a lighted display pedestal! The light could ease through the slats. This would make it a fun night light or some possibilty like that. Put a plant or art piece or colored paper on top the glass for some fun shadow effects! Have fun. Bliss and Blessings to you, Tiggernickel P.S. If you do use fairy lights, you could use all clear or various colors to invigorate or relax you. Or any color of light bulb for a more standard base. HAVE FUN with it, whatever you do. I KNOW YOU WILL COME UP WITH SOMETHING so that you and your husband can have a good time with the curve ball you were tossed! And fun memories to go with it. "My wife made the coooooolest thing out of these funky shutters. Wow, who'd have thought those shutters would ever look this great?!?"

"Myself and a friend have tried the three sister method many times in various configurations with mostly poor results (right here at first Pilgrim-contact land). We often wonder if the colonists who wrote about this method were not seeing it accurately. For example, important details may be missing from the anecdotes. If you want to do this, you have to use the original varieties and the original spacing. Modern varieties are too heavy-bearing and too vigorous. Your squash smothers the corn, the corn is so high it falls over, and the beans cover the field with a mini-jungle. Spacing was wide ... a few stalks in a cluster, then several feet for the squash and beans before the next cluster of stalks. ==== The modern Mexican ejido variant on this is to grow strips of corn, strips of beans (rotating positions yearly) with squash along the edges and fences. ==== Traditional Hopi corn field ... notice the height of the plants and the spacing. You get one ear per stalk, maybe two. Yield per acre is very small, but they were subsistence farmers.