Category Archives: Delightful Surprises

August 17, 2016 · 11:16 am

6 Hummingbird Morning!

We’re having a slow start to our day since I’m feeling a bit under the weather.

We went in the dining area to take our pills a few minutes ago to find SIX hummingbirds dancing around the feeder! We didn’t catch a picture, but the one above gives you an idea of the delightful sight.

This season was a slow starter for the sweet hummingbirds. I don’t think they liked our cooler, MUCH wetter spring this year. We usually have three or four feeders hung up around the deck, but have only one this year. We’ve had up to 4 hummingbirds at a time for several weeks now, but haven’t seen this many. :0)

We sat at the table, motionless, trying to agree on how many we were seeing.

Something to raise your spirits for sure!!!

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August 10, 2016 · 12:56 pm

The Greenhouse Project

taylorsgreenhouse

To my delight – and – I have to admit – ENVY – our friends, the Taylors are building a two-story greenhouse on the back of their house!  They are doing the building themselves, making all the supports, doing all the backbreaking and exacting work as they can manage the time and materials.

Here you can see the beautiful supports for the greenhouse and how the whole thing will mesh with the rest of the house.

 

taylorsgreenhouse2

Here’s another view of the supports.

 

greenhouse3

Polycarbonate sheets go up over the supports. Here they have installed three of the 5 runs of sheeting.

 

greenhouse4

Here all the polycarbonate sheets are up!

I have no clue what comes next. I’m so excited for my friend. She’ll have a blast working here, growing all kinds of exciting things!

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August 9, 2016 · 10:53 am

4 Hummingbird Morning

drjbs.com

drjbs.com

This wonderful photo shows 6 hummingbirds, but it gives you a good idea of how rich our morning was.

We were treated to an especially nice show as we ate breakfast this morning.

For the first time this season, we had four hummers at one time dive-bombing each other to get to the feeder. The fact that the feeder has plenty of spots for many more than 4 at a time is immaterial. They want to have the feeder all to themselves, one at a time. They put on quite a show, making us laugh with delight.

While the hummers were doing combat, we also had a beautiful male cardinal flying in an out. He appreciated the seeds on the shovel bird and flew back and forth from the seeds to his place in the group of three evergreen trees to one side of the civilized part of our back yard.

A squirrel was eating his fill from the small amount of seeds left in the main feeder.  He apparently was entered in the ‘most athletic squirrel’ tournament in the Olympics, hanging down from his toes to below the feeder with both of his hands grabbing seeds and stuffing them into his mouth.  My husband was hoping the cardinal would challenge the squirrel, but the squirrel left on his own, apparently satiated.

We think the show was a celebration of the slightly cooler temperatures and little bit of rain we’re enjoying this week, with humans, animals and birds all in agreement.

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July 26, 2016 · 11:41 am

Delightful Surprise!

onthewight.com

onthewight.com

Last week I called for a fill up on our propane tanks. We have a 1000 gallon tank for the house and then a 250 gallon tank for the shop. We gritted our teeth as usual (even though they were supposedly having a sale, according to their email) about paying the bill.

The man came today (coming up our steep driveway backwards (I can’t BELIEVE they do that!) and my husband went out to make sure he filled up both tanks. We figured we needed about 250 gallons to top off both tanks.

When my husband came in with the fill up tickets, I was astonished. Instead of the $2.19/gallon or more that we were expecting, it was $1.09/gallon for the house tank and $1.19/gallon for the shop tank (different plans, different prices – but BOTH a dollar less per gallon than we expected!)

My husband decided I was too stupid to read the tickets. I handed them to him and then he had to eat his words. (I made him grovel a bit for insulting me.) Then he decided it must be a mistake, so he called the propane office. The lady confirmed the prices were correct. He managed to tell her we were ‘pleased’ before hanging up.

We’re still smiling. This just doesn’t happen anymore!!!!

 

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