Hummers

The vet will be out sometime Sat. afternoon.  I'll post once I know something.  In the meantime, I now have a whole flock of needy pets....

Sunday Stills - a Real Triumph (and a bit about hummingbirds)

First, thanks for all the great hummingbird info, you guys are better then Google!  I have been kind of reluctant to hang feeders because, as Wendywoo put it, "they are like having another very needy pet."  Juuust what I need.  Still, there was another one in the barn today, dashing his little self against the light panels in the roof trying to get out when he realized that the big orange "flower" was a dry well.  He just could not be convinced that he couldn't get out that way so I have bowed to the inevitable and hung up a feeder.  I found a cups worth of plain sugar in the back of the cupboard so I won't be poisoning them with my honey:)

This weeks Sunday Stills challenge was "music groups or songs in pic"s.  I gotta say, I pretty much gave up on this one as soon as I read the challenge.  I like music, but I have some kind of real mental block regarding it.  I can not hear music inside my head and I can not identify it at all without lyrics that I recognize.  I can remember the words in a song if I try, but the music is an elusive, slippery thing that escapes me as soon as it stops playing.   Music Appreciation 101 was the only course in college that I nearly failed.  The exams required us to identify a bit of classical music that was played.  I studied harder for that damn course than all of the upper level science courses I was enrolled in and I just couldn't do it.  The only thing that saved me was the old frat boy's trick of answering "C" to every question.  It actually worked!  I squeaked by with a "D" and railed at the damage to my precious GPA, which at the time, I really thought mattered.  

So, I was out taking pictures the other night, just before sunset when mostly invisible things suddenly become back-lit in golden light and I took these shots of spider webs.  I don't know what these spiders are called, but they build intricate, 3D, funnel shaped webs....

Once something goes in one, they can never leave...

and I thought HA! YESSS!!, I can actually do the  Sunday Stills Challenge....

because I think of these as "Hotel California" webs:)  Take that Music Appreciation 101!

Waiting

Still no baby.  Poor Emma, her belly is hanging so low it has changed the way she walks.  It's throwing her off balance and making her stumble.  We'll all be glad when this baby finally shows up. 

We did have some unexpected visitors in the barn today.  The hummingbirds are suddenly attracted to the orange colored light that I hung in the barn as a night light so I can see Emma. This little guy somehow got tangled in a spider web and wound up on the floor in the corner of the barn.  I heard a rattling and was quite surprised to find him.  It never occurred to me that a hummingbird could get stuck in a spider web.  I guess I need to get a feeder hung up....

I don't have any sugar on hand, does anybody know if there is any reason hummingbirds can't eat honey syrup instead of sugar syrup?  It is honey from my own hive so I know there are no chemicals in it and it seems like it would actually be better for them.  I think this guy could use a boost after his ordeal...

I've been spending a lot of time on gardening while I wait for Baby to arrive.  I decided this year that all my garden beds were going to have weed fabric on them.  I tried this on one bed last year and it worked great.  It never needed weeding or watering and was the most productive bed.  It was the only bed that didn't get out of control.

I like gardening and I always have big plans and good intentions, but I can never keep up.  Something always comes up and I get behind.  I end up frustrated and depressed when things inevitably slip out of control.  The garden ceases to be fun or productive and turns instead, into a Weapon-of-Self-Destruction, a constant reminder of failure.   This year, I am trying to make sure everything is manageable with the limited time I am able to devote to it. 

Tanner, however, is not impressed with gardening no matter what I do with them...

To cheer him up and stretch my legs we took a walk around the fields just as the sun was setting, my favorite time of day.  Tanner got to to chase a rabbit and I got some nice shots of this little tree as the sun went down...

Time to tuck Emma in for the night and give her another pep-talk...