This is definitely the year of the winter that wasn’t and the spring that isn’t! Today is May 3, and it snowed all day. Now the fog in the backyard looks like a scene out of “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” The snow is starting to come down again. Last night the weatherman said we could get 5 to 10 inches overnight and even more today. Now wait a minute; what happened to spring? We’re probably due for a couple more good snows this month. I think for my next career I’ll be a weatherman, or weatherwoman as the case may be. Of course, if I want to be totally PC, I would have to be a weather person. What other job can you have where you can be wrong half the time and still keep your job?
Last week, I returned from a business trip on Wednesday night and told my husband that it was time to make some hummingbird nectar. He told me that it was too early, but I said no, I have a feeling they’ll be here soon. Sure enough, I made the hummingbird solution and put it in the refrigerator to cool. The very next morning, I heard the distinctive whirring sound of hummingbird wings. Hurriedly, I filled the feeder and hung it out on the deck. There she was, happily sipping on her morning meal!
By the way, do you know how to make up the yummy solution for them? Use a three to one ratio of water to sugar; in other words, one cup of sugar to three cups of water. Heat to a simmer, just enough to totally dissolve the sugar. There is no need for a full boil. Once they figure out where the feeders are, you can actually move to a four to one ratio, but I confess that I indulge them and stick with the 3:1 all season! Please, no red food coloring! It is bad for them (and for us as well). They’ll find the feeders!
On one memorable occasion, my sweet hubby mixed up some hummingbird solution while I was out of town. I said to use a 3:1 ratio. Unfortunately I did not specify that the 3 was water, and the 1 was the sugar. He told me on the phone that it looked a little “thick.” After a little further discussion, we determined what the problem was. A little more hot water for a little more dilution soon corrected the problem!
People generally refer to the hummingbirds that we see in the summer months here in Colorado as ruby-throated hummingbirds, but in reality, the ruby-throats are rarely found in Colorado. The ones we have are broad-tailed hummingbirds. Like the ruby-throats, they have a red patch on the throat. Now, I’m not quite enough of an ornithologist to details all the differences; I’ll leave that to the experts!
A few years ago, on a trip to Curaçao in the Caribbean, we saw numerous brilliant royal blue and green hummingbirds whirling around everywhere. I enjoy birdwatching in an amateur sort of way. As best I can tell, what we saw were blue-tail emerald hummingbirds, but I certainly would not swear to that!
OK, back to the Rockies! It snowed all day today, resulting in our biggest snow of the year, almost 20 inches. This is that heavy wet, sticky spring snow, the kind that grabs your skis if you’re on the slopes and that your car doesn’t like to turn in. The refrain you hear repeatedly around here, both from the newscasters and your friends and neighbors is that we need the moisture. I can certainly accept that, but at the same time, I am ready to see my aspen trees show a few leaves and to see those first green shoots of the columbine and various other wild flowers. At the same time, I really don’t mind these late spring snows. They quickly melt away, and before long we’ll be enjoying those long, warm summer days!
©Eclectic Grandma, 2018
