Word of the Day: Vernal (vur’ nəl) “pertaining to, appearing in, or occurring in the spring.”
Last week I chatted about our big April snowstorm. Since then we’ve only had a couple more inches a few days ago. Patches of earth are starting to peek out from beneath the snow. The dogs are roaming the yard more extensively now and getting out of the poop loop which sufficed them for a few days. This afternoon I finally received the official message that spring is here; a hummingbird dive-bombed me while I was standing on the deck. Demanding little creature! Hastily, I ran back into the house to cook up the first sugar syrup of the year. We go through very little sugar at our house; that is until hummingbird season starts. Then we go through pounds and pounds of sugar until cold weather returns in the fall, and they hitch a ride south with the Canadian geese.
I am reminded of one summer day several years ago. Chris, Sonja, and the grandsons were at our family cabin about nine miles from our house. They called to ask about the proportions of water and sugar for the solution for the hummingbird feeders. I told them I usually did a 3:1 or a 4:1 water to sugar ratio. Later that day I got another call from them stating that the hummingbirds weren’t eating from the feeders. I asked them, “You did let it cool enough after you boiled it, didn’t you?” There was a moment of silence, followed by “Boiled it?” Ah yes, it has to be boiled into a simple syrup!
The first hummingbirds to arrive are the Western Broad Tailed Hummingbirds. People often refer to them as Ruby Throats, but we don’t actually get the true Ruby Throats here in Colorado. They are only found on the east coast. To be such tiny little creatures, they are surprisingly feisty. In late July the Rufous hummers arrive for a few weeks on their annual journey from their breeding grounds in Alaska back to their winter habitat in Mexico. They are a bright orange color with a dark throat band and are even more feisty than the others. This commences what we call the Hummingbird Wars, which is somewhat reminiscent of the Wars of the Roses in English history. The males of the two species spend entire days driving one another off from the feeders. The two types of females can’t be worried with this show of male dominance and will share the feeders with one another. I wonder if this has applications for the human species as well?
Those of you who know me know that I am an amateur bird-watcher. I have counted well over twenty different species of birds hanging about on our deck at various times. We feed and water them year round, and they reciprocate by serenading us morning and night and sometime pooping on the deck railing. Having a heated birdbath gives them much needed water during the winter. Yesterday a red-tailed hawk stopped by for a visit on the railing. All of the little birds and squirrels quickly vanished. Somehow I think the hawk was looking for a live snack and not my sunflower seed!
It is sort of ironic that we now live so close to the cabin and property my parents purchased over fifty years ago. For many years it was our go-to place. Now that we live so close, we don’t go as often, especially since I can sit on my own deck and gaze at the Indian Peaks and the Continental Divide. Some days we ask ourselves how much longer we can cope with the snow and the inconvenience, but then I look at the white-capped peaks, the bright blue sky, and the vivid green pines and know this is home!
©, 2015, The Eclectic Grandma
Be sure to check in on Friday for my visit to the Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, New York!
