Flurry of Feathers

A fine flurry of frigid feathers...how's that for a tongue twister?  It never did warm up much yesterday, not quite getting to forty degrees even though the sun came out, and the hummers were bellied up to the bar most of the day.  Even after drinking their fill, they would just sit and rest for the longest time.  I think the cold saps their strength.  Sometimes it takes me awhile to get with the program, but when it was only twenty-six degrees before seven p.m., it dawned on me that if I brought at least one feeder into the house right then, these little flying jewels wouldn't have wait out the thawing process in the morning.  Ta da!  It is barely light now, and I just hung a full, liquid feeder.  They were sucking juice before I'd even gotten to the hanging station.  When the juice is frozen, I envision these poor little guys with their tongues stuck to the ice like the kid in A Christmas Story glued to the school flag pole.  These are photos of only a small portion of the flock (who ever thinks of a flock of hummingbirds?) that comes to feed every day.

Tree Guy and sons came in the afternoon and spent a couple of hours pulling the twiggy branches up and over the fence line.  That was one big tree.  It was too wet and icy still to do any climbing and cutting of the remaining branches on the trunk, but they did buck the felled branches into firewood-size logs, ready for splitting.  Today being everyone else's Thanksgiving, they won't be back until tomorrow, weather permitting.

I dined last night like a queen on fresh crab sent up by Craig's dad, Arvin, who works in Saucelito and has friends who are crabbers.  Never frozen, that sweet meat dipped in butter was a meal from heaven, and calories be damned!