The buzz is back

The hummingbirds are back. And they brought their appetites with them. When they all disappeared back in May, I thought it was because my feeders were empty for too long, but was told that, no, they'd just gone to nest. I have 6 feeders out around the house and yard, and I'm needing to refill them all every day and a half. I actually ran out of sugar and had to go to town to buy a 10lb bag. The other feeders (with seed) are getting gobbled up pretty quickly, too. I still have a lot of cowbirds, redwinged blackbirds (which both have sweet voices that I can now recognize) and sparrows coming around. I even had a couple of visits from this guy .... a purple finch.

.... oops .... I have a picture somewhere. Just can't find it right now. Here's a cowbird instead ....Still on the subject of hummingbirds, there was one trapped in Art's workshop the other day. It didn't look like he was going to find his way out again and was getting pretty tired buzzing and chirping against the window. I was amazed that he allowed Art to clasp his hands around him and carry him outside. I'll bet he had a tale to tell around the sugar-water cooler later.

We also have many, many, many swallows and swifts with nests in the open roofed buildings. One keeps trying to build a nest on the side of our house, just under the roof peak and we keep knocking it down (with a VERY long stick). Every time we do that (which is almost every day .... you'd think they'd get the hint) there is a great hullaballoo as the whole flock bands together to fly around giving us "what for".

I finally retrieved, from the nursery, those hanging baskets I made back in April.She was keeping them safe in the greenhouse until all danger of frost had passed .... which, by the way it isn't quite yet. Some of our neighbours have lost their gardens because 2 nights ago it froze. Because of our location at this higher elevation and on a south facing slope, it is warmer on cold days and cooler on hot days. In winter we are 9C warmer than our neighbours and on days like yesterday, when it was 34C in the valley, we were 6C cooler. Yup, freezing by night, blistering by day. No wonder the gardens are having a hard time. I guess what they lack in heat is compensated by more daylight hours. Right now we are getting only about 3 1/2 hours of total darkness each night. The sky is still glowing at midnight and bright again by 3:30am.. Makes it hard to come in for supper, so often we don't and are still in the garden or out playing with the dog at 10:00pm.

Because we have fenced the house and yard area off from the cows this year, the grass is getting quite high within "the compound". Over by the barns it is particularly tall.I think this must be some kind of hay because it's different than the rest of the yard. It is quite a beautiful sight to watch when a breeze is blowing .... like an ocean of green with waves rippling through.

And how's this for living the dream? The ultimate electronic cottage!