May Meanderings

May will soon be over, so I thought I better get my monthly photo tour posted. Brian took these while I was visiting Mom in Carberry, on the May long weekend.

I guess everyone is out of town enjoying the long weekend!

Some beautiful trees in bloom!

The rest of these photos were taken in the area northeast of Carberry.

Not too many of these around anymore!

He knows I love pictures of old buildings!

I like the way the rows show up in this one.

Found this red winged blackbird hiding in the grass.

Such a great old truck!

That's it for Brian's May meanderings.....we'll have another photo tour in June!

Home Made Bird Feeder

Looking for a simple project to do with the kids? We love watching birds, and ever since we moved here, I have planned to buy a bird feeder to put up in our yard, but somehow, just never got around to it. But this year, I came across a really simple way to make a homemade bird feeder from mesh bags.

I started saving the bags that our oranges and onions come in.

I found a few recipes that can be used to make suet to feed birds, but we ended up just using what we had on hand.



1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup fat
1 cup large flake oats
1 cup peanuts (crushed)

I would have added bird seed, but didn't manage to get any.

We combined everything in a small mixing bowl.

The mixture is pretty greasy, so Danica used small bags to shape it into balls. 

We set the balls in the freezer for a while to make them easier to work with, then put them inside the mesh bags.

We then tied the ends, and attached the suet balls to a hanger. We have a pole in our yard for hanging flower baskets. It  seemed like the best place to hang our new bird feeder. 

Danica put together a slide show of how to make these easy and inexpensive bird feeders.

Manitoba Birds

  I love bird watching, but when it comes to getting photos of them, I just don't have the required photography skills. One of the best things about Facebook, is seeing the photos that my friends post....and then asking them to share them! 

  This post is Part 1 of a three part series of photos by Brent Sharp. You'll find his bio at the bottom of the page.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

 Ruby Throated Hummingbird.

I think this is a female Ruby Throated Hummingbird.

Common Loon - Learn more

This one was hard, but I think it's a Purple Finch...

I know, it's red, but so are Purple finches!

Duck...hard to tell what kind!

Cedar Waxwing - love the color of these.

Bald Eagles - Learn more

American White Pelican

Blue Heron- Learn more.

Blue Heron

Great Horned Owl,  Grand Rapids, MB
Learn more about owls.

Blue Winged Teal

  I had a hard time naming some of these birds! I have one book that belonged to my dad, The Audubon Society Field Guide To North American Birds: Eastern Region by John Bull (1977-07-26), and another smaller guide-Saskatchewan and Manitoba Nature Guide.  I checked these, as well as online images, and found most of the birds, but some I couldn't be sure. If anyone notices a mistake, or can name the ones I missed, please let me know!

Brent Sharp lives in Winnipeg, with his wife, Gwen, and their son, Jacob. He's a carpenter by trade, but says he felt the need for a hobby that was not related to woodworking.  

In 1988, he got is first camera, an old 35 mm, from a pawn shop, by trading his time. He learned photography through reading and a lot of practice. Thirteen years ago, he got his first DSLR. By this time, he had come to realize that he could use photography to express himself. He took literally, the expression, "A picture paints a thousand words."

 Brent says he's always looking for an adventure, and something new to challenge himself with. He can never get enough of the outdoors....as we can see from his photography! His travels have taken him to Europe, Mexico, the US, and from coast to coast to coast. 

  Brent now works as a teacher, training other carpenters. He's kept his passion for woodworking, but photography is slowly taking over. He's always trying to create more behind the camera than behind the computer. His own studio is now on the horizon, and his goal is to share something new with people every week. You can follow him on Instagram- bgassociates


All photos in this post are the property of Brent Sharp, and cannot be used without his permission.