Hallelujah!! Tax season is over! No more lunatics and sniping, sparring (even spitting and frothing) CPA's and accountants to deal with. The office is basically a morgue, my boss is out of the country, and I don't have a ton of things to do this week. I can look busy and do a lot of low-brain-rent work or even nothing but read blogs and surf through fun Wikipedia articles. What a huge relief.
Hummingbird Wars Update
So we did break down and buy another hummingbird feeder. The Guardian immediately claimed it, as well as the first one, but not even he can do all the work it takes to guard them both. We now have quite a few regulars, and some of them are even smart enough to divert the Guardian while the others sneak in. And we think the Guardian has met his match in a female who just refuses to be chased off, and even occasionally cusses him out and sends him away with head bowed. The activity is at its height around the hour before dusk, as everyone wants to get his fill to survive the night's rest. Having done some research, I found that hummingbirds go into a state of torpor to survive the night--their metabolism is so high that they must essentially hibernate each night, bringing their heart rate and body temperature down so as to not use up their body's energy reserves. They depend on the heat of the morning to wake up each day. It's a dicey life, and probably why they are so protective of their food sources.
The biggest event in the last few weeks was the hummingbird rescue. The feeders are hanging on the sides of our tack room, which is a converted 20-foot shipping container, with an added porch, window, and door. One of the feeders is right next to the door, and with all the swooping and diving, they are so fast that they don't always (apparently) look where they're going. During the time we're at the barn, we unlock our tackroom and always leave the door open. One afternoon a few days ago, E went into the tackroom to get something and I heard her yell, "Oh my God what kind of giant bug is that on the window?!?!" followed immediately by "It's a HUMMINGBIRD!" Since we are seasoned spider, bee, and ladybug rescuers, we immediately got a small bucket and stiff piece of paper and were able to get her into said bucket with very little fuss and no injury. She wasn't happy about it but did fly away when we opened the bucket outside. Operation Rescue was a success.
Otherwise, we just sit and watch them when we are taking a break and it's a lot of fun to see who comes, who's new, who's chasing whom, and to just marvel in the colors of these feisty little birds. We love the outside life and the all the fun of the horses, but this adds another dimension, and we do enjoy the mini-soap opera. So far I have not had to take out a loan for the sugar supply, but now that word has spread about the feeders, we are seeing a lot more action and look forward to another chapter of "As the Bird Spins".
Updates as they occur...
