People Were Curious About Fred's Feeding Habits

Disinclined to shimmy up tall trees to replenish his bird feeder, Fred devised an electric cable-and-pulley system to reel it in. Using a modified garage door opener, he controls the motion of the feeder, which travels 50 ft between his house and tree via a single loop of steel cable and series of pulleys driven by a motor and worm gear unit. The feeder hangs from both cables, with an idler pulley on the top cable and cable clamps on the lower cable to reduce stress and swinging motion. And Fred keeps his feet firmly on the ground.