Bottle rockets on the bike trail

That title pretty much sums up my Independence Day weekend: rode my bike and saw evidence of fireworks aftermath. I also accomplished the two things on my "Serious Intention" list:

• wash car (harder than you might think) 
• hang up hummingbird feeder

Hey, if Mr. Obama can lower his expectations, so can I.

The car wash was harder than expected because on Friday, road crews had torn up Main Street and the car wash was inaccessible. It rained all day Saturday, and I wasn't about to wash it and then splash road mud on it right away. So things were tense until Sunday, but I got 'er did.

Hummingbird feeder ... last yaer I bought some nectar mix that ISN'T RED, and the hummingbirds didn't seem to like it. And that's all I have left. They still don't seem to like it.

***

Actually, the one HAVE TO on my list was to pick up my nephew at the airport Sunday evening, and that drive was sandwiched between sunset and moonrise - absolutely beautiful. On the drive home, I was facing a huge, very nearly full moon standing out on a sky of blue velvet, close enough to touch.

And then, we saw fireworks! I had been hearing them Thursday through Saturday nights (there are lots of fireworks displays out in the country), but hadn't witnessed any. (Obviously I didn't care enough to get free of the trees.) But we saw a marvelous fireworks finale in the distant sky on our drive - and my HAVE TO turned out to be one of the highlights of my weekend.

***

Because I'm on the rotation schedule to work until 6 every day this week, I decided to get my bike rides in early in the morning, before work. The weather has been so beautiful these days that the morning air is like nectar - RED nectar, because this hummingbird is CRAZY for it! I've been hitting the trail at 6:15, when the sun's not high enough yet to break through the shrub borders, and I only get glimpses of it tickling the higher tree branches. Very few humans; the few I pass murmur "Morning" in a reverent hush. We've had enough rain lately to fill up the creeks, so - besides birds and crickets and so on - my accompaniment is the white shooshing of the spillways, sounding like distant applause.

This is the way to start a morning. I come to work singing, which I haven't done for a long, long time.

And every day there are new bottle rocket wrappers and sticks on the bridges; and I'm not even offended. I smile indulgently - I too have shot off bottle rockets, in my time - and at least the creeks are full and the woods are damp.

Comments

[uncle al]

you can make your own hummingbird juice...1 part sugar to 4 parts water. I boil water first and add 4 cups to 1 cup sugar. no coloring or anything. change every 3 days. keep excess in fridge

[KayO]

Thanks! So how come the hummingbirds won't eat it if it's not colored?

[uncle al]

the feeder is colored red. Hummers are attracted to the red feeder, not red juice.

[KayO]

Yeah, my feeder's red, but I never see hummingbirds at it when I put clear nectar in it. Maybe I'm just not looking at the right times (like, daylight).