38

That is the temp here this morning! Unbelievable. It's no wonder the humming birds aren't here yet. They know. My hummingbirds normally (for the last 12 years anyways) come around April 1st. My second year here I was sitting out on the porch reading in the afternoon on the 1st of April and a hummingbird came zipping up in front of me, stopped and looked at me as if to say 'I'm back, where's my juice!' and took off. It was so cool. They stay all summer and normally leave anywhere from the middle of September to the 1st of October and fly to where ever it is they go. According to all I've read they go to South America for the winter. I normally have 2 feeders on the front porch for them and make my own juice with sugar and water with a 1 to 3 mixture. 1 part sugar to 3 parts water - put your water on to boil (to get rid of all the impurities) and right after it starts to boil add the sugar, stir until the water is clear and take the pot off the burner and let it sit on another burner until it's cooled off and then put in your feeder. They say to refresh it once a week but depending on how many hummingbirds you get to your feeder and the temperature outside, it may be more frequent. When you see the water getting cloudy then it needs to be changed. That means it's starting to sour. I've read where at the beginning and end of the season you may want to make the sugar part heavier because of them making that long trip home, and the long trip back south. But my theory is that they make stops along the way south before they go to SA and vice versa. The extra sugar makes it sour quicker if you have high temps.

So there, you have an education on hummingbirds - or what's been my experience anyways. :o) I love the little critters. I once watched two fight on my front porch. As they were fighting they were spiraling down to the ground and when they hit the ground I went to see if they were ok and I guess they realized what was going on and took off! When the males court the females they do this pendulum thing in the air. The female sits on a branch and he flies in an arc of a pendulum. The sound and sight of that is just awesome.

Anyways, while I await my little birds to grace my presence I crochet. :o) I made the following last night while watching the ACM awards that I had recorded.






In the first pic is a bracelet, necklace and turtle that I made for Rachel's birthday (the 7 year old I told you about in yesterday's post). All using scraps. These will go in her bag too. :o)

The second pic is a hot pad from the Autumn Leaf pattern by Bella Crochet. It's a free pattern from her site http://bellacrochet.com. I used two strands of Peaches and Creme - Deep Purple and a red that I don't know what the name of it is (the wrapper was gone). This was a very easy and quick pattern to hook up. I will definitely put this pattern in my favorites folder to make again.

Oh....I've been meaning to show you my tote full of hats. I need to get a bigger tote. Actually, I could probably clean out and consolidate my other totes. I am definitely a hat makin' fool.




Ok y'all, I need to get my butt up and get busy. Got a bunch to get done before the birthday party this afternoon. Cya soon!!

Happy Easter!

TTFN
Kat
xoxo