Fellow Ohio birders, It was 29 years ago on Thanksgiving weekend that I made the big move from the city (Columbus) to the country (Perry County). I went from 1/4 acre to 60 acres, which is , of course, 240 times more land!! It was hard not to notice that there were a whole lot more birds out here in the woods on this old "farm". Next thing you know I had 160 "yard" birds. One of the traditions for at least 20 of those years has been to grab the binoculars, a hammer and some nails, and about a dozen NO HUNTING signs and walk the perimeter of the property with how ever many dogs I happened to have at the time. I always hope to find a turkey, and have a few times, but with nine dogs this year, that wasn't likely. I did get a good look at a Pileated woodpecker, Red tailed hawk, Great blue heron, lots of sparrows, jays and goldfinches. Even when birding is not the primary objective, it's still a part of every thing you do out here. As always, it was quite an enjoyable walk. It's a job I look forward to each year. Even with close to 300 signs up by now, I'm sure I'll look forward to it next year, as well. By the way, when we got back, we enjoyed another tradition, a turkey sandwich, with mashed potatos, gravy, etc. I noticed that 4 of the 7 things on the plate were from my own garden or the orchard. Life in the woods has been good. Happy Thanksgiving Joe in the woods Somerset, Ohio Perry County ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]