The Birds And Bees

No, I’m not going to talk about that. Heck, at my age I’ve forgotten most of what I ever knew, and it wasn’t much to start with. We’re going to talk about real birds and bees, and grasshoppers, too.

We had a couple of hummingbird feeders out last summer, and the little buzz bombs were flying all over the place. We hadn’t seen any this year yet, Terry said she heard them and other people mentioned the hummingbirds flying around their houses, so she hung several feeders out on the front porch. It didn’t take more than a couple of hours before here they came. I guess that’s a case of “if you hang them, they will come.” At one point yesterday, they were buzzing around so fast that one flew across the front of my face, and I almost think I felt the wind from its little wings. Those things are fast!

I mentioned in a blog a couple of days ago that the cicadas are chirping up a storm around our area of the White Mountains. We are also seeing a lot of grasshoppers, and I saw my first bumble bee of the season yesterday. It’s been warm, so we’ve been leaving our four exterior doors open to enjoy the fresh air. The only problem was that all of our security screen doors had gaps at the bottom that were big enough that critters could come inside, especially in the evening when we had the lights on and it was getting dark out.

Terry solved that problem by ordering some HomeProtect Door Draft Stoppers from Amazon. They are great for filling in the gaps under the doors and it didn’t take long to install them. I’m sure there are still small openings where something could get through, but these things seem like they’re pretty adequate for the job. Now we can enjoy the breeze and fresh air and still keep the crawling and flying critters outside where they belong. Whenever there’s a problem, trust me, that lady knows how or can figure out how to fix it.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of Birdsongs by Jason Deas, who was featured in this week’s Author Spotlight. This first book in the Benny James mystery series is a fast-paced story about a former FBI agent fired for inadvertently sleeping with the perp in a murder case. Benny decides to retire to his houseboat and disappear, but before long boredom sets in, and he starts a service offering discrete investigations. He had no idea what he was in for when the local police department asked him to help solve the case of a body found crucified near his marina. Soon the media descends on the quiet waterfront town. Close on their heels are an ex-convict fresh out of prison with revenge on his mind and a strange young man raised by deaf mute parents from deep in the Ozark Mountains. Benny soon finds himself struggling to solve the most important case of his life and redeem his tarnished reputation.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – In a world full of pigeons, be a hummingbird.