Tess, Hummingbirds and Rain!

I don't think I've mentioned the hummingbirds around here. Glenda and I both have feeders out...I have one that suctions to our window and Glenda has two. She also has two that hang outside. Today Glenda & Ray took the motorhome down the mountain to Sheridan, WY where they are getting a Motosat/Datastorm satellite put on like we have. When they packed up, she gave me her feeders to "watch" until they get back up here. At one point during the morning, I walked out our door and there must have been 15-20 hummingbirds right around our site. They "buzz" constantly when they are moving because their wings are beating so fast. Not to mention that they are very aggressive and territorial little things! There's been many days when they "buzz" us as they come up to the feeders because they feel we are in their way! Between us we have 5 feeders and we fill them at least once a day! I have to mention here that although I'm sharing some of my hummingbird pictures, Glenda has taken some awesome ones that put mine to shame...to say the least! We have seen as many as 7 or 8 swarming a feeder at once and to have two feeding out of the same hole is a common occurrence! The females (not as bright - colors) basically can feed with others. Males (brighter colors) will "buzz" and chase others that come to the feeder! I think they spend a LOT of energy keeping others away!

Now here's another picture of Maggie. He's "out" of his comfort zone which is basically the back half of the motorhome, but lately, when Tess is outside, he'll venture out to the kitchen. I've taken him past that, but he always runs back to the back! He's never been known for being very "sociable"! I held him by the window to see the hummingbirds at one of the feeders. He's an old cat and has cataracts, so he heard them first, but I think he did finally see them outside! Maggie doesn't like coming out to the front because every time he even gets close...Tess chases him back to the back!

And finally we get to Tess, the Wonder Dog. I say that in jest because if you've been reading my Blog, you know that she chased a bear not too long ago! Today I was able to take her down to the river and give her a bath. She's not much of a water dog, but she's becoming better! She had just about gotten dried when she spotted a squirrel or chipmunk and ended up chasing it to our woodpile! I've also included one of the pictures showing what a moron she is about them! She's persistent! She kept at the woodpile for quite some time before I finally dragged her away! She won't forget that it was there as she'll be checking out the woodpile tomorrow looking for that same squirrel/chipmunk! *I personally think she might have been dropped on her head at some point in her life!*

Finally, this afternoon the clouds came again and it started to rain. First just a few sprinkles, and then finally rain...several hours of it! The mountains need it badly, but it sure made the temperature cool way down! We even closed the windows! There's nothing we like better than hearing the rain on the roof. It was a pleasant way to spend the late afternoon! After a few hours, the rain stopped, the clouds went away and it was a beautiful, brisk evening!