Summer Yard Work

It’s hot today. Although I can’t complain because we’ve had great
summer weather so far. Though the combination of the constant rain along with very hot sunny days in between has made everything grow like crazy.

And the frogs have gone wild. Here’s a little guy that scared the daylights out of me. I stuck my shovel in a pile of dirt, and out he hopped. Right at me. Yes, I screamed like a girl. Eewww!

We have a bit of land we're working to clean up so Lucy has a larger place to play and chase toys. And so we can play yard games when family comes to visit. I’ve been picking up sticks and hacking weeds when it’s not raining. I’m planning on being out there again tomorrow.

The garden is almost finished. I’ll be laying down some cloth and mulching this weekend so you’ll get some more pictures next week.

I think every girl should have a pair of steel-toed work boots and some well-worn leather gloves. And wear them with her pants tucked in. That’s to keep out the nasty chiggers. They came as an awful surprise earlier in the year. I don’t care what I look like; I’m not getting them again. Besides, don’t you think this just screams sexy?

This was during the grab-a-cold-one-I'm-tired phase of yard work. Have a lovely weekend folks!

Hummer Warz

This is our backyard guy. He’s a Ruby-throated hummingbird which are quite common in the Eastern US. I couldn’t believe he let me stand this close to the feeder and take photos. After doing some research though, apparently this type gets comfortable with humans pretty quickly. And they get quite defensive of their feeder. When he comes to feed, he chirps which is really cute. I had no idea they made noise. It’s not meant to be cute though, it’s a warning to others to stay away from his food. They are very territorial and are known to charge other hummingbirds and poke them with their beaks to keep them away. And this guy doesn't hesitate in the defense department, he's quick to run off all who might want to sample his food.

We’ve got one of those deck rail clamps to hang the feeder. On the other side it holds a hanging plant. In one of the photos he’s sitting on the other end. This is the first time I’ve seen one just land and sit somewhere. Not that it’s special by any means, it’s just that I’ve never had time to watch them before. Every evening around 8:30 he shows up and sits there. It’s like he’s on guard for the night. He's amazingly protective of his food source.

They also love red things and will investigate them to see if they’re something to eat. This explains the dive bombing that happens when I’m trying to dead-head the petunias hanging by the feeder. It’s got to be tough to miss all that red hair moving around his dinner.

We're thoroughly enjoying this little guy. If you have hummingbirds in your yard, I'd love to know what kind. Feel free to share!

The Hummers Are Back!

This year is the first spring we’ve had since the renovation to do normal outdoor household things. As most of you know, just the general stuff requires an investment of time and sweat. Doing some research on what kind of grass to plant after having part of the yard dug up led me to an article on hummingbirds. Its timeline showed that hummingbirds in this area usually return around the end of April. And no, I have no idea how the heck I got from grass seed to hummingbirds. Maybe grass seed didn’t seem all that interesting.

After waxing nostalgic for a bit over how I used to love having all the bird stuff when the kidlet was small, I thought, why not? Watching birds was something we’d enjoyed together. But I wondered, just because he’s grown now, why I felt I had to deny myself the simple pleasure I’d once had. On my next trip to the home improvement store I picked up a hummingbird feeder.

Mixed up a batch of food yesterday and hung it near a shiny new pot of petunias. And pronto! At dusk we sat out on the deck and watched the show. It’s amazing to me how the little things search out food so fast. I think we may have a pair of them.

As I was watering the newly planted grass seed this morning, one actually flew into the spray and held its mouth open for a drink. It shivered as it landed on the straw, groomed itself, showered and flew away. The whole experience probably didn’t take more than a minute, but I just stood there. Mesmerized. I’ve never seen a hummingbird land on the ground before. It was just luck that I happened to be looking in that direction.

I’m going to try to set up my camera over the next couple days so I can share some pics with you.