Face to Face Introduction

Finally I was able to get a photo of my little friend at the feeder. Not really close enough, but with digital zoom, close enough to see almost clearly. He'll let me walk much closer, but not with camera. I was surprised this time that he let me take the photos from the top of the deck. I also discovered that he seems to have found a new little hidey-hole in the perrenial bed. I wasn't sure what would happen when the neighbors cut down their tree. Perhaps he has a little snuggly spot in that corner of our yard. At least we don't have to worry about predators reading the blog and knowing where to look!

Visual Bird Feast

OK, I admit I was a little depressed sounding on my last post. Since then time has gone by. We had a great time in Wisconsin over Thanksgiving, visiting my husbands family. Good visits with family, safe trip, interesting conversations -- things have happened and I'm not feeling so down about the election. Oh, do I think it is a bad thing, yes. Do I think it is quite the end of the world, no. Do I continue to know that God is still in control, yes. Do I wish things were different? Of course.

But now we've had a major snow and my interests have narrowed. My little hummingbird is back again and since we've had three days with freezing temperatures, we're back in business of providing breakfast (and today lunch and dinner) transfers from frozen nectar to warm and drinkable nectar. Today the temperature never got above 26 degrees F, so I had to rotate nectar containers several times.

I really thought about sleeping in this morning, but knew that by 7:15 my little friend would be waiting. And he was. A gorgeous little male Anna's hummingbird. May be the same as last year when we thought the Annas was an immature.

We also have a plethora of other delightful birds. A Hairy or Downy woodpecker (didn't make specific identification), bunches of juncos, chicadees (both black capped and rufous sided), at least a half dozen goldfinches with just a hint of yellow left and house finches as well. Usually they are plentiful at the feeders in the morning and evening. But with the harsh cold, all were busily eating most of the day.

We even went so far today to move the bird bath from the front yard to the back (complete with heater to keep the water from freezing) so the birds would have water. During the summer they drink from the little fountain, but when the temperatures drop they need sources of water.

Such little things, so much pleasure. A veritable visual feast of flitting feathered friends!
(Photo: My little Anna a few inches from his feeder - Canon 610 with digital zoom)

The Beginning of the End

Well, it is the beginning of the end. Not the beginning of the end of the world, I hope, but the beginning of the end of life as we have known it recently. The Democrats, by lying over and over, have taken over Congress.

Lying? Well, the new candidates they put forward were “conservative” democrats. Ha! The likelihood that they will vote conservatively is probably less than zero.

Lying? Because they use the media – who walk in lockstep with them – to make up “news” that puts conservatives in a bad light. All that brouhaha about Rush Limbaugh making fun of Michael J. Fox -- didn’t happen. I heard the whole thing; he never did, but they couldn’t be bothered to correct the record even though they had two weeks to do it.

Lying? Because to listen to the media, President Bush has done NOTHING good in the past four years. Can’t remember a thing. Everything is his fault even Katrina, Rita and the Tsunami.

Lying? Because all the reports from Iraq are only the bad news. No news about all the great things that have happened both militarily and with the infrastructure. No reports that the troops think we need to finish what we started and do it well.

Lying? Because they said that the President was spying domestically when it was international phone numbers to known terrorist organization members.

Lying? Because as long as they thought they might lose, they were screaming about “voter fraud” but the moment it looks like they win, they are silent.

Lying? Because Nancy Pelosi just said about the war in Iraq that “you can define winning any way you want to.” THAT IS A LIE. If we walk away from Iraq and let Al-Qaeda take over there because the government in place doesn’t have the ability to fight the insurgents alone, then we will see what it looks like when there is a huge bloodbath in Iraq followed by terrorism moving throughout the world.

Lying? Because they believe that by wishing that we could get out of Iraq that that is good enough.

Lying? Because they can’t seriously believe their own words.

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.