Sunday, September 6, 2020

A Comedy of Errors

Sometimes I think I should just stay in bed.  Not that my puppies would let me, but it might be safer for all if I did.  What can I say, weird things just happen to me.

With quadruple this many hummers flying round my two feeders every morning, it doesn't take long to empty them.  It doesn't help that honey bees have found the nectar and like to partake of something sweet too.  The hummers actually give them plenty of space, just like me.  Yup same picture .......

I looked out an hour later and it was completely empty.  I had already made more, I'll just grab the feeder, fill it up and they will be back in business.  I unhooked the chain, rushed inside and set in the sink.  WHAT THE HECK?  A cloud of bees came up from the sink and swarmed me.  

I ran screaming like a little girl into the living room, snuck around the corner and grabbed my flyswatter.  I spent the next 30 minutes chasing them around the house trying to swat them midair (you can just imagine how successful I was at that) before they got close to Miss Jessie the Jack Russell Terrier fly catcher, who will try to eat them.  That's bad news.

FINALLY ... I opened the sliding glass door and most of them flew out.  Wow .... what a workout!  Doug would be proud I didn't kill them!!  I filled the feeder and back outside it went.

Immediately it was swarmed with bees again.   I grabbed my trusty fly swatter and tried to move them on to better hunting grounds since they refused to let the birds eat.  Okay, I swatted one HARD.  Boy was THAT a mistake!!!

He lived and flew away, but the entire bottom of this feeder fell to the ground and all that lovely nectar went with it!!!  I was so shocked I just stood there and watched while it splattered all over me.  I really should have stayed in bed!!

So I unhooked it again and refilled it, tracking sticky sugar water everywhere in my kitchen.  I had no doubt every ant within a hundred miles heard the dinner bell ring, so I tried to wash all the sweet stuff off the patio.  After six trips trying to untwist the garden hose, spraying a couple of bees along the way, it was finally clean and the bees had retreated.  

Next up, clean the kitchen floor so said ants don't come INSIDE!!  That's ALL I need.


 After resting up, I downloaded the videos from the game camera.  Those silly rabbits ... they are out at 1:00 am wandering around and having a nice long drink.  Don't they know that's prime coyote time?  Not to mention Mr. Bobcat.  In scanning all my videos, I discovered I missed one.  What a beauty, although not the best of shots.  I erased seven videos of the rabbits from just one night. 


 Since I was on a roll, I decided to smoke that last set of ribs I had in the fridge.  I'll relate that story later.  It didn't go much better than the hummingbird feeder.  In the meantime, I finished up the binding on this quilt, making it one for the books.  Each one of those triangles is made up of TEN pieces sewn together.  In the beginning, I hated it.  It's funny how sometimes you end up loving it!

 To finish off the night, since I had such a good streak going, I decided to film the bats.  I set up the game camera facing the feeder and parked myself in the dark.  All the hummers had left and the quail were ensconced in the trees to stay safe from predators.

It was quiet ... peaceful ... and completely devoid of bats.  I guess they are mad because I took the feeders away for one night.  An hour later I fell asleep in the chair.  Okay, enough of this nonsense ... and I went to bed.  I'm sorry to say there will be no bat pictures.   Maybe next time.

 

 

 

 

8 comments:

  1. Love, love, love the colors in that quilt. Great for that pattern too.

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    1. Thank you Joyce. That quilt fabric came from Boise Idaho probably 5 years ago. It turned out MUCH better than expected.

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  2. Yesterday was not your day though the picture with all the hummers was quite a feat.
    Really like the Quilt.
    Be Safe and Enjoy sleeping in your bed.

    It's about time.

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  3. Well, you tried...nice quilt. BAD fire between Fresno and Merced up in the foothills/mountains. 36,000 acres and no containment as of yet. SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE Oh, and HOT HOT HOT

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    1. I've been watching that one. Sadly there are a lot of cabins up there. Can't help but blame the government for not keeping the roads accessible and the brush cleared. The train to nowhere is more important.

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  4. Love the quilt! You have quite the menagerie outside your house although it seems visiting hours are reserved for the night time. I enjoy your little video clips of the activities.

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    1. Thank you Marlene. Most everything in the desert hunts at night when it's cool. I should take a hint!! Hope your place is safe from the fires.

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