Solution

Well, I think this might work! Talk about a long journey to this birdbath heater. Yesterday I went to the local hardware store to find they didn't have any birdbath heaters, so I headed over to the Wild Bird Chalet and found that there are really no other ways to get a heater into your birdbath unless you have electricity running out the door. I went to the apartment manager and found that there are no outside electrical options on the front side of the apartment, only the back. 

Back to the hardware store to find a flat (relatively speaking) extension cord that we might be able to get under the door. Smart Guy was extremely reluctant to have all this dubious activity going on (like an extension cord going outside into the rain), so he helped me to find a solution in order to keep me from being electrocuted. This little 45-watt heater sits in the bottom of a shallow birdbath (I can't make it stay on the bottom without that rock on it) and it gently warms the water. I suspect that in extremely cold weather it won't work. Once we got it covered up with electrical tape and I promised to unplug it at night before I go to bed AND also check the tape holding it in place under the front door, we got this solution to water for the birds.

When I came home today from the gym, Smart Guy said he has seen the jays, lots of chickadees and juncos, and of course sparrows drinking from the birdbath. I am really overjoyed. As soon as I sat down to write this post, several birds came to drink and I was able to snap that picture above.

I have thought of several different things I'd like to write about, so I have begun another blog, which I'll tell you about as soon as I get something on there. It is not going to be limited in length (I strive for brevity on this blog), and hopefully I will explore some of the more emotional and controversial issues that I have decided not to post here, since it's not easy to put those ideas into a few paragraphs. This one, D-Jan-ity, I want to remain relevant to the followers I've accumulated and also bring "eye candy" to make it more interesting. I never thought I would be starting another one before a year had passed!

There is no way for me to be amusing like so many of the blogs I follow are, I try and it comes off flat. I can't be Robynn or Rae, I know; I've tried. This venue has opened up worlds I never knew existed, and for that I am grateful. Never did I think that here in retirement my circle of friends would grow so large, so relevant, so... virtual.

:-)