Yesterday, this female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird was hanging out opposite the side porch nectar feeders to keep an eye on her stash. While she waited for the shutterbug to go away, she snacked on gnats:
She’s about the size of a normal adult human’s pinkie finger (i.e., twice the size of Donald Trump’s).
We’re having beautiful weather this weekend, compared to last week anyway. It’s still hot, but the highs are in the 80s instead of 90s, and the lows are in the low 70s. There’s even a low in the high 60s on the horizon. It’s less humid too, as if the hurricane sucked some of the moisture out of the air.
The good news is, summer is almost over. The bad news is, the hummingbirds will be leaving soon.
***
In a recent discussion here about the tribulations of those of us who deal with wingnut relatives, someone mentioned a podcast called “The Necessary Conversation.” It features an adult son and daughter talking to their Trumpy parents about topics of the day.
During a road trip yesterday, I tried to listen to it but gave up less than 10 minutes in. Both of the parents are hateful, brainwashed troglodytes, but the father especially needs to be ball-gagged, trussed like a Thanksgiving turkey, stuffed into a rusty cannon and fired into a toxic waste dump.
Anyhoo, my only surviving parent is a Trump voter, as are some aunts and uncles. I really hate that, but the brief listen to that podcast gave me insight into how much worse it could be. The 10 minutes was worth it.
Open thread.
Baud
Probably in the season finale.
J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)
Harsh, but fair.
It has been somewhat humid here in the San Diego area. The temperatures have been in the upper 80s mostly, and there was even a brief rain shower yesterday morning. It is somewhat unusual to have rain either in August or September.
sab
My dad was raised Republican, converted early to Democrat, then late in life switched back since he was watching Faux news while suffering from dementia. It was a major source of tension with my mom. She never switched parties but she always voted for the other guys (Dems) from Reagan on. She loved Obama.
sab
Our plants this year (purple coneflowers and Rose of Sharon) were really popular with hummingbirds. The squirrels tore down the hummingbird feeder, but what with the plants that didn’t matter.
Old Dan and Little Ann
My mom was in Dallas for a few weeks visiting with my sister. She watched the debate with her and her husband. My mom told me yesterday that my sister likes DeSantis and my bil still says the election was rigged. Oi!
As for birds, we have a little bird feeder out backyard but it empties in less than 12 hours and we rarely get any interesting birds.
Alison Rose
Hummingbirds are so sweet, and yes, so very tiny! As a birb nerd, I’ve been posting a Birb of the Day photo on Facebook all year, and some of the hummingbirds look so small, they could probably nap inside a walnut shell.
I’m also thankful that, since I can’t go out, I have a huge tree outside my windows. I’m on the third floor, so I get to see lots of various birds hanging out in the tree year round. The cat appreciates it too. There’s a wide windowsill for her, so she has a front-row seat to Cat TV. There are also a few bold and industrious squirrels that make their way up, sometimes by climbing another tree a few units down that is flush against the building, running down the roof edge, and leaping off of it into my tree.
As for Trumpy relatives, my mom’s uncle took a right turn around 2016, probably thanks to his wife, and ended up dying from Covid because he ignored the social distancing and such. He wasn’t overly hateful (I recall him saying “why the hell should I care if two gay people get married” in a very Jewish “we shouldn’t mix in” kind of way) but he got pulled in by the bullshit myth of TIFG being a tough guy who would defend the nation’s honor or whatever. His wife was worse, and my mom was sad when her uncle died but not sad about not having to be in contact with his widow anymore.
Alison Rose
@J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian): We had a little rain the night before last up here in Sonoma County. This is always such a strange time of year for weather in California.
Mousebumples
Recommend Jason Kander’s Majority 54. Helpful with talking points and ways to approach conversations with persuadable normies or the Trump curious.
Mike in NC
The aftermath of that last hurricane meant that the following day the temps were in the upper 60s, not upper 90s. This coming week appears to be bringing some not-so-nice south Florida weather to us.
When Moscow Mitch shuffles off this mortal coil soon, they should just wrap his desiccated corpse in a Confederate battle flag and fire it into the sun.
Scout211
Friday was the first day of dove hunting season and my neighbors are periodically interrupting our peaceful life in the country with gunshots all weekend. Sigh. Poor doves. ☹️
Mother Nature has sent a gift to the foothills and high country of NorCal this weekend. Highs have been in the 70s here with off and on rain all weekend. It has been a welcome surprise. Just as we now enter one of the worst months for wildfires, we get cold, damp and rainy weather. Sweet!
Next week we are back to sunny and 90s, but this is just an amazing gift. 😊
SFAW
Ergo twice the size of another TFG “appendage.”
smith
@sab: For a long time my strategy has been to grow food for birds rather than feed them directly. Lots of flowers in the summer, and lots of seed-producing plants that I let stand all winter. I also have a big stand of milkweed, so by late summer it’s a bird and butterfly extravaganza. In spring and fall I also get a lot of interesting migrants who sometimes stop and stock up for a few days before they’re on their way again.
Villago Delenda Est
The vile homunculus that is David Brooks thinks we normal people need to reach out to these fascist fucks and find some middle ground. Sorry. Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich destroyed any chance for that. Fuck these people clear to the Oort Cloud.
Alison Rose
@Scout211: dove hunting??? But…why??
Betty Cracker
@Old Dan and Little Ann: ALL birds are interesting birds. ;-)
@smith: We have a firecracker bush and some vines that are beloved by hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. The HBs still go thru the nectar pretty fast though. Their metabolism is insane.
smith
@Villago Delenda Est: It’s really a variation on “only Democrats have agency.” We’re told we have a civic duty to reach out to the Goobers, since they just can’t help themselves, poor babies.
Scout211
I know, right? And how do they clean them and cook them? They are little just things. ☹️
But with all the bang, bang, bang around here, I am guessing that not many have actually been shot. At least I hope.
sab
@Alison Rose: Doves are actually hard to shoot because they fly so erratically. Lots of people shoot at them. Few people hit them.
sab
I have a potted bougeanvilea that the hummingbirds are crazy for. It is in a pot because it cannot survive Ohio winter. I had it under a grow light last winter and it bloomed a bit, but it loved Ohio summer. So did the hummingbirds.
Kelly
Another night of good rain in western Oregon. Around an inch over the last week. Much of it is from thunder storms so the distribution is variable. Smoke is cleared firefighters report improving progress but not yet fire season ending rain.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
I don’t understand all the hummingbird energy expenditure as they flit from feeder to feeder to flower to chase to tree to feeder to chase to shout at us to more chasing….
sab
@smith: I am moving more that way myself. Perennials. That way I don’t have to do anything and the birds are still okay.
Betty Cracker
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: They’re like coke heads, only with sugar! 😂
Alison Rose
@sab: But what’s the point? Do they eat them? Use their feathers in craft projects? Or is it just the usual “I’m a hunter because I like killing stuff because it makes my dick feel bigger” thing?
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
OT, but where are you in reference to Tampa?
Tentatively, I have business travel putting me in Tampa the week of 02OCT and am looking for recommendations.
zhena gogolia
@Alison Rose: I think they eat them. 🙁
cope
Any suggestions for dealing with bees swarming our multiple hummingbird feeders?
We’ve tried decreasing the sugar in our food, a commercial mint-based repellant spray and putting up a feeder with no bee guards just for the bees, all to no avail. We don’t begrudge the bees some food it’s just that they sometimes gang up on the hummers to drive them off.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
ETA: we do have flowering plants the hummers also frequent so it’s not like they’re going to starve.
sab
@Alison Rose: Beats me. I don’t understand bird hunting at all. Deer hunting I wouldn’t do, but they do starve if too many. Bird hunting I just don’t understand. Some people like to kill critters.
Quinerly
What a coincidence. I was just about to do a little hummer research. Maybe someone can save me a little time. I have been bombarded with hummingbirds for 2 plus weeks. No feeders…they have been enjoying my roses, sages, blanket flowers, and especially the Hummingbird Mint. Then poof! 2 days ago all gone. I’m obviously not a bird person but I have been getting into learning about all the birds in my new yards here in Santa Fe… 3 acres….quail, thrashers, ravens galore! Not to mention snakes, rodents, badgers, and coyotes. I am assuming the hummingbirds took off for Mexico and South America….migration season. I’m in a couple of NM Gardening FB Groups and many have posted that all the hummingbirds left this week. There were certainly no stragglers here. All left together after days of dive bombing me when I went out the door. So my question is pretty simple….KC and St. Louis friends still have hummers and one gal said she has hers in KC until Oct. What’s the deal with that? Different variety? Don’t migrate? Will I have another wave of hummingbirds coming through? Maybe the Midwest ones skip me and go thru Texas? Like I said…never was a bird person and after living in the inner city for 40 years, don’t recall any hummingbirds at my St. Louis city home. If you want to laugh at me, you may do it publicly here.😁 It seems to me that the Midwestern ones should have moved on before my NM ones.
hueyplong
@Villago Delenda Est: If David Brooks, in his entire life, said Republicans needed to meet Democrats halfway on any issue, I’d very much interested in knowing about it.
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: I don’t live there now but did for years and visit often, so I know it well. What sort of recs are you looking for?
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: Ugh. I hope they get pooped on.
Quinerly
@cope: I just saw a post in a NM Gardening Group. Put mint on your feeders. Lay on top neat where the openings are. Supposedly deters bees and yellow jackets. That group is also big about cleaning your feeders every 2 days. I don’t have feeders but have had tons of hummers this year as I mentioned.
Nukular Biskits
@Quinerly:
A few weeks ago, I asked for some advice on my roses. Based on recommendations, it looked like they were iron deficient so I started adding iron supplement to their weekly feedings.
So far, nothing I’ve done has helped. Looks like I’ll be replacing the entire bed out front. I’m sure the hellish heat this year didn’t help.
:>(
And thanks to Betty for reminding me about the hummers … I don’t have a bed set up for them yet but I need to put out some feeders.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
Dining, mostly.
I’ve been to Orlando a couple of times over the past 30 years but never to Tampa (at least as an adult).
dmsilev
@cope: I get bees occasionally, but only one or two at a time, so it’s not really been an issue. My problem is at the other end of the size spectrum: I get hooded orioles, which are small by any rational standard but huge compared to hummingbirds, and they’re convinced that they should be able to snack on the sugar water (they’re mainly fruit eaters). Looks ridiculous, but I guess it works for them.
pat
I am in eastern Austria (Graz) in a house that we stay in a couple of times a year and the summer has been hot and wet, lots of rain, and the vegetation has really taken off. The back yard is a jungle, of stinging nettles! The Hortensia blossoms are bigger than I’ve ever seen them. The old vines are totally out of control.
Temps are in the low 70s but in a house with no AC it is a bit uncomfortable because without a fan there is no air movement (yes I am spoiled..!) and no businesses are air conditioned. (We have a couple of rotating fans that we can move from room to room but I have been in houses where such new-fangled things are still unknown.)
I am thinking back to the 50s in MN when we had two (!) tiny fans and a fan in the attic to blow hot air out the window. And I am wondering how this will develop as the climate change increases temps everywhere and folks finally wake up to the fact hey, there’s such a thing as AC in your home/ business…. The problem is that most homes are heated with hot water radiators and there is no way to just plug in an air conditioner.
Also the ensuing increase of energy demand.
Well, I’m rambling a bit but the bottom line is, eventually this climate change will bring about changes in the ways people all over the world have to live.
Geminid
@Quinerly: Maybe your hummingbirds were just passing through, stopping off for a bite on the way south from a more nectar rich area.
traveling mn
I am saddened that these trumpists are my generation, born in the 40’s and 50’s. They also the 60’s love generation. Reagan ended the “fairness doctrine” in radio which gave birth to Rush and the ditto heads followed by the poison spewed by FOX.
Josie
@Alison Rose: They definitely eat them. In South Texas, where I grew up, there are two weekends, usually in September, for hunting white-winged doves, and a longer season for hunting mourning doves. They are very tasty when cooked with butter and lemon. True, one dove gives you only 4 or 5 bites, but several make a meal.My late husband and my oldest son were excellent wing shots and used to go with a guide into Mexico on dove hunting trips. His customers were usually rich guys who were not very shots, so my guys were along to get everyone’s limits for bragging rights.
ETA: My two younger boys were not so inclined.
smith
@Quinerly: We still have them in Chicago as of two days ago. In the Eastern half of the country we pretty much only have ruby-throated hummingbirds — except, I believe, another species or two in limited areas of the far South — while the West has a much greater variety. Maybe yours are a different species?
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: Do you have any dietary restrictions or favorite food types, e.g., seafood, steaks, etc.?
Tampa has wonderful Cuban food — better than can be found anywhere else in Florida, IMO. The original Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City has great food, plus it’s visually stunning, and the service is excellent — and it’s surprisingly affordable for all of that. The one drawback is that depending on where you’re seated, it can be a little loud. If you imbibe, try the white sangria!
Definitely have a deviled crab when you’re in town if you eat shellfish. Carmine’s, also in Ybor, makes a great one, and it’s hard to find authentic deviled crabs in any other city.
Quinerly
@Nukular Biskits: my first attempt at roses. Seems roses love the High Desert! I put in 3 Joseph’s Coats (climbers) last Fall ordered on sale from Jackson Perkins. I have been amazed at how they took off on this adobe wall that divides the main yard from my dog’s yard. Just put in out front a hardy Austrian Copper that is real popular here. I like the looks of those wild roses…so learning about them. They are everywhere in town…even in the parking lot at Walmart. So I’m adding some those in a few weeks. Finally, I ordered a Sally Holmes climber at the suggestion of a chick at SF Bot Garden. Supposedly does well here. Putting it to climb on a section of the latilla fence in the dog yard. I’m learning. So far no problems to research.
Alison Rose
@cope: I subscribe to Birds & Blooms magazine for the vicarious thrill, and they had an article about that a few issues back. Maybe some of these tips might help?
Geminid
@pat: There’s some heavy weather a few hundred miles west of you. From Reuters:
Ed. They also had some exceptionally heavy storms a few weeks ago in Mecca. They included high winds, heavy downpours, and fierce lightning.
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
I’m on the proverbial “seefood” diet … whatever I see, I’ll eat.
<rimshot>
Cuban food sounds good and that’s probably the best place to try it.
I have a general rule to not order food that’s out of region; i.e., ordering carne asada burritos in Bath, ME, or lobsta chowdah in BFE, MS. Although there are always exceptions. One of the best Philly cheesesteaks I ever had was at a little hole-in-the-wall place just north of the Navy Base in San Diego. Turns out the proprietor was from NJ.
cope
@dmsilev: We tried some drops of mint extract and then the commercial mint spray my wife found online, both seemingly had no effect. I’m pretty diligent about changing food every few days as well. I’m thinking we’ll just increase the number and variety of hummingbird-friendly plants we plant next spring.
Catnaz
My only surviving sibling is a living example of the Horseshoe Theory; so far left that his opinions are identical to those of rightwingers. He is a fan of RFKJr, God help us.
Nukular Biskits
@Quinerly:
When I first planted and until the heat arrived, they were beautiful.
And then one by one, the leaves would start turning yellow and the plant would die.
I’ve never had roses do this.
The hibiscuses I planted on the other side (same soil, prep, etc) are thriving and gorgeous.
Damfino.
pat
@Geminid
South, I expect. We are on our way to the Arlberg next week, in the mountains next to Switzerland. See some of that valley where we skiied and hiked for about 40 years, this time without snow.
Weather in Italy and Greece has been awful. Just read about the Greek islands and they will never be the same again after the massive wildfires.
I have to wonder what will happen when more and more tourists decide not to go to places that depend on tourism, and the airlines that depend on them flying there.
mrmoshpotato
OMG! 🤣🤣🤣🥰
cope
@Alison Rose: Wow, thanks. We need to replace a feeder that fell and broke so I’ll get one of the saucer style ones and see how it goes.
Thanks again.
Redshift
@sab:
I’ve mentioned this before, but based my experience with my mother in law, I think people in the early to mid stages of dementia are particularly vulnerable to bring sucked into Fox. There’s a point where they have enough memory problems that watching real news (and a lot of TV dramas) becomes frustrating because they can’t follow it and don’t understand why. But Fox repeats simple ideas over and over again, so there’s no need to remember anything.
So if you have older relatives who aren’t Foxbots already, do everyone a favor and block Fox when you visit, so they don’t ever stumble into it.
mrmoshpotato
@Mike in NC:
Yes, sir!
Quinerly
@Nukular Biskits:
Don’t know. Like I said, I’m new to roses. I don’t want to jinx anything here, but I have been amazed at these Joseph’s Coats. Tripled in size. Continous blooms since April. Leaves very green. I didn’t do much to the soil, either. Rose fertilizer and this stuff out here everyone recommends….Yum Yum Mix.
Good luck. Sorry they are dying.
cope
@Nukular Biskits: The best fish and chips I’ve ever had in this country were from a place in Rawlings, Wyoming in ‘71 or ‘72
The owner was a Brit who had friends send him stacks of British newspapers for an ultra-authentic and delicious meal.
Also too, I second BC’s recommendation of Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.
Quinerly
@smith: I think people are saying the ones here are Rufous Hummingbirds. They seem to be aggressive with each other too. “Hummingbird Wars.” I’ll start my research on it a little later.
Betty Cracker
@Nukular Biskits: Gourd-forking-dang-it! This shitty mobile interface just ate a long, carefully curated list of recs, and I’m too disgusted to recreate it right now. I’ll catch you again during the week. 🤬
Alison Rose
I don’t know if any jackals have high-chair aged kids, but I know a lot of you have grandkids or know others with babies/toddlers. FYI just in case:
Greg Smith
Pretty confident that this is a juvenile male. The females have mostly unmarked throats. The streaking that you see on the throat is characteristic of first year males. They begin to get their gorget about this time of year. The dark spot at the base of the throat is the very first gorget feather growing in.
Quinerly
@Geminid: pretty sure that was it. Honestly, I don’t think I had any in the Spring. These birds know to come here late summer since that’s when all this Russian Sage and Hummingbird Mint is in full bloom. Pretty sure it was only a 2-3 week thing and then on to Mexico.
Dan B
@Quinerly: Love Sally Holmes. I first saw it in England in the eighties. I planted one for a client and it made a cloud of roses ten feet across and seven feet tall.
kalakal
Our garden doesn’t do that well with birbs sadly. A big exception is we have an open back porch and nearly every year wrens nest in it so we get to see the whole cycle up to the kids leaving the nest. The front yard is more fun as the local Ibis gang like to spend their time clearing the area of grubs. What we do get is a lot of butterflies, zebras, monarchs, ffritillarys, sulfers & huge, beautiful swallowtails.
Got a load of Giant Luna Moth caterpillars this year but I didn’t see any adults
wjca
Without BJ I wouldn’t realize just how blessed I am. All my relatives have reactions to various MAGA behaviors that run the gamut from “That’s just nuts!” to “How can anyone be that stupid?” None of us are all that liberal. But then, you don’t have to be to have those reactions.
As for birds, hummers are way too hyper for my taste (although my wife seems to like them). More into quail.
Quinerly
@Dan B: this is great news! I loved the one at the Bot Garden. Everyone I have talked to in my quest for learning about roses says she will do great here…heat, waterwise, soil. She’s arriving in a couple of weeks!
Geminid
@pat: Ironically, I read that a prolonged drought from last year into this one really hurt this year’s olive harvest in Italy and Spain.
Turkiye has banned export of olive oil in bulk in order to keep domestic prices down. Evidently Italian producers were buying up the oil to repackage as their own. This may not be that unusual; when the export ban story broke, someone said that even in normal years Italy exports more olive oil than it produces. I don’t know if that is true but it would not surprise me.
JoyceH
I don’t think I have any genuine wingnuts in the family. Even my pretty dang conservative brother in law always said that Trump was crazy.
As for what I’ve been doing, well, I don’t want to jinx it, but I’ve been back at writing for about three weeks now, writing almost every day, so I think I might be past that slump (that went on for three freakin’ years!). I’m making fairly steady progress on the fifth book in my Regency Mage series. And I also rediscovered the beginning of a novelization of a screenplay I wrote years ago, and I think it looks quite promising.
I had pretty much dropped pandemic protocols, but now I’m going back to them. My sister and her husband out in California (I visited them in July) both have COVID now. They’re both pretty old and Carol has health issues, but they’re taking paxlovid and feeling better today than yesterday, so fingers crossed. I’m going to see if my doctor will give me paxlovid just to have in case I test positive – I’m scheduled to go to England (!) in October and don’t want anything to mess that up.
Betty Cracker
@Greg Smith: You could be right! It’s hard to tell when the young males don’t have their full cravat yet, but I’ve read that females get a stray colorful throat feather sometimes, and the rounded tips on the tail feathers made me think she’s a she. Maybe Albatrossity will see this and give us an expert ruling!
Quinerly
Re Hummers….I was very fortunate to already have tons of this here when I bought the house. I really wasn’t familiar with Agastache/Hummingbird Mint until moving here. These aggressive hummingbirds I have had literally “fight” with each other over it. Requires very little water.
https://www.highcountrygardens.com/content/gardening/agastache
Edited to add…those giant Hummingbird Moths love it too. They are still here al9ng with the Painted Lady Butterflies.
Betsy
So glad the Cracker household came through OK and is enjoying the prospect of less humid weather. I always loved north Florida in September. Butterflies and beautyberry galore, and the drier air, not to say cool, but more of a low-oven heat. I’ll always have a special place for it.
Also: ripening guavas. Jelly-making time. Then freezing the leftover guava pulp and serving it like applesauce at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also also: guava ice cream. 🤤
lowtechcyclist
@Villago Delenda Est:
If I could talk to Brooks, I’d ask him WTF sort of ‘middle ground’ could there possibly be between people who are about actual policies, and people who just want to scream about rainbow stickers and a Bud Light commercial? What’s the halfway point between rationality and insanity?
Exactly. Rush and Newt were all about demonizing their opponents, and the Rethugs have never stopped doing that since then. And we should reach out to them??
Maybe Brooks could suggest to them that they reach out to us by ending the hatred for Blacks, immigrants with brown skin, women who want to live their own lives with bodily autonomy, and gay and trans persons. If their agenda, such as it is, wasn’t so hatred-driven, we might have something to talk about. (Not sure what their agenda would be in the absence of hatred of the Other, but no way to find out until they stop hating.)
@smith:
Bingo.
lowtechcyclist
@Betsy:
Ooh, now you’re talking my language! Can’t say I’ve ever had guava ice cream, though, and now I’ve gotta have it, when we’re next in Florida.
jackmac
We’ve been in our house for 30-plus years but it’s the first time we’ve put out a hummingbird feeder. It’s been trial and error with a couple of different models as ants and wasps tended to congregate with our early efforts. But we found a feeder that keeps both away and now hummingbirds are arriving and feasting with some regularity.
They are beautiful birds and we’re delighted and honored to have them visit.
S Cerevisiae
@Redshift: when my mom was first starting to get forgetful before the dementia really started I simplified her TV remote so it would scroll through the dozen or so channels she liked and none of the others so she could get her local and network news but definitely not Faux.
and Betty C, I also really would love to see your Tampa restaurant recommendations, my honey’s sister lives in St Pete and we will be snowbirds there again this winter.
lowtechcyclist
@jackmac:
I’ve got a hummingbird feeder outside my office window (my ‘office’ is a desk in a corner of the guest room), and my printer is set up right in front of the window. My cat loves to sit on the printer and watch the hummers come and go. One of them will come real close to the window and hover right in front of him – I think that hummer is taunting my cat.
laura
I bought a lovely hummingbird print from Stonekettle and I’m just about, almost, not quite ready to paint a mural on the side of the garage. I’ve done scads of prepatory paintings to get the just right color shifts and shadings- the wings have been tricky! But the paints they are truly beautiful and its been a really satisfying project getting the magentas and blues and greens to pop.
There’s not a single trumper in our family- we’re Out and Proud Democrats and so is most of our friends and social contacts. The few that are down with emperor tang are gun fondlers and mah taxes, sprinkled with a few misogynist god botherers.
Eunicecycle
@Alison Rose: I use the fake wasp nest idea, but made my own by putting a plastic bag inside a paper bag, to expand the bag, then hung it near my hummingbird feeder. It worked for me.
Eunicecycle
@JoyceH: so excited to hear about the fifth book! I was hoping there were more stories to tell!
CarolPW
@JoyceH: Excellent! I am looking forward to the book.
Nukular Biskits
@cope:
And Columbia goes on the list!
Nukular Biskits
@Betty Cracker:
NP. We’ve got time.
But any/all recs appreciated.
frosty
@Betty Cracker: @Nukular Biskits: If you imbibe and go to Columbia, you *must* have a mojito along with the white sangria*. Best one I’ve had in Florida.
‘* We’ll be at Fort Desoto Park this winter and will hit the Columbia again. I will have to try this!
opiejeanne
@Nukular Biskits: Don’t rip out your rosebushes just yet because some rose bushes turn yellow at this time of year, and it might also be an infestation of spider mites. You could take a soil sample and have it analyzed for what’s missing or shouldn’t be in that bed. You may be able to get a kit online to test, but you should also probably talk to your local nursery, take photos of what your roses are doing, and ask them some questions. I’m not talking about the Big Box store because they are less likely to know much about plant culture. I mean, take it to a proper nursery.
Villago Delenda Est
@Geminid: But I was told the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain?
Albatrossity
Our resident female Ruby-throated hummer also is incapable of sharing a feeder; there are many aerial tussles in the backyard right now.
Lately we have also been blessed with the near-daily presence of a young Barred Owl. He sits in a hackberry tree about 15-20 feet past the back deck rail, preens, snoozes, and (on these hot days) flutters his throat to keep cool (akin to a dog panting). When I am grilling on that deck, he just watches me, and occasionally asks who cooks for me…
Villago Delenda Est
The rub here is that Brooks isn’t interested in aiding the people he secretly hates, the “liebrals”. He’s just fine with fascism, thank you very much.
Nukular Biskits
@frosty:
<takes notes …>
Thanks!
Scout211
We have mostly Anna’s here and we broke up a big power struggle by adding another feeder on a different side of the house.
Nukular Biskits
@opiejeanne:
Interesting. I didn’t realize that spidermites were an issue with roses. Tomatoes, yes. I’ll look.
And I’ve lost 6 so far, with another one on “hospice” care.
Long story short: New construction house, worked compost into the bed with a tiller (nearly 100% construction fill [hard pack red clay]), planted 12 “Knock-out” hybrids from local big-box, two different varieties. Mulched and watered on regular basis (not too much … most roses do not like very wet soil, in my experience.
For about 4 weeks, they were beautiful, then one of the pink ones started dying. Then another pink one started. Eventually, all the pink ones died … but the red remained healthy.
Now, even they are struggling.
Interesting thing is that the contractor had planted some cheap “ground cover” roses in that bed (I had left them) and now they’re looking bad as well … but the ones by the driveway look fine.
So … it’s either the soil condition, pests (which I haven’t seen any) or possible disease.
Scout211
@Albatrossity: my #88 was meant as a reply to your #85.
Mike in Pasadena
Betty, you made me laugh aloud with your description of the radio program. I fear if my parents were still alive, they might be unbearable trumpets. Fortunately, they were spared the dump phenom and I was spared their venom. My mother often asked, “Why are you so liberal?”
In Southern California twenty-five miles from the beach, it is usually 98 to 100 on Labor Day weekend. Today, it’s in the seventies. Loving it!
Albatrossity
@Scout211: Yeah, Anna’s can be pugnacious as well. We had plenty of those around when I was a grad student in CA, and I am familiar with their greed!
Here we have one resident pair, and hence one feeder is more than enough (I probably discard more sugar water than the birds consume). So a second feeder wouldn’t make sense most of the summer. Traffic does pick up at this time of year, but at most we have 3 or 4 hummers in the neighborhood at any time. Not really enough to warrant an additional feeder, IMHO.
Send some of those Anna’s here to Flyover Country, and I might reconsider!
Betsy
@Nukular Biskits: Be sure to order the black bean soup, a.k.a. Cuban caviar. For decades, the Columbia restaurant has offered a simple bowl of this for a very low price, along with the other more luxurious items.
My father, who came from Old Florida, remembers eating in the Columbia, when Tampa still had a cigar making district. Various fellows — immigrants or day laborers, or shuffling old men, used-up former laborers— who didn’t have much, could come in and pay a quarter or $.50 and have their bowl of black bean soup, and Cuban-style bread, seated at a table with a white tablecloth, with the same pressed cloth napkins, and the same gracious service that was shown to everyone who came to the Columbia, regardless of income, status, or menu order.
(Also, according to my father, who says he knows, Ybor is to be pronounced “Eebo” — never with the R.)
PaulWartenberg
@Nukular Biskits:
The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor is a decent place, need to put in a reservation ahead of time. If you can, travel over to Tarpon Springs FL and eat Greek food. ALL THE GREEK FOOD. Om nom nom.