The day started out nice, but has gotten overcast as the day's gone on. I think there's some chance of rain for tomorrow and Monday. If it's going to be gloomy, I hope it does rain. I still prefer the sun though.
One of the little male hummers decided to be cooperative when I was outside and wanted to take a picture of him. This is the little guy slurping from my feeder. Soooo tiny and cute, isn't he? He's around the feeder quite a bit. And the sparrows and finches are eating me out of house and birdseed. I'm back to filling the feeders about every other day. Remind me again, was I looking forward to them all coming back? There are enough of them that they squabble for places on the feeder.
I also have a fox squirrel who forages underneath both feeders. He/she/it has no qualms about hanging out amid the birds on the patio and getting his share of seeds. So far he hasn't tried to get them from the feeders directly, just those dropped on the ground by the birds.
The girls and I were outside early this afternoon, not really doing anything, just checking out how things are growing. It was really nice out and the cat-kids hung out a bit out there.
I went shopping this morning, trying to get some gifts bought for Mother's Day and Father's Day. Early I know, but I'm traveling a bit the next couple months and this will be my last free weekend for a while. So I thought I'd take advantage of it. The Mall was packed!!!! Everyone was out hitting the Easter sales apparently. Not my favorite shopping experience but what can you do?
I discovered this week that I need a visa to go to Turkey. I'm going there in June for two back-to-back meetings. Luckily, it's very easy to get a visa online from the Turkish site. I'm on the organizing committee for one of the meetings, so I'll be busy at that one. I'm hoping to have a little time to do some sight-seeing during the second meeting.
Anyway, not much to say today. Just thought I'd post some pictures of the girls outside today and the little hummer.
I'm happy to say that we're getting another day of rain. You'd almost think I like rain, to listen to me. We're so far down in the water balance this year though, that I'm still glad to see it. This last week I drove down through the south metroplex area, and the bluebonnets are spectacular. Solid purple-blue rolling hills along the highway. I was afraid they wouldn't bloom much this year, but they have. Sooooo pretty.
And you can see from these pictures that the little azalea is fairly happy too. It's also blooming well in it's new place. And all the trees are leafing out. Yay! I'm so glad Spring is here. My rose bushes are all growing gangbusters and starting to put on buds now. I'll have roses in the not too distant future. And my grass is finally starting to come up.
I've now seen three hummingbirds, two little black-chinned males and a little female. They all frequent the feeder, the two little males not happy with each other's presence of course. The little female likes to just sit out there on the feeder, hanging out. I'll have to keep sugar water made up. With only the three of those tiny little guys, the stuff goes bad before they get through it when days are in the 80+ temperatures. Growing fungus. Yuck!
I've also seen two pair of cardinals out there at my feeders and more than two pair of house finches. The massive horde of sparrows came back from wherever they were also. And this morning I saw the male brown-headed cowbird for the first time. I've been seeing the female randomly for the last week. And the white-winged dove is back! I haven't seen him since that first ice storm last winter - only the mourning doves. And actually I only ever saw one white-winged dove, or only one at a time, even during the ice storm, which makes me think there just was one. There are two out there under the feeders this morning, so now there's a pair, or returning young from last year. It's really fun to watch all the birds, especially the little flitting hummers.
Actually, I think this little tiny yard and patio are is the perfect size for me. Enough of a place for me to putter around in and put out plants and grow things and trim things without requiring a massive amount of upkeep and maintenance. Of course, I pay a lawn service to do all the heavy work - mow, edge, clean out gardens, trim shrubbery, deal with leaves in the winter. That allows me to play at gardening while the place looks great and is kept in shape. Perfect for me, as I said. It makes me enjoy living here even more. I'm really happy with the place again now that all the repairs are done.
The ophthalmologist said the same thing the optometrist did. It's okay to have a vitreous lining pull away from the retina in your eye, as long as it doesn't create any holes or tears when it does it. They're concerned about that because if a hole or tear is there, fluid can leak out and get under the retina and cause the very bad "retinal detachment". So if they find a hole or tear, they seal it with a laser in about 10 minutes. Luckily I have no holes or tears and all is good. I'm glad to hear that.
The wandering jew I put in the hanging basket outside seems to be making the transition okay and will probably survive. The verdict is still out on the airplane plant or spider plant, whichever you want to call it. It's looking pretty bad, but considering how bad some of my other plants have looked and pulled through, I won't give up hope yet.
Not much to say today, so I'm ending this post with the most current picture of the resurrected pine tree. It's already put on about two inches of new height and seems quite happy out here on the patio. I'm pleased as all get out to see it growing and thriving.
I have a hummingbird!! I guess mid-March was NOT too early to put out a hummingbird feeder. It was up exactly two days before I saw him at it. This isn't a picture of him, but this is what he looks like. He's much too schitzy to wait around for me to take a picture, but he's definitely a black-chinned hummingbird. He's the only hummer I've seen at the feeder so far. I hope I get more, but I'm glad to have him around. So fast! And so fun to watch.
It's cool and rainy today. So far, no serious rain, just little spritzy, spitting rain. I'm hoping for more. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow too. If it does, everything poised to bloom will bloom. The azalea I planted into the ground next to my patio is covered with buds! I was shocked to see that because it looked so bad last weekend when I planted it, I was just hoping it would survive. I never expected it would bloom like crazy, but it looks like it's going to. I guess it likes being in the ground. I'll take pictures when it blooms.
We had a serious storm system go through here last week and I did not get so much as a drop of rain from it. Mother Nature is taunting me. That's why I'm grateful for today's misty stuff and am hoping for more rain tomorrow. I've seen one tiny little patch of blue bonnets this year and they should be blooming about now. Rain would help.
I went shopping this morning and picked up this pretty metal shelving to go on my patio where that old stove used to be. I wanted something to put my gardening stuff on to keep the patio neater and have it all handy to use. Since I had to be out anyway to get cat food and run by the bank, etc, etc, I stopped by Garden Ridge. I could come to love that store. So many cool gardening-related things. It was interesting getting this shelving home. It's just over 3 feet wide and the shelves are about a foot and a half deep. Luckily the shelves fold up and then the sides fold in, but it's fairly heavy. I could have gotten a smaller one, but I wanted this size, so I just man-handled it into and out of my Subaru. I like it.
I went to the eye doctor last week because I had a bunch of bright light flashes in my left eye a couple weeks ago and now have what they call a floater. Something floats across my vision in that eye and blurs it momentarily. Turns out I have a detached vitreous in my left eye. The lining around my fluid (vitreous) in that eye has pulled away from the retina. They don't do anything for it, it's just now detached. Weirdly, other than the floater, which they say I'll get used to, my vision isn't affected by having a detached vitreous. I had it checked while I was there and it's the same as it was 2 years ago. I did get scolded though for waiting two weeks after the light flashes. Apparently bright light flashes like that are a symptom of retinal detachment, which is serious and will screw up my vision. My eye doctor is sending me to a retinal specialist to check out that left eye anyway, and be sure its' okay.
The cardinal pair is on the sunflower seed bird feeder. They're actually one of the reasons I got that feeder. They struggled with the other feeders, which are really made for small birds, but they can sit on this one and eat sunflower seeds to their hearts content. I saw my first female cowbird of the season out there this afternoon. Last year I had a bunch of those. The cowbirds I don't so much care about, but I hope I get redwing blackbirds again this year.
Thought I'd end today's post with a picture of Zoe in her usual weekend place. This was taken before I moved the aloe outside, but she likes to sleep in this chair.
