Missing Winter

I'm sure there are many of you out there who would argue and say you'd LIKE to miss winter, but for us out here in SoCal, we've had a very mild, all-too-warm, winter.  Today is pushing 80ºF.  I'm hoping that after this next 10+ days of heat-wave, pushing toward 90ºF, we might get some cooler temps, but that may not happen.  We've only had one really good rain storm hit all fall and winter to date...not good! The hot days of summer 2018 are coming in early. 

Earlier today, I took some material out to the compost bin, stopped to check on the hummingbird nest outside my kitchen window and discovered it has one egg in it.  I'd not seen the hummingbird working on the nest nor sitting in it so was a bit surprised to see an egg.  A short time later, she was sitting on it.  I've had at least two individual hummers hanging around since summer, so have kept the feeder going with a minimal amount in it. 

I also noticed the daffodil/narcissus stems are coming up and have a bud or two showing.  The neighbor's ornamental pear is also starting to bloom, the jade plant had just begun to bloom a few weeks before Christmas and is now covered in little white flowers, and the little purple violet plant near my front door has several blossoms.  

Genealogy, and paper de-clutter projects have been filling most of my time in recent weeks - there's much to do.

Even going to Road 2 California with my friend Panda and another very nice lady I met for the first time, hasn't sparked me to get back to much quilting.  The projects are sitting there, making me feel guilty that they're neglected, but still...just sitting there.  Oh, and R2C was actually a LOT of fun with these two gals, but yowza, my aching feet and back by the time the day was over - so, so out of shape!

Too many places have become over-cluttered while I've neglected to deal with them the past few years and now even my son Nick is pestering me to 'clean it up Mom'.

Passing Time

And time is surely passing by!  

Having anything worthy of posting about seems to escape me. Or, maybe I'm just not as inclined to post about as much. 

I've not been ill or depressed, nor have there been any problems.  Well, except a bit of a water saturation issue between my "new" (now four-year old) bathrooms, but Marty has fixed that...at least that's the hope, and that only occurred during the last couple weeks, not over the last few months of my absence from blogging.

A little bit of work has been done on genealogy, but nothing on quilting since my last Webs of Thread quilting post.  

My aunt visited in January, but I think I covered that on WOT, maybe.  The visit was short compared to my visits to her home, but we had a nice time all the same and I'm very happy she came.

Spring is here, and our weather is typical for this time of year.  Some days get quite warm into the upper 80s and nights are in the 50s or slightly below.  We still have some cooler days too, and even had some more drizzle/showers this past week.  Spring is my favorite time of year...except for the shedding done by the kitties.

A hummingbird produced two babies in the nest right out my kitchen window and it's already been nearly two weeks since they fledged.  What a joy it was to watch them grow! I miss them, but I saw two flying around together in the back yard earlier today and wondered if they were 'ours'.  The feeders have been up all but a short time during the winter as we have the hummers year round.  I need to get out and clean the outside of the window before one decides to re-use the nest.  They really "hit" the window this time, if you catch my drift.  I'm still awaiting the arrival of the Hooded Orioles.  Soon, I hope.

Yep, that's been about it around here.  Oh, except Nick got his first car.  A bright red sports car about 12 years old.  He owes us!

Time Keeps Moving Along

It's been well over a month again since my last update.  What have I been doing in all that time?  Well, nothing exciting, that's for sure, and that's why there have been no posts!  And there's still been nothing of importance to really write about, but I thought I'd at least check in so you'd know I didn't kick the bucket or something!

I did get out to dinner with a couple of lady friends last night.  That was a pleasant couple of hours with pleasant company and good food.  I had had breakfast with one of them a month or so ago, but the other I hadn't seen since March so it was nice to catch up again.

Hubs and I will be "celebrating" our 20th anniversary next week.  Neither of us has mentioned it, so expect it'll come and go like every one of the last 19...just another day. 

Nick finished his junior year of high school, so we now have an official high school senior in the house.  He says he's looking for a summer job...we'll see how that goes.  He stays up late and then sleeps until noon.  

A mama hummingbird (the 2nd one) hatched babies a few days ago.  Sadly, today I noticed she wasn't gathering bugs in the air in the back yard like usual and hadn't come back to the nest, though she was at the feeder once.  I also noticed an ant trail on the branch to the nest - it's right outside my kitchen window!  I took a stool out and pulled the branch down a bit - it sits about 6' high - and no babies anymore - so something happened since late yesterday.  The first mama to build and use this nest was very skittish & I'd had to put a curtain over the window so she wouldn't fly away every time she saw activity in the kitchen.  That one's hatchlings seem to have suffered a similar fate while I was away in April.  This was a different mama - different markings - and she wasn't skittish at all.  At times, she would hover right outside the window and watch me. She also never flew off the nest when I went out to refill the feeder even though I'd walk right past the bush the nest is in.  Maybe in the days ahead it'll be "third times a charm" and we'll get chicks that survive to adulthood.

I've worked on my genealogy quite a bit over the last few weeks.  I switched to Legacy8 software from Family Tree Maker, and am going through a huge learning curve - not as easy as when I was younger.  I am getting there though, and in all fairness to myself, this software is so much more powerful which is what is making all the different elements a learning challenge.  An interesting tidbit I uncovered in my research was that the second wife of my paternal uncle, was in the same orphanage as my step-dad was at the same time - they were enumerated on the same page.  My step-dad had a different surname at that time, as did the aunt.  I asked him if he recalled her name, but he didn't, and while I still send Christmas cards to her, she never responds.  Neither she, nor my step-dad were truly orphans, but this was back in 1940 when an orphanage aka children's home was available to parents who for whatever reason were no longer, or temporarily unable, to care for their children.  She was there with two siblings.  I don't know how long they were there, but my step-dad was there for five years until a biological aunt adopted him...yet his bio-parents were both still living.

My dad had his lower back surgery.  Sounds like it went well, but he wasn't happy that they made him stay in the hospital for a couple extra days because he's so non-compliant.  Additionally, he spent a week or more at rehab/care facility for the same reason and so that he'd be forced-compliant.  He seems to be more inclined to comply now - I don't think he wants to be back in that same position again.  He'll be 83 in August and has never been compliant with much of anything in his life.

There's not been much else of interest lately.  For my quilting world activities - or lack thereof, I'll put a brief post over on Webs of Thread.

Hummingbirds & one other

I find hummingbirds fascinating, don't you?
A couple of years ago, we had a hummingbird build a nest in a podacarpus tree that is to the right as I look out my kitchen window, far enough that I have to get to the left edge and peer hard to the right. This branch actually extends underneath the patio cover, so it's protected from rain.

I know, this photo isn't very good, hey, it's hard to get a camera underneath those leaves without actually disturbing the nest, and the flash was a little hot too. This shot is from above the nest looking at the two hummingbird babies that were there. Those orangy-looking things at "10:00", they're the beaks...yes, they're orange when they're that small. The width of the nest isn't very big, maybe 1.5" across. Sadly, neither of these babies survived to adulthood thanks to the marauding jay birds...I really dislike jay birds. And crows. Both are nest robbers and it doesn't matter if it's eggs or hatchlings.

This little cutie, not my hand - the hummingbird, is from the mama's second set the following year. The reason it's in my hand is that I'd gone outside, and as I took a step on the unswept-covered-with-leaves walkway near the tree the nest is in, I saw something buzz of sorts on the ground...there was the baby (an only child)! So I had Marty grab his camera and take a picture before we set it back to the nest. We came out an hour or so later and it was gone again and no evidence of it on the ground so we guess it fledged rightly the second time. I believe this was about April of this year, then mama had another set (twins), same nest a couple months later, and we'd watch and one day they were barely on the edge of the nest, again had Marty go get his camera, but I made a move and both just went WHIRRRRR and off to the roof of the patio then went and Marty didn't get his pictures. The nest is still there, so we hope she'll use the nest again.

The hummers are still around, whether the same ones or others. I'd stopped putting the feeder up over a year ago, even before the nest, because we were getting ant freeways going after the nectar. When I was shopping for my stash closet supplies, I discovered a pesticide-disc containing ant-guard that you hang from the hook and the feeder then attaches to it. The ants have to go into the guard and across the pesticide in order to get to the feeder :) no ant problem at the feeder now :), and I've had to refill it after just over a week, and when I did, I got BUZZED by one of the hummers, hey guys, don't you know I'm trying to keep you fed? And it was right there to feed as soon as I stepped away. I stood no more than 6' away while it landed and drank. There are at least three distinctly different hummers. One is quite large as far as hummers go, probably 4" easily, and he had the brightest red chest I've ever seen. My bird book indicates he might be a Broadtailed Hummingbird. The book says the Ruby Throat isn't on this side of the state, unless he's way off course! They're so fun to watch, especially when they try to guard their territory!

Our Modesto Ash tree draws quite a few birds throughout the year. Never nesting, but resting, hunting, pecking, whatever birds do in trees. So this next picture, taken by Marty, shows one of the raptors that often will land on a branch and eat his/her breakfast or lunch or dinner. This is, I believe, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. They're smaller than some, but gorgeous. I love raptors. They're just so majestic and ooze 'power'. and yes, 'it' was feeding for this picture but I'm not sure that shows real well...probably a good thing.