thisendoftheswamp

The Cat knows a those loving arms are a safe spot.

Quite a few people have remarked that we have not had many butterflies, honey bees or hummingbirds this summer. The day The Squire and I cleaned the walk, a hummingbird – the first we’ve seen this season – flew up almost in my face, and then busied itself among the Cleome and Jewel Weed blossoms. I immediately came inside and made up a small batch of nectar, and had our feeder out that evening. When I hung the feeder in the dusk, I saw quite a few honey bees flitting around the flowers. We have also seen a lot more butterflies in the last week of so, including a couple of Monarchs. The weather has cooled down considerably, which might make a difference.

I’ve been only been using a half-cup of nectar at a time, as it will go bad fairly quickly when it is as hot as it’s been – upper 80s and low 90s – so it doesn’t get wasted. Tuesday evening I misjudged the distance to the hook and dropped the feeder on the ground and the plastic shattered. Aaargh! I had to search on-line for a new feeder, as this is not prime time for them. Got a very nice one at Petco – the top has an ant moat, which is a Good Thing, but I did find some huge ants on the feeder when I brought it in last night; when the breeze moves it too close to the squirrel baffle, they are able to get from there to the base of the HBF. Apparently, the regular ants are too small to swing between the baffle and the bottom of the HBF. This necessitated shuffling everything around, as we have a regular feeder, another for the finches, plus a “cage” which holds two suet blocks, all of which hang from various shepherd’s hooks. We also have a hopper-type feeder which is on a pole, but that wasn’t involved in the Great Feeder Migration.

So – at the moment, it looks as if we have two hummingbirds, tanking up for the trip south. The feeder is right outside the den window, so I can watch them while I’m on the computer. We’ll have to put the HBF out early this coming spring, and see if we can keep them around.

Whether you love Donald Trump or loathe him, this book should be required reading.

The fact of the matter is that Fred Trump should never been allowed to father children. He was a cold, cruel man, totally without empathy, and saw no value in people or things that were not worth money. He expected people to know instinctively what he wanted, and then berated them mercilessly when they failed. To him, the cruelty was the point. He enjoyed seeing people squirm – including his children. When his oldest son, Fred Jr., was not suited for Big Business, Fred was not satisfied until he had utterly broken Freddy’s spirit – and then disinherited his wife and children.

When Donald figured out he could never do anything right, he decided to do whatever he pleased, and his father admired the boy’s “killer instinct”. Fred thought Donald could do no wrong, and trusted him with large and large projects. When these didn’t work out, rather than admit his error Fred paid his son’s debts, and let Donald take all of the credit.

Nothing has changed, except bigger messes and bigger coverups.