Bird In A Hand Is Worth Two In A Bush...

"Bird in a hand is worth two in a bush...". I heard that once on a television commercial and I literally I had no idea what it meant. I guess, being that analytical person that I am, I interpreted it a couple different ways. Then I thought, maybe I should just Google it because Google has all of life's answers. So I did, and this is what the Google God said, 'it's better to be content with what you have than to risk losing everything by seeking more.' Boom! And there it is! But to be honest, I still have a hard time understanding the whole bird thing. I will say though , I LOVE having a little bird in my hand.

This time of year I am probably the most miserable. I'm sure you've heard the expression "cabin fever" that a small population of people suffer from in winter. Well, I get "cabin fever" in the summer. I absolutely despise humidity and here in Northern Kentucky we have huMUGity something fierce. A couple of years ago we had a very mild summer and I was in heaven, but not this year. I woke up this morning and our first floor windows were covered with sweat. Of course that's because our air condition was doing its job throughout the night. But, I will admit, regardless of the weather, Bill and I still go outside to feed our backyard birds. And last night, through all the huMUGity, I decided to NOT go for my walk but to instead stay home and feed this little girl.

Back in the early 90s when Bill and I lived in Cincinnati, we had this cute little cape cod home and Bill built us a very large deck that was shaded under two enormous maple trees. Bill used to tell me that as he was growing up, there was a mimosa tree in his front yard and all the hummingbirds would go crazy around it. However, he forbid me to have a mimosa; long story, something about cutting grass and being in his way. Given that I wasn't permitted the mimosa I decided to TRY my luck at a hummingbird feeder. I had never seen a hummingbird and didn't know if we even had them in our "area", which of course was only 15 minutes away from Bill's childhood home-but still, I knew nothing about them or birds for that matter. One day I was in our bedroom on the phone with Bill and I looked out the window which was eye level to the deck and I said to Bill, "My God we have big bugs around here. There's a HUGE bug flying around the hummingbird feeder. I think it's a cicada or something." Of course Bill's reply was, "Uh, are you sure it's not a hummingbird?" "OH MY GOD WE HAVE A HUMMINGBIRD!!!", was all he then heard... And that was the beginning. Since then, no matter where we live, I always make sure to hang a hummingbird feeder around the middle of spring. Since we've lived in this house, we've always gotten a family of Red Ruby Hummers along with one dominant male who's always a bully. Last year however, we didn't see much activity at all. This year has been a little slow as well, but the babies have taken flight and are now starting visit with their mama at the feeders.

The picture above was taken last night. We saw mama (she's so big!) and then we saw this little gal flying all haphazardly around this feeder. I decided to have a seat and patiently wait to take some pictures. And finally, she whizzed in.

She wasn't too nervous, but I waited a little longer to see if she'd still fly up with me sitting there. And she did :)

So, I decided to grab the feeder and just hold it. I had my phone camera all set and aimed at my hand with my left hand and just sat there holding the feeder with my right hand. It felt like a 25 pound weight after the course of two minutes, but I ventured on! Of course, I can only imagine what I look like to a complete stranger watching me from their window! Then, about 5 minutes or so later she came wildly flying in and went to the plant, but there was no feeder! She literally looked animated searching in circles for the little feeder! So, I sat very calm and carefully gave the feeder a slight shake to grab her attention and then she flew over! She just looked at me as if to say, "Oh, hello! Do you mind?" And then looked at the feeder to make sure it was her glass of champagne...(with an added dead ant floating at the top!)

Don't you just love it!?!?! It is the most amazing feeling to be able to partake in the world of nature. It also amazes me how oblivious so many are to the world around them and just miss the small opportunities to interact with nature. I could go on and on about this and maybe someday I will, but hopefully after reading this you will grab yourself a little hummingbird feeder and be amazed! I thought about holding a dish and seeing if I could get more hummers to visit, but then ...a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush...

I hope you all have enjoyed the blog. Feel free to share it with your friends and family and be sure to subscribe (if you haven't done so already)! I appreciate everyone's support, extremely kind words, and encouragement! I truly have the bestest friends and FAMILY!

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