Can You Imagine The Possibilities For Injury And Pain? Maybe Even Nirvana?

Anyone who has been reading this blog for a while knows how obsessed I've been with trying to get close up camera shots of hummingbirds. Of course I could get one elsewhere, but I want to achieve a perfect picture on my own, wasting spending hours on end in that pursuit. I want pictures of my hummingbirds, right?


Mr. Snoots said he came dangerously close to buying me this particularly interesting item for my birthday, assuring me it didn't need an electrical outlet. (He's not allowed to buy me anything for any occasion that requires an outlet.) I only wish I were joking, but the ugly truth is that he seriously debated getting this for me. Are you ready? Are you sure? Uh-Huh. Okay, hold on to your panties, thongs and *what-evers*.



I present to you  the Wearable Eye To Eye Hummingbird Feeder:










Instead, he bought me this and I've been in sheer Heaven:





Still, I'm not sure I might not have preferred the contraption above.....

I Might Be A Golfer After All... Who Knew?

First of all, I hope everyone has a fun & happy Fourth of July!!!

Yup. Go figure. Last weekend I looked like I'd never picked up a golf club in my life. This weekend I looked like a sand-bagger because I've played so well. I did not do a single thing (that I know of) different.

Yes, I admit it was nothing but ugly last weekend. I'm talking about my golf game. I played the roles of reigning Queen of Shankopotamus, ruler of bad putts and master of absolutely nothing related to golf. I suppose everyone has days, even weekends like that on the course, but I felt like the only person ever. Even though I shot a good round for me, a 95 (which gave me a 68 with my handicap), it wasn't even close to being good enough to beat the other duffers, or even half of them. It's hard to believe my partner and I got second place last year. Frankly, I was ready to go home, sell my clubs, and never play golf again.

The heat and humidity were absolutely stifling and I was sure I'd die before we finally hit the 18th hole. Of course, I had my wide assortment of little tricks to keep cool with me, but they weren't much help in the triple digit heat & high humidity. If that wasn't bad enough, I'd also forgotten my hair dryer and my digital camera. The absence of the hair dryer alone would send me into frenzy, but the camera just took the wind from my sails.

Let me see if I can explain this. Whenever I play in a tournament, I must have everything go perfectly before the round. My outfit has to look great, my legs need to be shaved, my hair and nails need to look good, and I need everything where it belongs in my bag. In other words, I don't need any last minute upsets of any kind. Golf is a very unforgiving game as well as being a very humbling game. I want things to be the same every time, without fail. I am then able to focus on making every shot with the same set-up and same precision. When my pre-game organization gets screwed up, so does my game. Yeah, I know. Call me crazy, but that's how I roll. Oh, wait. It sounds more anal retentive than anything, doesn't it? Oy.

So, needless to say, my game last weekend was all out of whack and I wasn't a very happy camper. We didn't party with the other duffers and we didn't stay up late. Normally, I would have, with or without Mr. Snooty. Frankly, the heat just sucked the life out of me, so I retreated to the confines of our air-conditioned room while I licked my wounds. For once, the heat rendered me speechless…. Go figure.

Today, I played in a tournament called The Firecracker, which is another *shamble*. I am, of course, the D player in an A-B-C-D tournament team. This tournament is at our home club, so I was much more comfortable knowing what to expect. Besides, they had me pretty well padded with good players, so that I couldn't do too much damage to the team. Our team ended up with a 49 today, which put us in second place! I made a total of 5 eagles today and I was on Cloud Nine. What am I saying? I am still on Cloud Nine. It was an awesome day of golf with some really fun, good players, so of course, I'm not going to quit playing now. It seems I go through this sort of thing at least twice a year, so maybe I should just admit when I'm in a slump and quit saying I'm going to quit playing.

So, I shall leave you with a few shots of a hummingbird it took me a good 30 minutes of sitting still, to get a shot of. Tough little guys to capture, I assure you. Also, I've included a few new pictures of Felicia. The pups are as big as she is now and it's getting difficult to tell them apart...

Morning Coffee, Hummingbirds And Foxes...

This morning was so beautiful that I decided to have my morning coffee on the patio. For that decision I was awarded with visitations from a number of very colorful hummingbirds. The days have been cooler, as have the nights, hinting of Fall's arrival. As much as I hate saying goodbye to summer, this cool breeze is certainly welcome.

I finally went back into the house to get my camera, but I didn't get very good shots, as they were rather shadowed from where I sat on the back stoop. However, if you click on the pictures you can see them a little better.

A couple of times they came right up to me, as if they were inspecting me to see if I was worthy of their presence. Apparently, they decided they liked me and my hummingbird juice. They weren't even bothered by the attendance of my cat Trouble.

We've only seen Felicia the Fox two or three times during the summer, but she too, decided to make an entrance and take a little nap on the sidewalk in our backyard. I wonder if she is this relaxed in any of the other neighbor's backyards. She looks pretty comfy, doesn't she? I could have sworn she asked me for a little blankie, but that might have just been the chirping of all the birds.

She does look somewhat older, if it's even possible to tell that in a wild animal. She doesn't seem to move as quickly as she used to and although she is a Red Fox, she appears to have a great deal more grey than she used to. Being past mid life myself, I recognize the symptoms. Sadly enough.

I guess she'll be hunkering down for the winter in her den (bunker, really) before too long, then we probably won't see again until February or so.

I snapped a couple of pictures of her when she jumped up to the top of our guest house in back. The pictures aren't very clear because I was on the back stoop when I took them, but you can still see her pretty well, I think. The guest house is probably like 150 feet away, so it was really too hard to get a clear shot at that distance. Well, that and also the fact that I've never been a very good photographer.

The next thing I realized was that Felicia had gone to sleep on my sidewalk while I was sitting on the stoop. I guess she really does feel comfortable around me. So, I'm kind of liking Fall this year. Next thing I know, Felicia will be requesting room service.