That detail about the steeper angle letting you feel the change in soil is the part I want to hear more about. When you say you can spot a pit house floor before you hit it now, is that coming through the trowel itself, like a change in resistance through your hand, or more from the sound and the color shift as you peel back the layer? I ask because I've had instructors say the trowel should almost talk to you, and I never knew if that was just a nice saying or a real skill you build up. Curious how long it took before that feel actually clicked for you.

Rinsed mine way less once I figured out the real problem was the seed getting wet and molding, not the poop. Swapped to a tube feeder that keeps the seed dry and now every 2 weeks works fine, the finches don't even flinch. Tucson heat dries everything out fast too so you get away with way more than folks back east.