One More Hummingbird Post

The relocation of the hummingbird feeder has been a smashing success. The seven little flying creatures in this picture are only about half of the population that was buzzing around over, under, around, and in the deck gazebo at the time. They zoom into the gazebo and hover in the air in front of our faces. Fun for us but it would probably be a very unpleasant experience for some people. After a couple days now, it seems that they totally ignore us when going for the food. Mary and Walter were here this morning so there was four of us out there and the hummers just kept coming! (It's almost fall and soon they'll be gone until next spring.)

We Moved a Hummingbird Feeder to the Deck Gazebo

You've got to listen to me talking about hummingbirds again. Yesterday we moved one of the feeders to the deck gazebo. This morning we had hummers all around us as we ate breakfast. (I took all of the pictures above sitting at the table.) These are beautiful and fascinating little creatures. They will fly within a foot or two from us, hovering in the air comtemplating our presence. The bottom two are best viewed full screen.

Baby Lizard

We see many lizards here every day but we've never seen a baby before. This one was only 2-3 inches long.

A Quote From Henry David Thoreau

After all of these years of intending to read it, but failing to do so, I'm now reading "Walden" by Thoreau. In the chapter "Sounds", he tells how he lived at Walden Pond and parts of it sounded very much to me, and to Glynda, the way some of our retirement days go by. Thoreau says:

"For the most part, I minded not how the hours went. The day advanced as if to light some work of mine ; it was morning, and lo, - now it is evening, and nothing memorable is accomplished. Instead of singing like the birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune. As the sparrow had its trill,
sitting on the hickory before my door, so had I my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my nest. My days were not days of the week, bearing the stamp of any heathen deity, nor were they minced into hours and fretted by the ticking of a clock; . . ."

Many of our days (and his) don't happen this way at all, but sometimes in the evenings we look at each other and think that this day has gone by very much like Thoreau described in this passage. I don't mean to compare our lives to his because his solitude and remoteness was much more extreme than ours would ever be but I have searched for words like these a few times when someone has asked how retirement is going.

Blog Additions

I want to mention a couple additions to the right side of the blog. There's a "Vintage Art of the Day" that's a daily treat, there's a daily microscope photo (for Jules) and, for Greg, I've added a bandwidth test to the bottom of the page.

How Do I Title This One?

It could be "Isn't He Cute!", or "One Minus One Equals One!", or "Good News and Bad News!". It's like this - after over a week with an empty trap, this is what I found this morning. We've seen a lone remaining coon often since the last capture. Prior sightings indicated only one more coon - so this guy should be the last of them. However, and you can see a bit of it in the picture, there were little trenches along both sides of the outside of the trap - indicating still another coon trying to come to the aid of this one after he was caught. So I took the trappee a couple miles down the road and brought the trap back and baited it one (I hope) more time

Our Texas Sage

The website says that "flowers appear after summer rains . . . for a spectacular display that lasts a week". They have appeared and I'll have to be sure and appreciate them every day for the next week!

Ranger Game With Greg

I didn't take my camera along so Greg used his cell to document our trip to the Ranger game last evening. Greg invited me and Glynda to join him. Jill and the kids were out of town. We saw a Ranger win and a well pitched shut-out by the Rangers.

The seats don't get much better! We were two rows back from the seats occupied by the guys in the top picture. If you don't recognize them from the back you would from the front - Tom Hicks (owner of the Rangers) and Nolan Ryan.

"Granny" in the Wood County Democrat

I found out recently that the Wood County Democrat is one of the few small town newspapers that have their old editions on line and searchable. I got quite a few hits (10-12) on "Flanders" and most are my grandparents. This one is very typical small town stuff covering a meeting of the quilting club that Granny belonged to. (March 5, 1959)

Does This New Fern Frond Look Like Anyone You Know?

Today's Coon Count - Three Minus Two Equals One

Today's Coon Count

Still 3 - But I have hauled off two oppossums and caught two mice so we're still making progress. I didn't even see the coons last evening - it might have been their night to visit the Reyeses.

Today's Coon Count

4 - 1 = 3

I Haven't Told You About No. 50

It happened a few mornings ago with the appropriate fanfare. I had just stepped out onto the deck as a Great Blue Heron landed in the tree over the Springy Chair Garden. It was a reflex movement that turned me around immediately to get out of his site and retrieve the camera. I got one shot before he flew away (enough to identify him) and this shot of him just before he disappeared. You can't go to any significant body of water without seeing one of these but this was the first time I had seen one here!

How Many Raccoons is Too Many Raccoons?

The answer to that is "one"!

And, as you can see, we have too many!

We'd thought we had a family of the mama, the daddy, and four babies - and that was definitely too many! A couple weeks ago Mason brought us a trap. Within a few days he took away a raccoon. A day or two later I hauled away another one, and still another the day after that. It was a couple more days before we caught more and that time, we got two. While the foursome above was in the feeder last evening, the remaining adult coon was caught in the trap and I hauled it away this morning.

That's six that are gone and we still have the four above. Let's hope that they continue their stupid behaviour and keep returning to the trap for food - even though those that have done it before haven't returned.