Monday, April 6, 2015

Wild, Wild Life

We Got Some Wild, Wild Life

Kelly called this evening to tell us that Kevin has spotted hummingbirds in the neighborhood! It's a bit early, but we filled up our hummingbird feeder (we only had some organic, barely processed sugar from the co-op, so our nectar is a bit brown) and hung it outside in its customary place beside the front door. We always get a few hummingbirds who come consistently once they start mating and raising their babies. I keep the feeder full all summer and they like to come and, even if they're not hungry, dive bomb the cats from time to time.

I like to watch them at the feeder. They're among my favorite wild creatures.

My other favorite creature also came to call a few days ago, a tiny jumping spider who appeared on the front door. She was a fearless little thing, smaller than a whole clove. We put her outside with a wish that she find lots of good things to eat and have a long, happy life.

I remember when we were kids, I didn't used to see many spiders--I wasn't so interested in them then, so I wasn't really looking--but I used to see a lot of other kinds of insects in our yard. I used to love to turn over rocks to look at all the wriggly craziness underneath and I don't know how many pill bugs I annoyed by rolling them around and around in the palm of my hand. We used to find crazy beetles everywhere and my brothers would put them in jars, which I hated doing. We used to see walking sticks in our fruit trees even, and those delicate creatures have been absent from the landscape for a long time. I haven't seen one in the wild in decades. People do dearly love their insecticides.

Oh! And this evening we also fed our worms for the first time. When we took the cover off the worm bin, a few were sitting up on top, happy as could be. Of course when the light hit them, they started wriggling down into the compost, but I'm convinced that they like their new home just fine. We mixed some chopped up vegetable matter and some shredded paper into their bin and closed everything up again. In a couple more days, we'll check them and feed them again. Maybe start naming one or two hundred of them.

We had some more visiting wildlife last night, too: About 2:00 a.m., the car alarm on the old car went off. I was awake, but I had my headphones on and didn't hear it. It woke Dave up and he went to check it out. Looks like someone opened the driver's side door (which doesn't lock even though the alarm is engaged) and closed it when the alarm went off.  So that was fun. It's happened once before, but nothing was taken then either. Not that there's anything to take in that old car. It's mostly a junkmobile at this point, so unless they want a few reusable shopping bags and some old newspapers from the trunk, they'd get a whole lot of nothing. Although there is a small plastic container of change and a few dollar bills that we keep on hand for parking meters and panhandlers. No more than five or six dollars. I suppose they could have made off with that. But they didn't.

Food Stuff

I had my usual breakfast this morning, egg whites on whole wheat, low-sodium toast. I also had some blueberries and a bit of yogurt along with my cup of coffee.  Just now, I ordered some non-fat milk in our CSA box for my coffee. I'd like to break the milk habit completely, but it's so tasty in coffee!

For lunch I had some leftover taco fixings (Quorn crumbles, sour cream, salsa, chopped tomato) with some pinto beans added and a taco shell crumbled up and sprinkled over the top. It was very tasty! With it, I had a bunch of veggies (red cabbage, carrots, jicama) and another cup of coffee. (Allergies are kicking my butt! Making me feel like a zombie again. I know caffeine doesn't work, but I guess I don't care. I still love it even if it doesn't love me.)

For dinner, we had omelets. Dave had his with whole eggs (one had a double yolk!) and cheddar cheese and I had mine with egg whites and a bit of goat cheese. We both had onions and peppers (which are very good with eggs, just ask any Italian). We made some toast, sliced a tomato, and sauteed a bunch of kale in some garlic and olive oil to have on the side. We finished off the last of the gorgeous strawberries for dessert--and just now I had a square of dark chocolate, too. Very tasty.

Other Business

Here's what kind of neighbor we'd be: We (as in Dave) took our Christmas wreath off the front door today! (Yes, it was a green wreath--at one time--but it had long since dried out and turned a kind of greenish brown.) I tried a few weeks ago to take it off the door, but Dave had wired it on and when I pulled on it, I got a face full of pollen-y dust that triggered an allergy attack. Fun. So I finally asked Dave to take it down today.

I don't think we set any kind of record, but taking the Christmas wreath down the day after Easter is kind of a personal best around here.  Next week we'll talk about taking down the Christmas lights.

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