And the beat goes on

 

 

 

About 50 wingbeats per second.

 

And when they’re flying, a heart rate of 20 beats per second.

 

The Lantana

 

 

Crushing it.

 

As is the Mexican Firebush behind it.

 

Hummingbirds favor those long tubular flowers.

 

Eighty degrees

 

 

That’s too hot to sleep.

 

But the air conditioning broke last night.  We turned down the thermostat and went to sleep, but not for long.  It didn’t cool off.  It never got below 80.  It was warmer than that outside.  It was 84 degrees inside by morning.  No sheets or blankets required.  It was closing in on 90 in the front room by the time the air conditioner guy showed up to save us.  Just a capacitor.  No big deal.

 

But having air conditioning here is a big deal.  Hot.  Humid.  And it doesn’t cool down that much at night.  Can’t just open a window and put a fan in it to cool off.  Now it’s dark and the inside of the house is cooled back down to our normal daytime setting of 78.  Tonight we’ll turn the thermostat down and tomorrow morning we get to wake up at our nighttime temperature of 66, warm and cozy under our lightweight down blanket.

 

 

 

 

Big Jude

 

 

 

Geared up for shopping.

 

Serendipity

 

 

Michael and Nora.  Friends for years here in the valley, we lost touch.  Emails got returned.  I was going to ask their son what was going on, but hesitated, not wanting to know if it was bad news.  Then emails to his son started getting returned.  I figured that one out.  The address we had for Michael junior was through his university address.  He had graduated and moved on.  A couple more years went by, then a name popped up on Snapchat.  I don’t know how that happened, I never look at Snapchat, but there it was, Michael Navarro.  I couldn’t tell which Michael, but fired off a note, which resulted in a long catchup with them at their house today.

 

Reunited with friends.  A serendipitous moment.

 

To quote our daughter

 

 

One difference between cats and dogs is that dogs do absolutely nothing to mask their clinginess, while cats pretend it’s a coincidence they’re in the same room as you 97% of the time “The fact I am lying on your face means nothing.”

 

The masters of indifference being Charlie and Mr. Bean.

 

Mr. Bean being the upright one, if I’m not mistaken.

 

In Southeastern Colorado

 

 

(When we were there.)

 

A Mississippi Kite.  Patrolling the lake and campground on the lookout for an evening snack.

 

They like to eat larger flying insects.  They catch them in the air with their talons and often continue flying while they eat them.  They’ll eat the occasional small bird, or bats, frogs, toads, lizards, and snakes if the opportunity arises.  While we were there, there were a number of kites gathering for the evening.  By dark, we had a tree full.