The Early Bird

Things don't always work out the way you want them to, or even they way they should.

I'm sorry to have to report,,,

that our sweet little hummingbird eggs have not, and

 will not hatch.

Something has happened to the momma.  

We noticed she was gone, and when we started paying close attention, we realized she was not coming back. By the 4th day we knew, these precious little eggs just were not meant to be birds.

We don't know for sure what happened to the momma; did a mean ol' neighbor cat get her or did she simply abandoned the eggs?  NO, I'm SURE she wouldn't do that.  Remember how she flared at me before, in defending her eggs? No momma would abandon her babies for any reason!! The ONLY reason she would do that is if she COULDN'T come back, Im Sure of That!!

I've consoled myself with the idea that, really, it's better like This, for her to be gone before they hatched, than if the momma had disappeared After they had hatched.  THAT would've been terrible!! "Those poor babies would be dealing with abandonment issues for years" TJ said; so it's better this way I suppose.

I was so sad that I stayed away from Nancy's house for days.  And finally, I asked her, "If the momma's not coming back, and if they're not going to hatch, can I have the nest and the eggs?"  

Of course she said, "Of Course"!

So Sunday I went to pick them up and on Monday Nancy reads this  in her morning reading, and tells me "NOW I know why you wanted them!"

That little nest was absolutely glued down tighter than a drum.  What's tighter than a drum?  I have no idea, but when I tried to get that little nest to take home, it would not come loose from the branch so Nancy snipped the branch off for me and in the process one of the little eggs popped out of the nest and fell down!!!

Oh No!!

Well we picked it up, and looked at it cause even though I wanted to keep both eggs in the nest, we were  curious to see how far the birds had grown in the egg.  

Not very far. 

It's just a little blob of a would-be hummingbird  in there.  A Very Little Blob.

So these little eggs in this sweet amazing little nest is all I have for this year.

Remember last year?

Dear friend Nancy found a hummingbird nest in her back yard last year too, but by time we saw it, the baby hummingbirds had hatched and grown, and one actually fell out of that nest and DIED, but I got to get a photo of the other one

which was just about to fly the coop which is a silly phrase isn't it?
 
 
 
 
Chickens have coops but Dont Fly and birds Fly, but not from their coops, they fly from their NESTS
which is exactly what happened this year;

 the momma hummingbird flew from her NEST and never came back =((

 So I brought the tiny nest home on the branch that it's glued to, and oh my goodness is it ever Tiny.
Just look at the comparison!!  

On the left are Quail eggs and on the right are Chicken eggs:

"but the young you may take for yourself, in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days."

Egg Sandwich

Well it's official; TJ & I are in the Sandwich Generation!!

Our life is filled with loved ones on Both ends; 

On one end we LOVE spending time with our Grandkids playing Checkers and Fish Farts and such.

Oh Man, Papa's really got Bryan stumped now!!

And on the other end we're ever so glad to be helping our folks with what they need these days.

Tom's dad got to go Home 4 years ago and now Mom is ready to move down from their mountain home to the valley where we are, and that means sorting through their life-time of stuff/things/treasures trying to figure out what to take and what to do with what she doesn't need from the house and the garage and the barn and the shed and how must it feel for TJ to sort through his dad's workshop?!?

 

 
This isn't even HALF of it!!  This is after 5 or 6 DAYS of sorting, Sorting, SORTING!!
Being in the Sandwich Generation has it's nuances. I prefer to make my own mayo for my sandwiches which means I put eggs in a bowl of warm water before cracking them into the food processor to make my own mayo. 

Add some salt, a dash of vinegar & S L O W L Y pour in the oil

 to make a smooth magic mayo for the Egg Sandwiches that TJ & I like.

Oh My Goodness EGGS!!! 

My dear friend Nancy found a Hummingbird Nest in her back yard and it has EGGS in it, Im SO EXCITED!!!!  At first there was only one egg but then about a Week later, there were TWO!!

I read on line that a Momma Hummingbird waits to incubate the first one till the second one comes along.  Goodness!  So now there's TWO and she's sitting on those eggs ~ until I come around to take photos and then she flies off to let me see her tiny treasures. It's so interesting and beautiful!! The nest is made from moss and feathers and lichen and I dont know what that tan stuff is but the whole thing is just Beautiful, isn't it?!?!  I read on line that the Momma uses Spiderwebs to hold it all together How Does THAT Happen? and you can SEE how she's used the spiderweb to ancher it to the branches nearby, Unbelievable!!
Then after a bit she comes back and starts to BUZZ me and Chirp at me to let me know visiting hours are OVER! 
My camera can take 3.7 photos in 1 second which is how long it took her to fly in, land on the nest and get snuggled back in where she belongs, all the while she was Flaring her Red Iridescent throat at me:

And then Glared at me!!
She's either an Allen Hummingbird, or an Anna Hummingbird, or a Rufous Hummingbird
or maybe She's A Ruby Throated Hummingbird!  Im going to have to do some more research because Honestly I think she's an Anna even though she does have red on her throat. But it was only red like that when she was Flaring at me.  I think she did that at me, Flared Her Chest Red at me to let me know to Beware!!
Isn't that something?

And Look! At first the eggs were all white, 

and then about a week later there was a horizontal line around the eggs and half of it was ever so slightly pinkish,,, see??  That must mean those are little Girl hummingbirds in there!!  

And then a few days later the pink grew and Now Look ~ 

The Pink Part is getting Bigger Im So Excited!!!
These little cuties are going to hatch any day now I just know it. 

And I'll show them to you just as soon as the little darlings emerge. And even though I have home made mayo at home for the egg sandwiches that TJ & I like so much I Promise you 
 I. Wont. Eat. These!!!

 

Sewing Lessons

THANKS Mom!!

Because of you I Can Do This:

  

 I made this neat little baby blanket for the wife of one of the guys at our office who is having their first baby, a BOY (could you tell?) One of my friends made one (albeit a much better, cuter, neater, more refined one) of these "Crazy Quilts" for my dear DIL for her first baby and it TOTALLY inspired me!  

Thank you Sheila for the wonderful little quilt you made for my wonderful little granddaughter, and for Inspiring Me to try to make one too, which I did. See?

I found a group of coordinating fabrics and cut them into squares and sewed them together which was Step One.

 Then came the fun part.  I bought a book, 

 ok Two books of embroidery stitches, to give me ideas and I sat down to Stitch all the different stiches over the seams on the quilt, which was Step Two.

Hand stitching makes me feel so good. But Wha?!?  What's This?

I turned the page in my book to find a new stitch and what do I see? One of my dear sons (the tallest one) has left a little Love Note for me:

Isnt' that precious :/!!!

 It's weird how I see the ridges on the fingernails of my Grama Siemens as I'm doing my stitching.  Put a needle and thread in my hands and BAM! Just like that Im 7 again and Im sitting on the couch next to Grama Siemens watching her work on her 'hand work'.  Grama Siemens was a professional seamstress and made clothes from home for lots of the women in her small town.  Every time Id go to Grama's she'd take me in her sewing room and show me the latest projects that she was working on for 'her ladies'.  

(That's what she called her clients, Her LADIES, isn't that adorable?!?)

There's a lot of good embroidery stitches on line too and I found a bunch of them to inspire me.  It didnt actually take as long as I though it would to finish all the hand stitching on the little quilt but still, it's a good thing to have a deadline, which is what I had.  I wanted to get this little Crazy Baby Quilt done for the shower our office was having for the guy in our office having his first baby.  You know how they say, "if it weren't for the last minute, none of us would get anything done at all" so I was on a deadline to get this little quilt finished!

And now that all the hand stitching's done, it's time to put the backing on. That would be Step Three.

How hard could that be, right? Oh Dear.

I thought I was going to cut strips of fabric, miter the corners & sew it onto the edge of my quilt, then sew that onto the fabric that I had for the backing.  Yikes! where's my Grama Siemens when I need her?  Now let's see, how would she have done this?  On the sewing machine of course! Oooooh this is not going to be pretty.  The sewing machine is Not my friend.  'I'd rather sew a whole dress by hand than have to face my machine' is what I always say. You've heard me say that, right?

Well the truth is, I DO know how to use my sewing machine because Grama Siemens wasn't the only one in the family who knew how to sew, my MOM had me sewing on a machine at home since I was little, SO,,,  

I Can Do This!!

THANKS Mom!!! You taught me when I was little and now that Im big I actualy have the ability to pull this off! 

 I decided for myself that, based on the current inspiration I received from my friend Sheila, 

and the past inspiration I received from my Grama, 

put together with all the sewing lessons I received over the years from my Mom 

and I Can Do This!!

Sew I did.

Now,  about all those piano lessons...

Seasons

Everything is for a Season.
When the Season is rainy and dreary and dark, then I'm very happy that it's only for a Season.

But when the Season is sunny and warm and cheerful
 then I never want it to end.
 

And so it is with my dear Grand neighbors. 

Never in my life have I had such dear, delightful neighbors.

The sun began to shine when these guys (then 3 and 5) moved in next door

and became  grandneighbors of mine !!

I didnt know they were going to be my grandneighbors when they first moved in but boy am I glad it turned out that way. At first, it caught me off guard,,, they were just So Friendly! And they kinda talked funny; the dad especially, saying things like "a Boot" and "two MOOR oh" and "GAIR age". Every time Id open my garage door he didnt just wave, he walk over and visit!!  Well Im just not USED to that.  Around here, we open our 'GAIRage', back the car out and drive away.  We come home later, drive the car in the 'GAIR'age and shut the 'lid'.

But NOOOO, not these next door neighbors.

These friendly folks stand out front and Visit With Me.  Especially the dad.  He talks with me about the kids and about their plans and, remarkably,

 about the

: :

: :

WEATHER!!

Turns out I have my own personal professional weather man living right next door to me. This is not only convenient for me, but for them too, you see, I have a pool and they dont.
 They love to swim and I dont.
It's a match made on the North Side!

(which is what we've come to call ourselves,
as opposed to our dear neighbors on the South Side!!)
oh my.

now, don't get your pannies in a bunch, this isn't their REAL house;
Im just having fun.
But he really IS a weather man, on the local tv station, so along with all the latest goings on of his family and ours, we also discuss   In Detail   all the pertinent weather information I would ever need to know including a daily rendition of
"What's The Temperature In The Neighbors Pool?"

He would go in our backyard and tape a session with his kids showing the changing temperature in the pool and  then play it on TV with the forecast!!!
Yikes!!

 

Summer is the perfect season to have lots of fun and during the summer season, you can be fooled into thinking it will last forever!

The summer is so much fun; Just like my Grandneighbors!
We shared several fun, witty and funny years next door to each other, through the different seasons of their young lives

 But alas, as it always does, the season must come to an end

And sadly, as is typical in the world of a TV Weatherman,
this dear family is moving away.

Another family will move in, and a new season will begin,,,,
But THIS Family

will remain dear in my heart forever.