Book Recommendation:

Book Recommendation

Just finished “Clean Sweep” by Ilona Andrews – very fun, thoroughly entertaining read with a new twist in paranormal fiction/urban fantasy (at least for me).  Great read!

Put Your Red Out

Put Your Red Out

Hummingbirds will be arriving in Colorado starting this weekend.  Put your feeders out to give these little world travelers some much needed dinner.

The easiest and healthiest nectar is simple: 4 parts hot tap water mixed with 1 part regular sugar.  Just mix the two in a bottle, place in the refrigerator until cool and then put in your feeder.  Keep nectar in the refrigerator for no more than 2 weeks. 

Wash the feeder every 4 – 5 days – this can be as simple as putting a few drops of dish soap inside with hot water and shaking the bejeebers out of it.  If you notice any discoloration or mold inside, an old toothbrush can be useful in getting it out.  Rinse, refill and rehang.

Even though it is a pain to have to clean the feeder so often, the sugar water does ferment and that can make hummers really sick, so it is worth it. 

Mom and I went to a backyard bird presentation with the local gardening club and the focus was on hummingbirds.  It was really fascinating and I took tons of notes.  One of the best suggestions was to put red decoys in your yard to bring in the hummers.  This can be as simple as red ribbon hung in trees and on fences or red bandanas, red strips of fabric – do whatever you can to tempt them to take a closer look – otherwise the hummers will just fly over at tree top level and not notice.  Place your feeder where it can be seen from the sky – don’t put it under a tree, for example.  Though it is nice to have a tree nearby so they can rest in the shade.  It’s also good to place the feeder near a vegetable garden.  Hummers eat 70% nectar and 30% bugs – if you’ve got pests in your garden, the hummer will do your job for you.

The presenter said that April 15 is known as tax day, but to bird watchers it is known as the day to put your red out.  I thought that was a cute idea and put my red out today.  I hope I’ll start seeing hummers soon. :)

Ouch

I've gotten 8 rejections this week.  They typically dribble in one or two a week, but this week, WHAM!  All at once.  My positive attitude is huddling in the corner sniffling into a hanky.