I still have it!

I spoke rashly the other day when I made the statement, "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my enthusiasm the most."  
How easily some things are overlooked!  

2nd iris of the year, a red one.

Every morning when I go out at the crack of dawn to check on the blooming and growing things, I find my enthusiasm.  How exciting it is to see a huge bloom on an iris that has never bloomed here before!  Or to walk beside the garden and realize the potatoes need to be hilled and know we'll be having peas and new potatoes in no time.  
The hummingbirds are back full force now, fighting amongst one another like so many wayward siblings.  I can't look at them without smiling.  
A loudmouth male oriole has been hitting the hummingbird buffet several times a day, and yesterday I noticed he had a girl friend who was enjoying the grape jelly I put out for them.  One thing about that male oriole:  He can't seem to keep his mouth shut when he's enjoying his grub, and I can hear him squawking no matter what room I'm in, with the windows open.  Folks, this is exciting stuff!  The trouble is, orioles are very skittish, so I can't make any sudden moves or noise inside the house or they fly away.  You should see me, turning off lights and sneaking like an idiot to the window to watch them.  
And then there's Jody, my calf.  She's eating grain and chewing her cud and grazing, apparently past the danger of scours now.  I won't worry about her while I'm in the hospital next week; I think she's outgrown the need for an hourly poop inspector.  All I have to do is have someone feed her while I'm gone.  
Yesterday I noticed that the same people from whom I purchased Jody have eight more heifers for sale; their Craigslist ad gave me information about my calf that I didn't have before:  
Jersey/holstein cross heifer bottle calves. Last 8 heifer calves of the season available Monday afternoon. Straight from a grass based dairy where the cows are producing 10,000 lbs milk with 5% fat test on just 1 lb of grain per day. If you are looking for a nice heifer to raise as a family cow, now is the time to buy!

*Most of the bull calves are spoken for, but if you want one to raise along with a heifer we can sell you one for $120.
Heifers are $275 and bulls are $120 each. Cash only, Please. 

Now I know more about Jody's past, and my enthusiasm once again rises to the surface.  

I read the ad to Cliff, and he sounded enthusiastic too.  "But I hate to get another one without you being here to take care of it and watch it next week," he said.  

I told him I don't want another calf right now.  For one thing, we'd have to make another pen; if you put two bottle calves in a pen together they suck on any bodily part of one another they can get to, usually the naval area or the little immature udders (which can ruin a milk cow's udder in the future).  But here's the thing:  one calf is a pet.  I can spoil her and halter-train her and thoroughly enjoy her.  More than one calf starts turning into a job.  

Jody is already part of the herd; ever since I got her, Bonnie and Clyde make it their business to come right up close to her pen to lay down and chew their cuds; cows are not loners, and they have already accepted Jody as one of them.  

So yes, I do have enthusiasm.  I just take it for granted and forget I have it sometimes.  I may be soured on the human race, but God's handiwork never leaves me bored.
  

So brief

When I headed out to milk the cow, I noticed clouds in the east, so I put down my bucket, went inside, got my camera, and slipped it in my pocket.  I've learned that early-morning clouds in the east can mean a beautiful sunrise will soon appear.  

When I came out of the barn with frothy, warm milk in my bucket, I was rewarded with this sight, and I took a picture.  
I spent about five minutes straining the milk and putting it away.  When I stepped back outside, this moment of glory was gone.  I've learned over the years that if you want a picture of a pretty sunrise or sunset, you'd better be quick.  The beauty lasts but a short time.   
When you think about it, each of life's golden moments is like a pretty sunrise; you'd better savor the good times while you have them.  There will be others, but none will be exactly like this one.


Speaking of brief, the hummingbird season is about over, too.  Two weeks ago I couldn't keep the feeders full of nectar.  Now I only fill them halfway, and I still end up pouring some out.  I've learned if I don't keep the nectar fresh, they stop drinking it.  
Some people take the feeders down "so the hummingbirds will fly south".  Others, as mentioned on a hummingbird education website, go to the opposite extreme:   "Q: Will I keep the hummingbirds here if I feed them into the fall? A:  It is not necessary to take down feeders to force the birds to fly south. They will migrate. If hummingbirds are sticking around, it could be because they are sick or injured. Some experts recommend leaving the feeder up with a spot light (150 watt bulb) on the feeder to keep the nectar from freezing). Amazingly enough some hummingbirds are still able to find insect larvae in the bark of trees. It is not necessary to ‘fly’ the birds south. Nature is nature and is never a guarantee that all birds will survive."  
Personally, I take my feeders down when they haven't seen any action for a few days.  It makes me sad to see the tiny birds leave, but next spring I will be so excited to see the first arrivals; so in a way, their absence is worth it.  Perhaps if I had to feed them year around it would start to seem like drudgery.  Just one more reminder to enjoy a good thing while I have the opportunity.
"To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven."  

Enjoy my hummingbirds

I took this video just a few minutes ago.  Don't mind the audio, I was watching CSI: New York.

It must be a plot

When we moved back here behind the barn three years ago, I started putting hummingbird feeders out for the first time in my life.  It didn't take long for the little cuties to find me, and I was ecstatic:  it was free entertainment, right on my front porch.  

They got used to my presence and allowed me to take videos and still shots of their antics.  All it cost me was a little sugar; I actually threw more sugar-water away, keeping it fresh for them, than they consumed.  (The feeder in this picture, by the way, is the one I misplaced and can't find.)    


When the hummingbirds left for the winter, I missed them; so I decided to see if I could attract other birds to my yard with a feeder.  Soon house finches and goldfinches showed up, and life was good.  Except, of course, for the cost of the seeds they consumed.  But it was worth it.  


Last year I saw one Baltimore Oriole at a hummingbird feeder.  Only one, and just that one time.  But oh, how I longed to attract more of those beautiful orange-breasted birds!  On a visit to the Wild Bird Center, I struck up a conversation with a lady who said she and her husband had a pair of them that returned every year.  "They love grape jelly," she said.  "And oranges."  


So I bought an oriole feeder, loaded it with the goodies they are supposed to like, and waited.   


It was never touched, and I gave up on the orioles.  I stored the feeder away in the garage.  


Just a few days ago, I began seeing orioles at the hummingbird feeder.  Not once, but several times.  Cliff would be sitting in his recliner and he'd see their bright orange little bodies flitting back and forth from one young tree to another.  I dug the oriole feeder out of storage and put grape jelly on it, four teaspoons.  In an hour, it was all gone, and I decided they would only get grape jelly once a day.  Because otherwise this project could run into some money.


"Maybe they'd like a little toast with their jelly," Cliff said sarcastically.  


I didn't worry about putting home-made nectar in the oriole feeder, because they seemed to prefer getting that out of the hummingbird feeders... which I had to secure a little better on their hangers because the big orioles kept knocking them down.  


I told my sister-in-law next door that I wasn't going to buy oranges for them because they're so expensive.  "Oh," she said, "you just put a slice out and it lasts a long time; they don't eat much."  


I bought a single orange, which cost me fifty cents; the first slice I placed there lasted about thirty minutes.  So, they don't eat much, eh?  I think they're going to have to make do with the jelly.  

The trouble with orioles is that they're very skittish and shy, so I can't get a decent picture of them.  My daughter got this shot when she was here Saturday.


So these days I find myself grocery-shopping for all kinds of birds.  I think they've been spreading the word that they've found a sucker.  I keep the contents of the hummingbird feeders fresh and wash them thoroughly every three days.  I don't throw out as much nectar as I used to, because it's getting mostly consumed by the hoards of birds descending on the place.  In fact, it's hard to keep ahead of them.  I don't cook my nectar; I simply stir it until it's dissolved and store it in the refrigerator, ready to refill the feeders.  I'm a nursemaid for a bunch of birds.  
They've definitely found a sucker.    

I guess hummingbirds remember

Yes, hummingbirds remember, even though I, a simple human, do NOT remember where I put my biggest and best hummingbird feeder when I was done with it last year.  
Last weekend when Joanna and Boo and I were visiting in my living room, we witnessed one of my early hummingbird arrivals.  
Ever since last week when I saw my first hummer, I have been looking in vain for two of my feeders.  My MAIN feeders.  Good grief, where would I have put them, and why didn't I put them in the garage with the other two?  
Anyway.  Today I glanced out toward the front porch and saw a hummingbird circling the spot where I had my best feeder last year.  There was no feeder there, but he was circling as though he was looking for it.
He surely must be a return visitor; otherwise, why would he even be looking for nectar in that spot?  
Amazing!  
I hunted up a substitute feeder to hang in that spot, and he and his buddies are already fighting over it.

Hummingbird videos

On this first one, pause the video at the 22-second mark and you will see that the little guy on the right has a broken top beak. It doesn't seem to have hurt him; he's willing to fight with the toughest. You can enlarge the video by clicking on the square to the right of the sound thingie.



The other one is just a typical example of hummingbird wars. I really do get as close as it looks on these, because the feeder is attached to the outside of my computer room window. I can actually get as close as one foot away from them. Sorry I originally posted the above video twice; I've changed it now to the hummingbird wars.

In answer to a couple of hummingbird questions

Now remember, I'm no expert; I never knew a single thing about hummingbirds until last summer when we moved back here, and then I searched the Internet for answers to my questions. The most thorough website I found was hummingbirds.net, which debunks a lot of myths about the little creatures (some people think they migrate on the backs of geese... wrong). Just google "hummingbirds" and you'll find out anything you want to know.

One person asked how I clean the feeders. I usually soak them in a bleach solution and rinse well, but I have also put them in my dishwasher. Although I've read that they don't like the scent of commercial dish soaps, I've had no problem at all.

Someone else asked what I feed the hummingbirds. You can pay a lot of money for red-colored hummingbird nectar in the stores, but I use the recipe I've found on the Internet, which is one part sugar to four parts water. I do not heat it; I just stir it every once in awhile until the sugar is dissolved; why get another pan dirty, and have to wait for the mix to cool? And the red food coloring that's added to the commercial mixtures is not necessary, since the little plastic "flowers" on the feeders are all the red that is needed to attract the birds.

There are many varieties of hummingbirds, but from what I've read, the only one we see around these parts is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. Last year I thought surely I had another species, since most of mine had no red on their throats. Now I know that the females and younger males don't have red throats.

Hummingbirds

This morning I made a series of quick clips that I put together for this one-minute video. It's for you folks in the city who wait in vain for the hummingbirds to appear and they just don't show. Probably because they like it in the country a lot better. Anyhow, I did get a couple of brief shots of them chasing one another away.

Hummingbirds everywhere

The hummingbirds seem to be back in full force; if I want to see one visit my feeder, I need only wait for a minute or two before I'm rewarded. I also notice they are gradually accepting my presence; those who first returned were quite wary of me. I made this very short video of one busy little fellow. Forgive my lack of focus in spots; I was trying not to move too rapidly.

I have hummingbirds!

That's all. I just wanted everybody to know my hummingbirds have returned.

Waiting for hummingbirds, and a question

As you can see on the right above that fluttering little creature, hummingbirds aren't due for another couple of weeks. I see online that the time to hang out the feeders is April 25.

However, I've read in various places that they sometimes show up a little early, so I decided to hang a feeder out, just in case.

See that tree in the background? I always just called it a bean tree, until I became acquainted with the hummingbirds; now I call it a hummingbird tree, because that seems to be where all my little hummers lived. That's where they'd go after filling their bellies at the feeder.

Now I'm calling on my readers to help, because I haven't gotten anywhere with Google on this. Do you have any idea what the real name of this tree is? It can't be a Catawba/Catalpa tree, because their pods are long and slender. I'm sure nobody planted it; it's on the fence line that used to mark the north side of our original property, before we bought more land. So it's some wild species. I've watched it growing since 1975, when we first moved here; at that time it wasn't very big. For a while, I used that metal building for a chicken house, and the tree provided a spot of shade for my hens.

Unfortunately, possums considered the hen house to be an all-night buffet, and after the deaths of eleven hens and twelve possums, I relocated my poultry to a spot closer to my house.

But I digress.

The tree has these big, fat pods (hence "bean tree").

And inside the pods are brown/black seeds that, when dry, look like buckeyes to some folks. Buckeyes, however, don't have that kind of pod.

Anybody know?

After posting this I once again started googling and found information on the Kentucky Coffee Bean tree. That could be it!

My friends, the hummingbirds

I've never really paid attention to hummingbirds until we moved out here in the peaceful, quiet pasture. Now that I can't see my neighbors so well, I needed something to watch. I bought a ten-dollar hummingbird feeder and found that if you hang it, they will come.

The feeder in these pictures is not a ten-dollar feeder. It's a tiny plastic one that cost 75 cents at Walmart. But for some reason, the birds seem to prefer it. So it keeps me busy filling it, because it holds less than 1/2 cup.

I didn't use zoom on these shots, and I didn't crop to make the hummingbird look closer than he was. I really was that close. They've gotten used to me, and if I'm very still, they don't mind my watching them. I was about five feet from this little guy, snapping away.

Oh, he'd see me and dart away, but then he'd return.

And finally I was able to get a picture of him with his beak in the sugar-water.

Now that I have quite a crowd of the little suckers, I'm learning that they aren't all that nice to one another. They fight over the feeders more than they drink from them! Hopefully one day I'll have the patience to stand there and get pictures of them fighting.

Things are shaping up around here.

Although August isn't the time for planting bushes, I decided to risk it by putting a little lilac bush next to the front porch.

Cliff has skirted the trailer now. It's looking SO much better.

I sure do enjoy our new front porch.

Cliff has the tiller nearby, working up the dirt next to our home.

This is how I wake up each morning, watching the hummingbirds feed as the sun rises. (Click on the picture to get a better look at the hummingbird.) That wind chime on the right is a souvenir of Colorado; it has Kokopeli on it. Loud clanging wind chimes annoy me, but mine is made of pewter and has a quite delicate sound.

This coming Friday the carpenter plans to start digging for our back porch and deck. I'm so excited!

Well, it's hot

My sister-in-law introduced us to "beer-butt chicken" yesterday. It's so named because you stick an open can of beer up the chicken's butt and then grill it. If the picture looks a bit cloudy, it's because I brought the camera out of my cool, cool house out into the hot, wet outdoors, causing it to steam over.

I haven't had much to say lately, I know. Not that I ever did have much to say; but that didn't stop me from saying it anyway. I've been enjoying all the comforts of my "new" home.

I lived over sixty-three years without air conditioning. For sixty of those years, I pooh-poohed the idea of having A/C. After all, my grandma got by just fine, canning and cooking and quilting through the hot Missouri summers. What a bunch of pansies people have become, I'd tell folks, with a sneer on my face.

Now I have a cool place, and I'm converted. With high temps nearing 100 and humidity so bad it feels like you'd do well to develop fins, I thank God every time I step into my cool, comfy house.

I now have a front porch, and I usually drink my first cup of morning coffee there, watching hummingbirds drink sugar-water from the feeder.


Sadie has been enjoying the porch with me; sometimes she lies down in front of the deck box, like below. Other times she'll set up camp on the bottom step.


I know it's hard to tell in this picture with Marvin's weeds in the background, but the Lombardy Poplars we planted in spring are as tall as I am now. Hard to believe they were only twigs last May.
Life is good here in the Missouri tropics.