Hummingbirds

This is my computer's wallpaper. I have about 30 dozen hummingbird pictures in my iPhoto. I just love the birds. This one is from my parent's backyard. They have a Lantana that gets regular hummingbirds. The other ones are from my feeder. I started feeding them with premade food but then started making my own food after hearing some concerns about the premade stuff. Sugar and water is all you need to attract them and is quick and easy to make. The red dye isn't needed and actually may be bad for them.

I love how bold these birds are. I can sit less than 2 feet from the feeder and they will come. I can hear the buzzing of their wings and their chirps as they swoop past my head. They hover and feed so close without fear. For a tiny little bird, they offer a lot of beauty and boldness.

Feeder

Jeff had mentioned to me that the hummingbirds were back at my feeder finally. But I hadn't really seen one yet. So today I got a chance to sit outside, let the cat explore the front yard, and read. And in the process saw about eight hummingbirds. It is amazing how often they come with me sitting not five feet away. I can hear their little chirps and even hear the buzz of their wings. Anyway, a hummingbird picture. Sadly this is not one from today but one I took at my parent's house one afternoon. I love the tiny gauzy wings and the total lack of feet when flying.

And a gratuitous cat picture. (I thought about using a different word but figured it would pull a very different type of traffic to the site.)

Hummingbird Madness

I recently switched the formula that I use in my hummingbird feeder and have seen a huge change in visits. I was originally buying some premade formula that you mix with water. And I would get about a bird a day. The sightings were rare. Now I started using the much cheaper sugar and water mixture and suddenly it is madness out there. (1 part sugar for 4 parts water, boil water, melt sugar in water, cool and serve.) 

Not only do I get a huge number of birds each day I have several that are fighting over the feeder. There is a male and female that compete for food on an hourly basis. The female, being the slightly bigger bird, tends to win. This is her below. Males have a touch of red at the throat, thus the name ruby-throated hummingbirds. 

So yesterday I had the camera set up to grab some photos which weren't working really well. Weird but those birds move pretty fast. So I decided to see about getting some video instead. While I watched through the camera, the female came and started drinking. She was looking around really nervously when a male swoops in and scares her off the feeder. The two fly off fighting and the female came back seconds later. Don't let those tiny frames fool you, these birds are vicious. I was lucky to be able to catch video of the whole thing. Watch how nervous the female is, then check that quick blur in front of the camera. That's the male. I have to use video more often. It makes up for bad camera skills. 

Killing ants

I have an ant problem. A relatively frustrating ant issue. Now I'm a big believer in letting things live. I try not to hurt bugs in general but these ants have made things personal. The worst part is that that they are not even in the house. Yes I'm killing ants outside. 

Before you start asking no there is no magnifying glass. No poison. I'm using water. The problem is that I have started feeding hummingbirds. Hummingbirds eat sugar water, as do ants. I had absolutely no problem when they just came to the feeder, ate from the outside and went away. I even told people that I didn't mind feeding everyone. Then they started climbing into my feeder. Literally into the little whole in the feeder and dying in my sugar water. Let me tell you there is nothing more disgusting then coming home to find a layer of dead ants floating on the surface of my sugar water. I have to clean out the feeder, along with the ants still alive inside the feeder. It's awful. 

So I'm waging war. I have added a bit of water to a cup that sits above my feeder. An ant trap. The ants go into the water and drowned trying to get to the cord. No more ant problem. My hope is that the water will simply scare away the ants and I won't have all those tiny ant souls on my conscience. :-) 

Full weekend

I am exhausted and it is not even Sunday night. This weekend has been full. Very full. Friday was slow. Mostly just Jeff and I lying on the couch watching old episodes of Dead Like Me. We finally finished the first season on DVD. Great show. Although I'm not terribly excited about seeing the upcoming movie. 

Saturday was busy. We started the day celebrating S.O.S.A.D.. Lots of eating and mostly just home time. By one o'clock I was going a little stir-crazy so we decided to go out disc golfing. With all the flooding in the city there are only a few courses left open. And lucky for me that includes one of my favorites. Grand View Park is a gorgeous old park with tons of mature trees and enough hills to make the course a great challenge. I played pretty well. A lot of bogeys and even a par. 

My parents called us right before we got to the course to see if we wanted their opera tickets for the evening. We went to see Regina, a modern operetta. We sat fourth row on a fantastic stage. The costuming was great and the music was beautiful although not incredibly memorable. 

Jeff and I set an alarm this morning in the hopes of making it out to Target to find a Wii Fit. We didn't hit the first store until about 9 (an hour after they open) but apparently they didn't get their shipment anyway. No luck. Then breakfast out and relaxing at home. Jeff took some nice hummingbird pictures. I'll post one here. 

I had lunch with my parents and then Dad, Jeff, and I walked over to see the Hy-Vee Triathlon. This race is part of the Olympic trials so we were seeing some of the best triathletes in the world. We watched the women bike and run and I took some great videos and pictures. These women are in amazing shape. There is not an inch of fat on any of them. And with good reason. These races are tough. The course was long and hilly and they had a number of laps to do. It was incredible to see and really inspiring. I want to do one.  I've picked up a couple books earlier on training for one. Now I just have to start jogging. And biking. And swimming. Who knows, maybe next year I'll do the amateur. 

Domesticity, Cat style

Okay I'll be the first to admit that I'm not domestic. And all my friends will gladly back me up. I'm not much of a housekeeper. I don't cook, at all. And I don't do a lot of interior decorating. In fact one of the only things domestic about me is my knitting. 

But this past week has been a bit odd. Since I'm heading into Chicago on Monday for a funeral I have been doing laundry like a madwoman. And enjoying it. Weird. I planted some wildflowers for the front porch which I hope will come up soon with all the rain we have had. The yard looks bad so the flowers may smooth over the rough patches. I've been cleaning the upstairs and organizing my library. I even hand washed some dishes that I could have easily dropped in the dishwasher. 

And lastly I have added a hummingbird feeder to the front porch. I put that up on Thursday with the idea that they wouldn't find it for a couple of weeks. Heck it's been so cold here that maybe they weren't even here yet. So I was shocked and awed to find one buzz directly over my head this morning and scout the feeder. I have been trying to get a picture of them all day with no results. Every time I have the camera ready they don't come. The moment I put it away they arrive. Here is a picture of the set-up along with my lilacs. I may have to bring some of those in and really pretend I'm domestic.