All the male huimmingbirds are gone; only the females are left. I saw one
female I hadn't seen previously. She was bigger, had a longer tail, and very
thin, not at all like our little chubby females. I wondered if she had taken a
break to eat and regain weight and was possibly one of the ones migrating
from New York or Canada. She was totally focused on eating.
After breakfast I went and checked nectar levels in both feeders. The
one on the front porch is quite large and still had quite a bit in it. The
smaller feeder on the deck only showed an inch and a half of nectar.
I thought that would be sufficient, especially given that the males gone.
I was wrong. At lunch it was completely empty. That is a lot of
hummingbird size sips! I cleaned the feeder and refilled it. There
were a large number of hummers visiting the feeder. More than before.
Once again, I am reminded that today could be their last day, and I
have so enjoyed having them.
My lettuce is about 2 inches high. I still don't know if it is getting enough
sunlight. The stems are slight, thin. The radishes are 3 inches with
appropriate size stems.
The plants were re-potted today--the big ones. I now have 2 huge snake
plants now. My aunt Myrtle, the oldest of the sisters in my Mom's family,
used to say that snake plants on the front porch would bring one good
luck. My Grandpa was a gardener because he had to be, but he loved
it. He planned his crops for each year. I would go and visit in the summer.
It was wonderful. I had 2 male cousins that I was close to in age. I was
a tomboy and preferred climbing trees to playing with dolls. My
Grandpa had three apple trees, 2 yellow cherry trees, 1 small red cherry
tree, and a really huge black cherry tree. He had a quarter acre in
strawberries alone. He also had raspberries and blackberries and a
goodly sized grapevine. A kid's paradise. I was always sad to leave.
My Grandpa and I, well, we understood each other. I always listened
to him, never backtalked--we were all afraid of him. And he never laid
a hand on any of us. He was my hero. (He also led a wildcat strike
once upon a time, but that is another story.) My Grandpa may have
grown the garden, but my Grandma sure knew how to cook! Fresh
biscuits with churned butter and honey from his hives, fresh from the
garden corn on the cob, fresh green beans, and fried chicken as only
she prepared it.
My cousin, Mike, gave me my first lesson in the realities of life. I was
7 and was 11. He took me fishing, my first time ever. And I caught
a fish--it was beautiful, had rainbow colors on it. He told me it was
a Sunfish. I wanted to keep the fish--take it back home and put it
some water. He very seriously told me that if I did that, the fish would
die. I said no, that I would take care of it and it wouldn't die. He let
me have my way--as a way to teach me a lesson about wild creatures--
they need to be free, in their own environment. I took the fish home,
proud that I had caught it, and my uncles and aunts told me the same
thing. I refused to believe them. I put the fish in a washpan with well
water in it. It swam around. I was happy. I just knew the fish was
happy too. The next morning my happy fish was dead, and I knew
I was responsible. I cried and cried. But I learned an important
truth. Catching a wild creature and trying to cage it up wasn't the
right thing to do. It was selfish. I never forgot that lesson.
All for tonight.
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