Fly zone

A couple evenings ago, the hummers were so hungry that they didn't even seem to mind that I was standing right out there with them. They were zooming around my head and all over the place. They actually weren't doing much eating, though, because they were too busy fighting over whose feeder it was. You can even hear their wings clashing a few times as they flew into each other. Here's a little of the action:

(I wish the microphone didn't pick up the sound of my breathing so clearly. Sorry about that, but hey, I had to breathe!)

Shhhhh!

Last Tuesday I'd gone downstairs to the computer to check for email, and since Courtney was playing so nicely by herself upstairs, I did a few other things while I was down there. Then I noticed it had gotten pretty quiet upstairs, so I figured I'd better go check and see what was going on. I went up quietly, and when I got to the living room, this is what I found:

At first I thought it looked like just a pile of blankets, but then I noticed it actually looked kind of curled-up-little-girl-shaped. I thought maybe she'd fallen asleep waiting for me to come back upstairs, but then the pile seemed to be lying not quite still.

So I tiptoed back and grabbed the camera and got it focused and ready. Then I said, "I wonder where Courtney went!"

Surprise! Wouldn't you know it, she popped right out from under that blanket!

"What's for dinner, Mom?"

Josie, the little stinker, is right there whenever I open the fridge door. And if there is a spot big enough, she'll crawl immediately into it if I don't grab her! She's even worse about trying to get out the entry door and into the garage. She can be clear across the room, but if I head toward that door, she can be under my feet and out the door in a split second! She has made it past me quite a few times. She's usually waiting right inside the door when I come back, too, to try it again. I'm catching onto her tricks, but she does keep me on my toes! And I love her spirit! ;-)

Hmmm..hmmm..hmmm.....

The hummers are back, both ruby-throated males:

And females:

Here we go again!

Remember last May when Blackie had her first babies and ended up not taking care of them? Well, she had another batch about a month ago, and this time she figured out what she was supposed to do with them.

Here's where Blackie and her new babies live. How many can you see? Click to enlarge for a better look.

There are three. Can you pick them out? Blackie's face is above the little gray one, and there is one kitten on either side of the gray one... a calico right up against him on the left, and a little off to the right you can see the white tips of paws on a mostly black one.

Here they are, fairly tame already, and getting lots of lovin' as we brought them into the machine shed to play with where it was dryer than in the wet grass.

(Click to see the lovin' much bigger!)

We even have them named already! Clockwise from the top in the bottom center pic (confused yet?) are Whiskers, Boots (you can see his boots in the bottom right pic of Courtney holding him), and Tippy, the calico who has an orange tip on the end of each ear!

The older "babies" seem pretty huge alongside the new ones! Here's Tuffy the Mouse Eater:

And Courtney's favorite Scoot(y):

As well as Patches and Miss Purrkins:

Who definitely make a bigger armful than those new little ones!

See the size contrast below?

So we have lotsa fun days ahead!