I have been so tired and not sleeping well at all. Okay, I can sleep for hours during the day. But, at night I am wide awake even if I do not take a nap. I suppose I should give in and become a vampire.
Everyday, I tell Tommy he needs to come and help me get frozen meat from the freezer. He is sort of a spotter in case of an avalanche. I usually throw my body at the freezer and stop the chunks from falling and hitting my feet or skittering across the floor.
Finally, tonight, he helped me. I did sit on a five gallon bucket and get stuff from my upright freezer. So, no chest stopping the meat. I found a package of frozen thighs, a turkey breast, and a package of Italian Sausages. Then, I looked more closely and found I had a chicken and not a turkey breast. Oh well.
I will cook the chicken in a cooking bag along with the thighs. After we have our first meal, he will remove all the meat from the bones. He will like this for lunch sandwiches or to put on a salad. Then, I can check more carefully and find a turkey breast. I know I must have one in one of the freezers.
Tuesday afternoon, I bought an expensive package of boneless, skinless breast instead of buying KFC. That package worked for lunch and for dinner tonight as well as dinner last night. So, now that more meat is thawing, there will be no temptation at all for eating out.
We are slowly getting a zillion cans of food that are five years old from his dining room, all stashed in a huge box! I go around and behind the table and pick up one can at a time and he stands on the other side of a barrier of food and stuff and takes each can and puts it in a bag for discarding in the garbage. Some of the cans are ready to explode, others have leaked, all in pretty bad shape. Before I got the floor lamp to use, there was no way to see what was there!
Items back there that he forbade me to discard, he is now amenable to losing as he says he does not care. How many ice cream buckets that are 20 years old does one need?
So, I have done things, just not much in the way of fun activities, which is not to say life is boring or mundane. The glue in my eye dissipated, so that is one worry off my mind and out of my eye. I resumed reading The Bird Way now.
Everyday, I call two places trying to get rid of this covid haircut! They must have plenty of customers since they never answer the phone.
Everyday, I look for a package. Finally, I cancelled the order. I had ordered a hummingbird feeder for Tommy and an ant guard. I will find one somewhere else. The neighbors must wonder what I am up to when I look outside every few minutes for days. I will make the feed to go into the feeder instead of buying the poisonous red liquid. Tommy does not know what I have been waiting to receive.
Does anyone have a hummingbird feeder? Got any good stories or advice?
I plant zinnias to feed the hummingbirds. One time I had a hummingbird feeder that I hung from the front corner of our porch awning.
ReplyDeleteIt was fine all of that day, but it was new and I didn't see any hummingbirds visit it. The next morning it looked like all hell had broken out on my front porch, storm door, chair and cushion, nearby roses, porch steps. Something during the night or early morning hours had gotten into the syrup in the hummingbird feeder and had splashed it or spit it or I don't know what, but had that syrup all over the place and there were ants all in it and it was a huge mess. I think maybe a raccoon or possibly a squirrel, most likely a raccoon, got into it and somehow splashed it everywhere. I am sure hummingbirds don't make that kind of mess with it. Anyway I took it down and cleaned the giant mess up and sprayed the porch and threshold for ants. It took most of that day to get everything cleaned and washed and then sprayed for ants.
The next year I started planting a good sized flower bed of zinnias. The hummingbirds come to the zinnias all day and even do battle for the zinnia nectar. All kinds of butterflies come to the zinnias and goldfinches come to pull the petals off and snack on the seeds that are attached to the petals. Many baby rabbits have started their lives in nests in my zinnia patch. The rabbits don't eat the zinnia stems, I think because the stems are kind of hairy. One time I started to water the zinnia patch and a baby rabbit was in there and was frightened by the sudden water and it started screaming . I couldn't figure out what the sound was or where it was coming from for a minute or so. I stopped watering them until a while later and that little rabbit ran out.
I hope your hummingbird feeder brings you all kinds of hummingbirds to watch. When you watch them and can be near them, you can really see up close how magical they look. In my yard they come right up to my face to see their reflection in my glasses I believe. I don't know why else they would come up to my face so close.
What a great story! I am excited for anything here, hummingbirds, I mean. At my house, the raccoons would surely have gotten into it. I had a feeder there but the ants destroyed it and died in the feeder, long ants about an inch long.
DeleteHummingbird feed is:
ReplyDelete1 Cup Water to 1/4 Cup Sugar or
2 Cups Water to 1/2 Cup Sugar
Stir sugar into water until dissolved then put into feeder.
Change mixture every several days.
Enjoy!
That is the recipe I used--4:1--water to sugar. Thanks for the reminder.
DeleteEven just getting a few items out of the house/decluttering can really lift your spirits can't it so good for you for getting all that out-of-date stuff out!
ReplyDeleteTreaders,
DeleteIt is making me excited!
Hummingbird food is super easy to make. Microwave 4 cups of water and one cup of sugar. Stir. Save any extra in the fridge until needed.
ReplyDeleteTO,
DeleteThanks. I hope I use it up quickly with lots of hummingbirds.
I have a couple of hummingbird feeders. I also make the sugar water instead of the commercial feed. I love to watch them zip in and out to get a drink.
ReplyDeleteLori,
DeleteI think it will be fun! I know Tommy will enjoy it.
My dh sometimes gets where he can't sleep at night, then between that, taking naps sometimes because he is so tired, he gradually gets himself on an awful schedule. Thankfully he kind of realized it a few years ago and tries to not let it happen again.
ReplyDeleteOne,
DeleteI have to reverse this because I hate to sleep in the day, but I have heart palpitations when I get too tired.
I meant to add I have 2 hummingbird feeders. I just made some food for them a few minutes ago, as they are out already. I just boil water and 1/4 sugar to 1 cup water. Let cool and add to feeders. When it's really hot out I put in new every 4 days or so, but usually they drink it all fast anyway. When they are low or out, often they will come to the big window and hover to apparently tell me they are out. DH can stand there holding the feeder and they will come and drink, but they don't seem to want to do that for me. I'm like hey! I'm the one feeding you guys!
ReplyDeleteOne,
DeleteThat is funny they prefer him. Do you have trouble with ants?
No ants. One feeder does have a little trough around it you can fill with just water to keep out ants, but I've never had to use it. It may be that we don't have ants because dh does a monthly pest control spray around the house outside, I'm not sure if that is why we don't have ants.
DeleteExactly what does he use. The roaches are coming in and we need to get that sprayed outside.
DeleteSO happy you are making progress on all that old food.
ReplyDeleteKim,
DeleteSo am I, but I have to ask him over and over to go in there and help with it. He even told me I could toss the million gallon ice cream buckets. When I came here, he wanted them all!
I heard that the red food color in the hummingbird feeders doesn't really attract them and it is not good for them. When my grandpa had his third stroke I was a teenager and I would go to their house and grandpa would sit at the window and watch his hummingbirds. He could tell them apart and had them all named. Two years ago I saw what I thought were oversized bees on my lilac bush. I went out on the porch and stood still there and they were baby hummingbirds. They were so cute and tiny. A friend of ours had one of her feeders in the sun and it got too hot (she didn't think about it being too hot for the hummingbirds) and one drank and dropped to the ground. She ran out and picked it up and grabbed an eyedropper and gave it cool water. Eventually it came around and flew off from her hand. Every time she went outside that summer it would come and fly around her. Well that's all the hummingbird stories I can think of. Take care.
ReplyDeleteCrystal,
DeleteI love those stories. The only place we can see the feeder is in the front yard in full sun. I hope they come and don't pass out! In the backyard it is a struggle to get there, even to refill. We cannot see there. I really hate that.
That must have been a real delight to see the babies. I would feel so lucky!
Hummingbirds are attracted to red and orange but the feeder color can help to attract them. They need certain types of flowers, too.
Sorry you are not sleeping well ...
ReplyDeleteChicken is a popular dish in our house, it's so versatile.
All the best Jan
Jan,
DeleteThanks. I am allergic to mammal products. It is a good thing chicken is my favorite meat, anyway.
We have 6 Hummingbird feeders out year round. In the past I have had ants but have solved that problem by using aunt moats. I have bought from the same eBay seller 2 or 3 times. He makes the moats from those little stainless steel cups that you might be served au jus or horseradish in when you order prime rib or a steak. After a couple of years in the sun the rubber gasket that he uses dries out. I suppose I could replace them myself but I didn't and just ordered more.
ReplyDeleteWe also have hooded Orioles that come to visit our feeders. I researched and learned that they really like fruit, oranges in particular, and GRAPE JELLY. I ordered an Oriole feeder that has 2 votive candle sized cups for the jelly and 2 spikes to hold 2 orange halves. I think I waited too late in the season to attract a lot of birds but we currently have a female and 2 males who visit.
Talk about Covid Hair! For the past 38 years I had worn my hair SHORT cut over my ears and at times spiky on top. Since Covid I have let it grow and now can pull it back into a semi-ponytail. I have discovered that I am not quite as grey as I had hoped. My hair is very fine and fly away. I have no symbolist of a hair-do! Get this ...I actually bought a brush to keep in the car. I haven't needed to have a comb or brush in my purse or car since about 1980!
Wow,
DeleteSix is a lot and very nice. If you can tell me who he is, I will order from him. I like feeding jelly to orioles. Maybe I can do that.
I ordered a curling iron to sort of solve the stringy and too long hair. Hope it works! Imagine, having to buy a brush after all these years.
I put out the hummingbird feeders the 1st week of April, and they stay until the middle of October. (We are in North Central Texas,) When I put the feeders out this spring, they showed up within a couple of hours. I buy clear food mix and have red feeders. we hang them under the front porch to keep the food cooler, and so we can see from the front window. I love to watch them. In the fall, they will swarm the feeder and leave almost all on the same day. They are very interesting,
ReplyDeleteTexas Girl,
DeleteThanks. I suppose the spring would have been a better time to put out a feeder. I would have to figure out a way to put them under the porch. However, the house is brick and the porch is stone, and the front of the porch is brick. So, I am not really sure that under the narrow porch would be much better. We can only see from the front door. I may have to move the hook to the yard in the grass and the shade of a small tree that would protect it from about five hours of blistering sun. My feeders have red on them, too. I did not know they would leave like that. Interesting. Thanks for the story of how they leave.