Mr. Boo, Hummers and Rain
I left my hilltop home on July 22, returning home to stay only after November 1. There were a few days at home between my three assignments, but they were filled with tasks to keep the hilltop functioning, not leisurely petting my bull, Mr. Boo. On a couple of occasions, while driving up or down my driveway, I remember taking time to yell to him. Then I’d be gone again and not see him, much less pay attention to him, until I returned home.
Last week, I was working around the house, and discovered my herd sire with an amazing personality was standing on the hillside near my back patio gate. I hollered out to him as I passed through the patio, for though I’ve seen him at a distance, it’d been too long since I’d taken time to get close and personal with the old boy.
I watched to see if he’d even react. I was pleased when he swung his big head around to see what I was yelling about. At the least I should go out and scratch his back and pat him on the head.
My daughter-in-law Michelle has a bag of hay cubes in a barrel in the store room so she can give her horses a treat. When the horses, Strawberry the big Belgian and Ruby the little Appaloosa, come up to the fence they’ve learned to politely take the hay cubes off the palm of an open hand holding it out. Of course, Mr. Boo could do the same thing.
I finished my chores and then retrieved a pair of cubes from the bag. By the time I walked out into the pasture, he’d ambled near the gate, curious to see what I was going to do. I started talking to him as I held out the cube.
He sniffed my hand carefully. It smelled a little like alfalfa hay, but it sure didn’t look right. He licked carefully. The odor said hay to his nose, but his tongue said differently. He couldn’t roll leaves of tasty hay around as he chewed. Even if it smelled right, he trusted his tongue. He bobbed his head and looked away.
Apparently the smell intrigued him. He came back for another series of sniffs. He even licked my hand, to see if I was hiding any tasty leaves in among the fingers.
I gave up trying to convince him the cube was something he’d enjoy. His experience wouldn’t let him bite into something that smelled like hay, and looked like little rocks. Even his tongue told him it was hard and not edible.
A few pats and scratches, including a hug around the neck, accompanied by a running conversation from me, and it was time to put the hay cubes back in the barrel. The horses love them so we’ll save them for our equine friends. Next time I find Mr. Boo near the house I’ll try again. He may learn to enjoy pressed hay cubes eventually, but for now it was simply, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
While I was gone for 69.5 days on the fires this summer, especially during the 58.5 days on the Monument Fire, Bob had to fill the eight hummingbird feeders every other day. About two weeks ago, I noticed the feeders were finally beginning to empty a bit more slowly. My friend in Terra Bella, who also has a porch full of feeders, prefers to keep his empties filled every day. I prefer to wait and fill them all at once. I filled first thing Thanksgiving morning and four days later I do have two or three that have been drained. The rest of my feeders will need to be filled in another day or two.
We’ve noticed when my number of birds goes up, the number in Terra Bella seem to go down, and vice versa. Since my feeders are emptying slower now, his population of ravenous hummers may be picking up. Unless, of course, all the birds are beginning their migration south.
Since our fall rains haven’t been consistent, and our cold weather hasn’t really set in yet leaving plenty of early morning “frost on the punkin,” our hummers may not have started to head south.
The current rainfall total at my home is 2.06 inches, with the last measurable precipitation being a puny 0.09 inches on November 9. Our last good rain came on October 25, when we got 1.77 inches. This started the green grass growing. However, after five weeks without significant moisture the hillsides are looking pretty bare and turning color. We’ve been fortunate to have many days of heavy dew and even a few days of fog, which has helped keep the grass moist.
Last year we didn’t get any rain until November 7 when we got 1.27 inches over about a week. Then we went all the way to December 28, a bit more than seven weeks, before we got another rain.
Somewhere around December 9 or 10 the long-range prediction shows a weak possibility of us seeing a storm. Daytime temps will ease down into the low 60’s, even a high 50 or two. But the night temps aren’t dipping into frost yet.
The high-pressure ridge over the Four Corners area is stubbornly keeping precipitation out of the southwest. Hopefully rain will show up before Christmas.