A Challenge For The Hummingbirds

Early in May we always look forward to seeing the Hummingbirds return to our area.  They show up about the same time as the Baltimore Orioles.  I have seen videos showing hundreds of hummers attacking feeders with great enthusiasm.  We don't have that happen.  It would be an amazing sight to see.  Our hummingbirds seem to be very territorial.  They don't like each other very much.  We also have difficulties with our feeders.  The problem is raccoons and bees.  We have to position the feeders carefully or they get knocked to the ground.  Pieces get broken off and all the sugar water drains out or the raccoon drinks it.  If we put the feeders where the raccoons can't reach it, the bees take over.  The hummingbirds try but the bees usually win.  The bees either chase the hummers while drinking the sugar water, or they crawl into the feeder holes and drown contaminating the water.  When they die, they plug the holes of the feeders and need to be cleaned out almost everyday.  I refer to these flying insects as bees, but they are actually wasps or hornets.  I believe they are called Bald-faced hornets. They are not a true hornet, but they are part of the wasp family.   I believe these are the hornets/wasps responsible for making the beautiful paper nests we have on our property.  I wrote about the nests two years ago.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/09/beautiful-paper-wasp-nests.html

At this time of year, I usually give up on feeders.  Fortunately we have a lot of flowers that the hummingbirds love.  Since there are more choices for the birds, they don't fight as much.  Right now the birds are bulking up for their long trek south. Soon they will leave for the winter, but next May we will be excited to see them again.  I did get a suggestion from a blog reader.  He suggested I attach a brown lunch bag to the feeder.  The bag mimics a paper wasp nest and the wasps think they are in a territory already being occupied.  I tried this for the short time left in this hummingbird season.  It has somewhat worked.  I have a lot less wasps and the hummers have been feeding.  It may be that the weather is cooler and the wasps are less active, but I will definitely be trying this method next Spring. 

Stages of Life

The past few days I have been noticing the Monarch butterfly flying around and the caterpillars eating the milkweed plant.  Every year I am fascinated with the life cycle of this butterfly.  They fly around, lay some eggs, the eggs hatch into caterpillars,  the caterpillars spin a cocoon or chrysalis and then a new butterfly is born. I wrote about this before so I won't do that again. 

  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/07/monarch-butterfly.html 

Watching this 30 day life cycle that happens every year, made me think of the human life cycle.  If we are fortunate enough to experience the whole process, there is an interesting thing about getting old.  Rather than live in the present or the future, the mind tends to recall things from the past.  I noticed this with my parents and now with myself.  It seems we have no control over where our mind wanders to.   Sometimes I can't remember the name of the person who does the local news (which I watch almost every day), but something from fifth grade pops into my head.  Today, I was trying to think of the name of an actress in a commercial I was watching, when suddenly I remembered doing a report on Aluminum when I was ten years old.  From that thought I remembered once a week we listened to a radio program called "Let's Sing".  Through the Wisconsin School of the Air on WHA, we had an introduction to music.  I guess we didn't have a music teacher.  We would get sheets of music printed out on a mimeograph machine.  I can still remember the smell of the ink.  Out of the blue, I started singing this song.  I wonder how many from my fifth grade class remembers this radio show and this song.

I love the day of Purim so!
For then to synagogue I go,
And hear them read the story old,
Of Esther brave and Haman bold.   
O Purim O Purim O Purim full of joy
For every, for every Jewish girl and boy.
Have a party, sing a song, turn the grogger loud and long
Sha-lach Ma-not give and take,
Eat your Hamantashen cake!
O Purim O Purim O Purim full of joy
For every, for every Jewish girl and boy.

Maybe this song was an attempt to introduce us to other cultures.  This was well before the politically correct curriculum became the norm, so perhaps not.

Like it was yesterday, I can remember the poems I learned in seventh grade, but I'd be hard pressed to remember what I made for dinner last night.  I wrote about some of these poems a few years ago.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/02/adventure-bound.html

These unexplained thoughts also come forth in nighttime dreaming although the night dreams usually are a combination of many life stories and thoughts.  Most of them make no sense at all.  Dreaming really confuses me.  Last night I dreamt that someone from my past was having a heart attack but when I went to do CPR, he had someone else's face.  I suddenly woke up and my husband was talking in his sleep and making guttural sounds just like the dying person.  I went back to sleep and had another ridiculous dream that stressed me out.  It put me in a bad mood for hours.

I won't try to figure out why my mind jumps around the way it does.  I think it is because it can.  When you are young and either raising children or working in a job to make a living, you don't have room or time for your brain to jump from thought to thought.   Now it's actually kind of nice at times.  As long as the mind is active, you aren't dead.  In fact, I have a theory.  I believe this is another stage of life.  First you live in the moment and try to survive, then you move to a stage when you try to make the most out of life, third you think of times gone by and and relax about the little irritants but still get annoyed,  pretty soon you realize you aren't going to change people and they have to learn their own lessons, lastly comes pure calm, contentment and acceptance.  It is all good.  Hopefully I have a ways to go since I am in the times gone by stage.  When you notice I am in the calm, content and acceptance stage, I will be in the final phase.  Until then "Let's Sing".

Disclaimer:  These are only my personal ideas and feelings.  They are not based on any scientific research or fact.  I'm sure everyone makes their own journey and some people can be jerks up until their dying day and others have always been cool, calm and collected.  

A Summer Day With Nana and Papa

I just realized it has been almost two weeks since I have written a blog.  It isn't that time stands still, it's just that history repeats itself, and I have already written about most of the topics in previous blogs. I see the same birds, I make the same food and although I am getting older my world remains very similar year to year.

Speaking of history repeating itself, we usually have our grandchildren for the day some time during the summer.  With school starting in less than two weeks, we thought today would be a good day.  About 8:30 this morning all five of them arrived.  We have a granddaughter who will be 16 in two months, a grandson who will be 15 in two days, a grandson who is 12, a grandson who is 8 and our youngest grandson who is 6.  A lot of different ages and a variety of personalities.

I tried to get a picture of all of them together but it reminded me of wack-a-mole.  I never got them gathered in one place all day long. 

Here is how Melissa spent most of her day.  She watched TV,  she had her ipod in one hand and her iphone in the other and she drank her large bottle of Starbuck coffee drink.  She is the only girl and playing hide and seek and running through the woods wasn't her thing.  I am just honored she wanted to come spend the day again. 

The two oldest grandsons, Dylan and Sam, played outside with the younger boys.  They did come in for a while to play an electronic game.  It was pretty hot outside and they came in to cool off.

The two youngest grandsons Jack and Ewan wanted to do a project.  So after lunch Papa took them out to the workshop, but first I spoiled them all.  I had a short order kitchen going for a while.  I made fried potatoes for Melissa, dumplings for Sam, a ham and cheese sandwich on a homemade hamburger bun for Dylan, hotdogs and a cinnamon roll for Jack and chicken soup for Ewan.  I said they all are unique personalities and obviously like different foods.

I wasn't sure what the project plan was but I followed them out to the garage with the camera.  They were making something interesting.

With safety glasses on they began sawing wood.

Jack didn't like the screeching of the table saw so he found ear protection.

Ewan learning about the drill press.

Jack drilling his board.

The "project" is being assembled.

After using the nailer, the projects came together.  This is what they each made.  It is a Candy Dispenser.  We had to make a little trip to the store to buy some M & M's to see if it worked.  Jack wanted regular M & M's for his Dispenser while Ewan wanted peanut butter ones for his. 

Hopefully they don't get too sugared up tonight, but they were both proud of their project with Papa.

Before it was time to go home, Ewan had one more thing to do.  He counted eight squirrels in the yard and was determined to eliminate a few.

I spotted  this serious hunter with a shovel on the trail camera.

The trick is to be sneaky.

Alas, the squirrels won again. 

After a very nice day, it is again quiet in our house.   Who knows how many years we will be able to make this happen.  Soon the older kids will be off to college and starting their own lives, but for now we will appreciate days like this.

A Healthy Homemade Version of Chocolate Syrup

Every other Tuesday this summer, we have had two of our grandboys for the day.  It broke up the summer a little for them and gave us a chance to see them.  Yesterday our granddaughter came along.  She will be 16 in a couple months so I think her day was quite boring, but it was very nice to have her here.

The boys like chocolate milk, but I didn't have any.  I had some Trader Joe's organic chocolate syrup, but it was almost gone.  We eeked out enough for one glass, and I promised to get some before next time.

I dropped the kids off late in the afternoon and had to stop at the grocery store on the way home.  I looked at the Hershey syrup and another brand.  I was shocked to see the first ingredient was High Fructose Corn Syrup.  They still put that junk in products.  Needless to say, I didn't buy any.

This morning as I was putting the empty syrup container into the recycle bin, I remembered a recipe I had seen a few months ago.  http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/?s=chocolate+syrup

Jill from the Prairie Homestead has a lot of great information and recipes.  I had all the ingredients and in less than five minutes, I made chocolate syrup.  This isn't as tasty as the recipe we all have made with real butter and cream, but it will work fine for making chocolate milk.  I put the finished syrup in the Trader Joe's container and the boys won't know the difference.  They are very visual and if the food or the container looks a little different from what they are used to, they balk.

Here is the recipe from the Prairie Homestead:

Homemade Chocolate Milk Syrup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cocoa powder (I would cut this amount to taste)
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
•  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/01/make-your-own-vanilla.html
  

Directions:

1. On low, in a medium saucepan, mix together the maple syrup and water. Bring to a simmer.
2. Whisk in the cocoa powder. Remove from heat.
3. Add vanilla extract and let cool (syrup will thicken).
4. Simply add your desired amount to a glass of milk and enjoy. Keep in the fridge for up to three weeks.

It seemed that 1 cup of cocoa powder was a lot, so I used 3/4 cup.  It still had a very strong chocolate flavor.  This also doesn't seem as sweet as the high fructose product but it is so much better for everyone. 

I didn't want to throw my sample away so I embellished it.  I added some vanilla protein powder and some instant coffee.  Yum, there may not be any chocolate syrup left for the boys when they come next time.  I will have to make more.

Start Your Campfire With These Little Fire Starters

Sundays are always long boring days for me.  I don't know why, but it has always been that way.  My house is clean enough and the laundry is caught up.  My husband is working on a big project so there is no hope of going anywhere or doing anything fun.  I had to occupy myself.  I grabbed some iced tea and went outside to start a campfire.  It was a beautiful day to just sit and relax.  As I was starting the fire, I noticed I was down to my last two fire starters.  I decided I could multi task.  I could sit by the fire and make more fire starters.  Quite a while ago I wrote about giving away egg cartons.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/02/egg-cartons-and-berry-baskets-to-give.html  It has gotten to the point where I can't find anyone who wants them.  You would think with the popularity of raising chickens, I would easily be able to give away cardboard egg cartons.  Since I have a bunch, I didn't feel bad about re-purposing a couple.

I make these fire starters with old candle wax, sawdust and egg cartons.  Since I discovered essential oil diffusers,  I don't burn that many candles anymore.  I have kept a few of the jar candles that have the wick burned up but still have wax in the jar.  It sounds like I'm a hoarder, but I don't think I am.  I just keep things I know I can re-purpose.

When making this type fire starter, the first thing you do is melt some wax.  Whether it is a block of paraffin or used candle wax, it really doesn't matter.  I tried a new approach today to melt the wax.  I filled an old kettle we had in our Goodwill donation box with water and placed it on the campfire grate.  In the water, I placed a used jar candle.  My husband thought melting the wax outdoors was also a lot safer.  It worked great.  If I spilled, it was no big deal.

I sat and relaxed while the hot water melted the wax.  Then I went to my husbands workshop and gathered some sawdust off the floor.  While working on his project, he made a pile of sawdust that hadn't been swept up yet.  I filled a box with sawdust even though my project will only take a small amount.

This box of sawdust will last for a very long time.

I gathered an old metal coffee can and cut the tops off the egg cartons.  I just threw the tops in the fire.

At this point I filled the coffee can about half full with saw dust.  I took the saucepan off the fire and let it cool off a little bit.  The wax will stay melted for a long time.  I found a stirring stick and poured the melted wax into the sawdust.  I mixed it completely so all the sawdust was moistened with wax.  Then I took an old cookie scoop and placed a scoop of mixture into the egg cartons and pressed them down firmly.

That is all there is to it.  I intended to fill three egg cartons, but I miscalculated and half a coffee can only makes two dozen starters.  Using two egg cartons won't put a dent in my stash of cartons, so I will still have to find a home for them.

To use these fire starters, just cut them apart after the wax has hardened.  When you want to start a campfire, just place two starters in the fire pit with some kindling.  Light the cardboard carton and the wax will begin to burn.  There is no need for lighter fluid or a lot of paper.

I just store the starters in a covered container and grab what we need whenever we have a campfire.

Happy Ending To Our Bluebird Summer

Every summer I write about the bluebirds in our yard.  Every year is different and every year I learn a lot.  As many of my friends know, this year has been a struggle.  It all started in early Spring when a pair of bluebirds came to look at our property.  As I have mentioned several times, we have two houses about fifteen feet apart.  Every year the Tree Swallows occupy one house and the Eastern Bluebirds occupy the other.  For thirteen years it was always the same.  Apparently this bluebird couple is new to the neighborhood and didn't get the memo.  After a lot of deliberation, they chose the tree swallow house.

Mrs. Eastern Bluebird

Mr. Eastern Bluebird.

This pair arrived in March and began building their first nest on April 14, 2016.  The weather had finally gotten warm enough.

Building a nest in the Tree Swallow house.

She laid only two eggs.  Bluebird eggs usually take 12-14 days to hatch.  She wasn't very good at sitting on the nest, and I thought it was strange particularly when the weather was still cool.  Maybe she knew they weren't viable.  Then, a couple weeks later,  I began seeing her bringing in more nesting material.  I had not removed the old nest and unhatched eggs but she started building a new nest on top of the old one.  She took a lot of time making this nest perfect and eventually laid five eggs.

Then early in the morning on May 30th, the bluebird pair were unsettled. The male would go into the house and pull out pieces of nesting. They were chattering.  I went to look and all five eggs are gone. They weren't on the ground like they would be if a wren had gotten to them. They had disappeared completely.  We speculated as to what happened.  It could have been a raccoon, a snake, a chipmunk, a red squirrel or a cat,  but we really didn't know. 

For six days, the bluebirds remained in the area. They would sit on the house and briefly go in. They would chase other birds away. Eventually they were more active and stayed nearby. I checked the house for a new nest because I had removed the other two. There was no nest but one lone egg was laying on the wooden floor of the birdhouse,  I really didn't know what to think at this point.  I left it for two days trying to decide if I remove it or just see what happens.

This egg sat unattended for two days.

On June 10, before I got a chance to remove the egg, she started building another nest.  Five days later she laid the first egg.  This time she also laid five eggs.

Things were going well for a few days.  After the first egg was laid, we put the wren guard on the birdhouse.  Wrens have been a problem for us and other years this guard protected the nest from the nasty house wren.

Then disaster struck again.  This time the eggs were pulled out of house and destroyed.  The wren guard was actually ripped off the roof.  The house is old and the roof wasn't very sturdy.

Again I cleaned out the old nests,  and we repaired the house.  At this point a bluebird expert suggested we put a Noel Guard on the house.  A Noel Guard protects the birdhouse hole so a larger predator can't reach into the house and a wren can't fly directly in to pierce the eggs.  It was worth a try. We have never had a bluebird lay more than three batches of eggs in a summer, so I thought this was the end of the season.  Maybe we would have better luck next year, but we installed a Noel Guard just in case.  http://www.sialis.org/noel.htm

Much to our surprise, around June 27th, our bluebird pair tried again for the fourth time.  She worked hard building a nest.  By this time she was a pro.  She got used to the Noel Guard quickly and laid four eggs.  I held my breath for the first few days, but things went well.  On July 16 all four eggs hatched.

Newly hatched Eastern Bluebirds.

Both parents worked very hard keeping the babies fed.  I don't know how they got this big fly into bite size pieces.

Four day old babies

Nine day old babies.

Twelve day old babies.

Today is August 2.  The Bluebird babies are seventeen days old.  They were ready to fledge.  The parents are usually very tolerant of me peeking into the birdhouse, but this morning they actually dive bombed me when I walked across the yard.  They get very protective when it is time for the babies to leave the nest.  I watched and saw one little bird peeking his face out.

I knew the time was near so I grabbed a chair and started watching.  On my way outside, I saw one leave.  I had my camera with the zoom lens on.  The mom went in for a little encouragement.

I watched for a while and then the baby bird flew directly at me.  He landed on the tree about two feet away.  Too close for my zoom lens.  I took a couple photos anyway.

What a wonderful ending for us and this Eastern Bluebird family.  I think the Noel Guard was the secret.  Next Spring we will start out with it on the house and maybe we will have even more success.