HELOISE: Suet recipe will keep the birds flying high

Dear Heloise: I clipped your suet recipe a while back and finally got around to making it last month. The birds devour it. Thank you for the recipe. My birds thank you, too. Ken Erickson, via e-mail.

Dear Ken: Glad they enjoy it. Suet is beef or lamb fat, and it is commonly used as bird food. Get it from your butcher and cook it down. Add some cornmeal or peanut butter, roll pine cones in it and sprinkle with birdseed. Or, you can make a pine-cone bird feeder without the suet. Just roll a pine cone in peanut butter and then in birdseed. Hang from a tree with wire or floss, and watch finches, cardinals and bluebirds dive right in. This is a great project for kids. Heloise

Dear Readers: Judy Leftoff of Baton Rouge, La., sent in a photo of her adorable Yorkie, Bella, giving her best pose. To see Bella, visit www.Heloise.com. Heloise

Dear Readers: Is pet hair driving you crazy? Here are some quick hints from Heloise Central for removing it:

•lint roller

•slightly damp synthetic sponge

•waffle-type rubber shelving

•masking or duct tape

•rubber-soled shoe (clean)

•microfiber cloth

•rubber glove

One of these will help you remove pet hair quickly and completely from furniture or other surfaces. Heloise

Dear Heloise: I am a person who gardens for recreation and a creative outlet. Every year, I end up needing to replace plants because people allow their dogs to use my front yard for a toilet. These neighbors would never stomp around killing my garden, but they carelessly allow their pets to do so. Please ask pet owners to respect their neighbors’ gardens. Janet S., Battle Ground, Wash.

Dear Heloise: Help birds build a nest in the spring. Fill an empty water bottle with small pieces of yarn. When the bottle is full, cut a hole toward the bottom of the bottle and hang it in a tree in your yard. Cecile Mowrey, Somersworth, N.H.

Dear Heloise: Right after our dog was groomed, Breeze was running around and showing off. He ran under the trailer hitch on the motor home and got axle grease all over him. We tried everything to remove it, to no avail. In desperation, I grabbed a jar of udder cream. I slathered it all over, and it took the grease right off! Since the cream is a lanolin-based emollient, it made Breeze’s coat soft and shiny, too! Lesley, via e-mail

Dear Heloise: Someone recently wrote you with a hint for getting around the problem of cats unrolling the toilet paper. It’s easier to simply turn the roll around, so the paper unrolls from the back rather than the front. In my experience, cats paw the roll rather than grab the end of the paper. Positioning it backward foils them. Amy Hazelrigg, Roswell, N.M.

SBlt Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, or you can fax it to (210) HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate