Animal Stories

After living with our animals for so many years, I know not to leave certain foods unattended on the kitchen counter for very long or they will disappear. It doesn't even have to be left near the edge of the counter; King is so tall he can reach anything in the middle of the counter. Remember the banana bread? Any kind of meat will be gone faster than you can believe. Butter? Forget it; King will gobble it down in three seconds.

But raw macaroni? Seriously? Yup. Thursday evening I cooked some macaroni and forgot to put away the bag containing the rest of the raw macaroni. When I got home from work Friday morning, the empty bag was on the floor in the living room, surrounded by a few stray pieces of raw macaroni. The rest, of course, was gone. I couldn't believe he (all the dogs are male, but I bet it was King; he's usually the culprit) would eat raw macaroni!

Yes, we feed the dogs dog food, probably a little more than they need. None of them are skinny. But when we first got King, he was emaciated with his hip bones sticking out. And that was after he'd been at the shelter for a few weeks, after someone rescued him from being caught in a bear trap, where he'd been for who knows how long. So I think that experience of starving had an impact on him and now, even after all the years he's been with us, he still wants to eat anything and everything whenever he gets the chance.

But raw macaroni?!?

Hummingbirds

Meanwhile, the hummingbirds are eating us out of house and home. Or at least out of sugar. Plus we've added a fourth feeder. Ron saw it in the clearance bin at WalMart and bought it. We didn't even hang it up for about a week, but when I realized how often I was refilling the three we had, we hung that one up, too. I think it just encouraged more hummingbirds to our house, because I'm still filling the small and medium ones every day and the bigger ones every few days.

They'll only be here for another few weeks and then they'll head south for the winter, flying along the Rio Grande. They'll probably be "stocking up" the energy for their flight, though.

Cats

The Hotel Where I Work is once again trying the cat solution to deal with the mice. Thursday night when I got to work and went through the kitchen on the way to clock in, a quick movement of black at my feet startled me. I thought it was a cat (or a very large rat), but I wasn't sure until a few minutes later, when I saw the golden eyes of a cat. At least this cat is skinny, which means it's hungry; maybe it can catch some of the mice running around the kitchen.

Speaking of which...

This past Monday morning, when I was cleaning at home, I discovered the fresh remnants of a mouse that one of our cats (my money is on Satchmo) had killed and partially eaten, leaving only the head, the tail, and a bit of fur connecting the two. It had to have been one of the cats; a dog would have swallowed the mouse whole. The rest of that day, Satchmo walked around the house, looking like he was on the prowl for another mouse. That's why I think he was the culprit. Good kitty.

The Swarm

Now that the air is smoke-free, the hummingbirds have arrived in full force. We always put up one hummingbird feeder in late April, then gradually put up the second and then the third as the flock gets bigger. It goes from "a few hummingbirds" to "a swarm" and then finally "an infestation of hummingbirds." We're at the final stage now, with all three feeders up. This year, I think they were a little late getting to stage two, but once I put up the second one, it was only a day or two before I put up the third feeder.

Yesterday evening, around 6:00, I filled up all three with fresh sugar water and by noon today, the little one was completely empty! It's a good thing sugar is so inexpensive. Saturday we went to the grocery store and bought six bags of sugar (4 pounds each). We told the cashier it's for the hummingbirds and we must've distracted her too much; when we got home and looked at the receipt, we discovered that we'd been charged for nine bags instead of six!

We've been getting a small amount of rain at home lately, and maybe a little more out at The Ranch, judging from the radar. We're planning another trek out there this weekend to check on the prairie dogs. We've gone from worrying about the drought to worrying if they can swim. OK, not seriously, just in a joking way.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Is it really May?

It's 4:00 in the afternoon as I write this and it's snowing. Not just a few flakes drifting down lazily. No, it's snowing heavily; I can barely see the houses on the other side of the arroyo. I can't see the mountains at all. The weather forecasters predict 1 to 3 inches here and 12 to 18 inches up in the mountains. The temperature is dropping and we have a couple of space heaters on to keep the house comfortable.

This time yesterday, a mere 24 hours ago, we went for the first motorcycle ride of the year. It was a fairly short ride, just out to the Gorge Bridge and back, but the weather was warm and only a little breezy. We were just doing a shakedown ride after Ron did a lot of work on the bike, but it sure felt great to go riding again. It felt like spring, even though we knew about the forecast for today.

I put up one hummingbird feeder last Monday. The hummingbirds generally start showing up in late April and sure enough, a couple of days after I put it up, the first hummingbird appeared (as did a pair of other birds who are able to drink from it, too). It's the same hummingbird that always shows up first; he's black and white, with a black head and a white ring around his neck. We call him the scout, because we figure he goes ahead to find the food and then goes back to tell his friends, "Yeah, they've got the food out for us." I saw a second hummingbird yesterday, but the throngs haven't arrived yet. With this crazy weather I don't know when the poor birds will get here; they might just decide to stay down in Mexico and enjoy the warmth.

I don't blame them.

A Tale of Two Kitties

It's the height of hummingbird season again, with the usual swarms (also known as "an infestation of hummingbirds"). We have all three feeders up, of course -- small, medium and large -- but the small one still sometimes gets emptied in less than a day.

We have another visitor who is very interested in the hummingbirds -- one of the next-door neighbors' cats. He sits on top of the wall directly under the hummingbird feeders, hoping to get lucky. Ron found a few tiny hummingbird feeders stuck to one of the perches, so the cat either got one of the birds or almost got one of the birds.

He looks exactly like Winston, except leaner and with golden eyes instead of green. In fact, last year when I saw him under the feeders for the first time, I thought it was Winston and I freaked out, wondering how he'd gotten outside, until I saw Winston curled up sleeping on the bed.

We've started calling the other cat Twin Kitty. A few days ago, Twin Kitty was in his usual Sphinx-like position under the feeders. Then Winston jumped up on the couch to look out at the hummingbirds, as he likes to do. Then he saw Twin Kitty! He stared at Twin Kitty, completely fascinated. Then Twin Kitty saw Winston; he, too, was fascinated. They stared at each other for a minute; it seemed like longer. Then Twin Kitty gave up on the hummingbirds; he jumped off the wall under the feeders into the courtyard to get closer to the window. Again, they stared at each other. Then Winston moved to the tall narrow window next to the front door and Twin Kitty moved to the front porch, just on the other side of that window. They stared at each other -- no snarling or hissing or caterwauling. Just total fascination.

Eventually Twin Kitty left and Winston resumed watching the hummingbirds.

Late Summer, Early Fall

Almost all the hummingbirds are gone now. There are still a few hangers-on, but I'm trying to wean them off the feeders and send them on their way. I took down the big one and the little one, leaving only the medium one. I filled it Saturday and there's still quite a bit left. I won't fill it anymore. I'm afraid the birds won't leave if there's an endless supply of food here and it's really time for them to head south. In just another week or two, we'll get our first frost. Every year we have a few who stay longer than the others, but they always leave in time.

I love September and October. It's definitely my favorite time of year. Clear, crisp days that are warm but not hot and nights that are refreshingly chilly.

Hummingbirds, Part 3

The hummingbirds are so intent on guzzling at the feeders, they don't mind my presence as much, so I was able to get some pictures of the swarm. They're drinking as much as the can, in preparation for their trip south. They'll be leaving soon, heading to Mexico. I keep reminding myself of that every time I buy another bag (or two) of sugar and every time I refill one of the feeders. Even with three feeders up, the smallest one needs to be refilled twice a day.

The weather lately reflects the reality about living in the desert: temperature extremes. On the same day the high temperature is 93, the low temperature is 44! Yesterday, the previous record high was 87, but we hit 90. This has definitely been a long, hot summer and I'm ready for it to end.

More Hummingbirds

I'm still trying to get a good picture of all these hummingbirds, but it seems to be impossible. Or at least it takes a lot more patience than I have to stand out there and let them get used to me so they'll come back to the feeders. There are three or four times as many as in the picture. Even with three feeders up, the small one will still be emptied in twelve hours or less. This morning, after filling the small one and the big one, I was completely out of sugar, so I went to the store and bought 2 four-pound bags. They'll both be gone in a couple of days, I'm sure.


This is the time of year we start referring to it as "an infestation of hummingbirds." The cats really enjoy watching them (through the windows, of course).

Hummingbirds

It's hard to get a good picture of the hummingbirds. They're very skittish and fly away when I go out into the yard. When they come back to the feeders, they fly around so fast, only stopping briefly to drink. At the height of the feeding frenzy, there's a hummingbird on each of the 16 perches with more birds hovering around impatiently, sometimes chasing the other birds away from the feeders.


We had to put up the third feeder, "the big one," on Sunday. Before that, even with two feeders, the small one would be emptied in 12 hours or less. We're going through a lot of sugar! We don't buy the commercial hummingbird nectar; we make our own. Fill the feeder one-third full with sugar, then fill with hot tap water, shake until the sugar is dissolved, then hang. The birds seem to really love it when it's fresh and hot. Kind of like Krispy Kreme doughnuts; they're best when they're freshly made and hot.


We get a swarm of hummingbirds like this every summer. It starts out in late April with one or two birds, then four or five, and by mid to late July, there are too many to count. It will be like this for two or three weeks, and then gradually, one by one, they'll head south. By the end of August or beginning of September, when the nights are chilly and almost down to freezing, there are one or two hangers-on, and eventually they'll leave, too. Then we take the feeders down, clean them out, and put them away until next April.