This is Much Harder Than it Looks

I sat near the newly installed feeder for quite a while and snapped dozens of pictures. My eyes do not focus as quickly as they used to, so even though I turned off autofocus, which is virtually useless against these tiny hummers, I still didn't get the best photo. We have about four that visit regularly and showed up within a day of putting out the feeder. They will come to the feeder only if you are very, very still when you are sitting on the deck. I am not sure which species--they don't fit the two U.S. species exactly by my I.D. although someone will probably say that at least one is a ruby throated...and they are certainly not the intermittent visitors from the tropics. Their usual fare is the trumpet vine, and we do have quite a few of those.

Feeling a Little Crispy

I had finished watering all the container plants that were screaming for water. I sat on the deck and when I lifted my face to the breeze I saw a nearby tulip gracefully dropping a few yellow leaves every time the breeze kicked up. One leaf hit the table near me. Most of the others landed on the drought-stricken side of the lawn. We need rain.

To Everything There is a Season

Now we are onto the blackberry season.

When the World Was Not Yet Discovered

A voice with wonder exclaims, "What is that???"

You Have to Kiss a Lot of Toads Frogs

Perhaps some of you will remember my little tree frog that visited the house last year once we had finished the deck? I went outside early in the morning today and leaned on the deck railing to scan the river when this little fellow caught my eye to the left and sort of startled me. The expression on his face pretty much sums up his feelings on my being out and about so early in the morning moving about in his territory. He looks exactly like the the frog (which I have name Harry for obvious reasons) that I encountered last year. Except this guy is a little larger! Do you think he is the same fellow? If so, where did he winter over? He sat out like that for hours as the hot sun started to beat down on the deck. About ten o'clock in the mid-morning I was moving the lawn hose to the back yard to water and after I got the sprinkler exactly where I wanted it, I noticed the outside sweep of the sprinkler started to hit the top of the deck railing. When I looked out the window again, below is what I saw.



Now that he was soaking wet I just knew that he must love me even more. Eventually as the day wore on he disappeared. My instincts told me to look for him as I knew he could not have gotten far. Since he is probably a Prince in disguise he is not going to leave the Palace.

Ah, yes, it IS the same fellow as he is back in his favorite hangout as last year. Certainly makes himself quite at home. Do you suppose he wintered over in this umbrella with the bird nest with eggs that I discovered when I opened it up early this summer? The weathermen/women (those 50% right weather predictors) are predicting gusts of wind up to 14 miles per hour toward evening...and I have to leave the umbrella up as I head back to the apartment. I am too squeamish to try to grab him and move him!

How Old Do You Have to Be to Have a Good Time?

We had the joy of a weekend visit from the Grandson due to the vacation of his day care person. He remembers our place well enough now and he is very comfortable being away from Mom and Dad. We introduced him to a large batch of wild raspberries we have near the side of the lawn. The next morning he headed straight out to the spoil. They were very sweet even though they are wild.


He wasn't quite adept at the picking so I had to help a little.



He got every last one and didn't even think of sharing!

We have a little 5-second rule on the raspberry that hits the ground. He was pretty good at dusting it off.

And then we went for a walk. Can you remember when you felt like he did?