Last summer my lovely neighbor presented me with a hummingbird feeder. I made the sugar water, I hung the feeder on the hook, and the hummingbirds flocked.
A few weeks ago I pulled out the feeder. I made the sugar water, I hung the feeder on the hook, and nothing.
This morning I watched a hummingbird approach the feeder, hover for a bit, and then flit away without imbibing. I could swear I heard a very high pitched, “That place SUCKED!” as his shadow grew longer. Everyone has 24 hours in their day. I tend to sleep for about eight and a half of those, meaning I have about fifteen and a half active hours with which to work. (I use the word Active and Work pretty loosely.) I absolutely hate that I’m going to have to use some of that time to try and figure out why my hummingbirds are so angry and/or anorexic.
Hey, look! I made a skein of yarn!
The wool was dyed by Tempe and sloppily spun by me. (Lots of thick and thin spots, yet I’m pretty happy with the final result.) After finishing it up and thwacking it against the wall a few times, I became overly confident. I pulled out some merino fiber and decided to spin four ounces of lace weight. Last night found me cutting the first ounce off of my bobbin with scissors after it repeatedly broke and unwound. I’ve now ordered a used copy of The Intentional Spinner and am hoping to not lose heart too quickly.
Let’s see. What else? Scout has lost her four bottom front teeth, and it’s so adorable I could cry.
I’m getting my tubes tied the good old fashioned way on August 19th. I finally grew tired of researching all of these new-fangled permanent birth control methods and their side effects and just said, “Forget it! Let’s tie them!” The Catholic hospital where I was originally scheduled to have the Adiana procedure performed told me that they don’t want no stinkin’ tube tying going on in their operating room. The Baptist hospital said, “Us! Come to us! We’ll happily tie your tubes!” And there you go. This paragraph has absolutely nothing to do with Catholics versus Baptists, by the way. Believe it or not, I love them both equally. We’re more alike than we are different.
Cake Ball Update: I’ve baked two cakes and balled 63 cake balls. So far so good. (It was sort of a fishes and loaves moment in that one cake normally yields about 50 tablespoon-sized balls. For whatever reason, my first cake gave me 63 instead of 50. I used the same mix/icing combination and I used the same scoop. Clearly, I’ve just experienced a miracle. If any of the wedding guests bite into a cake ball and see the profile of Jesus, I really won’t be surprised.) This paragraph has nothing to do with Catholics versus Baptists, by the way.
The girls have been loving Vacation Bible School this week. (This paragraph has nothing to do with, oh, nevermind.) Next week is our trip to the American Girl Store. (Yes. That’s what I said.) A few weeks later is College for Kids, and then it’s time to think about school. (We’ve already purchased our school supplies. The summer, it flies. And we haven’t even gone for snow cones yet!) ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
did you eat the extra 13 balls? (that doesn’t sound right)
We have no school supplies yet, but have had our summer trip to A&E, so we are ticking items off our list too.
my eldest went to VBS last week and has been singing “How did Moses cross the Red Sea?” ever since :)
The thinner you spin your yarn, the more twist you have to add. It’s a mistake a lot of spinners make – adjust your tension so that it’s just barely taking up the yarn, and set your wheel to the smallest whorl (god I hope those are the right terms – don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about?). Then SPIN SPIN SPIN and put plenty of twist in that sucker.
I still have this happen to me, though, so obviously I should not be giving advice.
so this is weird/interesting to me – the Catholic hospital would do Adiana, but not tie tubes? I consider myself Catholic (although not very strictly) and I am always interested in the this is okay but this is not dichotomies. Huh….
Did I mention I ate my first Cake Ball on July 4? It was yummy.
Actually – I ate two.
That yarn is very pretty! Like a sunrise! Around these parts thick/thin is a little thing called “Character”.
I think you should refer to the think and thin bits as a “design element”. It’s lovely.
The twins start kindergarten in August, and we had the option of purchasing their school supplies online and having them delivered to their classrooms. The husband thought this was a great time saver and did this, not realizing he was robbing me of my first opportunity to go school supply shopping with my eldest(s).
I have always loved school supply shopping. *sigh*
P.S. Your yarn is gorgeous! It is so lovely I think you could just drape it over something and call it good.
Regarding the tubal ligation (yeah, that’s what they call it) — glad to hear it! I had mine almost 40 years ago, and never a single problem or side effect ever. I’ve known women who had all kinds of serious problems with IUDs (do they still call them that?) So, if you’re sure you want a permanent birth control solution, getting the tubes tied is pretty carefree, as those things go.
I just broke out my hummingbird feeder yesterday because I saw one flitting around while I was watering. Are you changing the solution often enough? (Weekly?) Is it possible the feeder (especially if plastic) has picked up some kind of weird smell or taste from not being cleaned well enough at some time previous. (Note: I’ve totally done this more than once)
Lovely yarn! I would keep it out where I could pet it for a while: it’s too pretty to be put away!
Do you know anyone who has had their tubes tied? I did with my last C-section and some of my closest nurse friends work in same day surgery. You can email me if you want any info. I like the yarn – it looks non-denominational to me!
Hmm…Why not a Vasectomy for Mr Pudding???
Just asking
yum – your yarn reminds me of sherbet and smoothies and sunshine and happiness…
So impressed by that gorgeous yarn.
I love the yarn – I also love the phrase “balled 63 cake balls”.
Hummingbirds are picky bitches (I love them) and they’ll avoid the feeder if it’s grown mold. And feeders gown mold in the summer a lot. I wash mine weekly in super hot water and I use vinegar to kill the mold (not bleach! say the experts, because it can leave a residue and make hummers sick, but okay, I totally use bleach and rinse it like crazy).