Chapter 70 - Just For The Hummers

     Since visiting at the neighbours’ the other day and seeing their humming bird feeders, I wanted some for myself.  They said they had seen them in town but they were $40.  I find that hard to take for the conservative in me.  Melaney Googled hummingbird feeders and found directions to make a homemade one.  I have been working the past two days to put one together.  She found a three litre pop bottle complete with lid at the back of the property and I had a lot of small plastic containers. 

     I put it all together, and fixed some sugar water and put it into the bottle, and it all leaked out.  There was a small hole in the bottom of the bottle, and with that it won’t hold the vacuum to retain the water in the bottle.

  Try again. It was a good excuse for Mel to get a bottle of local cola.  It took her a couple of days to drink it, and finally yesterday I put the thing together in earnest.  For attachment cords, I used a couple of the clothes lines in the back yard. (I wouldn’t be hanging washing anyway, and the cords were nylon and deteriorating in the sun so I thought it would be all right to use them).  I had found a large bobby pin in the garden while I was puttering around, so I took the pliers and made an S hook out of it for hanging the feeder. 

     Melaney hung one cord up over the beam on the porch.  She had to climb on a chair and then on the porch railing, and I can’t do these things anymore.  I Googled the internet for a recipe for the sugar water, I couldn’t remember the sugar/water balance.  It is four water to one cup of sugar, boil and cool. Then this morning I filled the bottle.  When I turned it upside down to let it fill the small plastic container the sides of the bottle collapsed a little.  I don’t know whether it will work or not.  I used epoxy (the only glue that I have in the house) to attach some cut squares of red box cardboard to attract the attention of the hummers. The internet said they are visual only and can’t smell.  The contraption is hung so that both of us can see it from our big chairs.  At this time the only thing it has attracted is a flying insect, and that was immediate.

     Last evening while I was holding Gigi, she had her nose down in the side of my chair and came up sneezing, and sneezing and sneezing some more.  I had worked on the nylon cords in my chair, and I had to sweep out a large quantity of nylon pieces that had broken off when I was working with the cord.  Gigi must have inhaled a piece, and it sure caused a strong reaction.  When I let her outside this morning on the end of her tether, she started to sneeze again, but it didn’t last as long as it did last night.

    NOW, we wait to see if there will be any hummers.