By Pauline Tom
All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres.”
This week nature beckons hearts to sing, and it’s happening as we approach Resurrection Sunday. Hallelujah!
Hummingbirds buzzing rings in ears. We saw our first on March 8th. On March 17th, James Polk facebook’d, “Get you feeders up filled with sugar water without the red dye. Happy humming to you!”
The proportion for hummer syrup is four parts boiling water to one part white sugar. At the recent Bluebird Season Kickoff, biologist T. David Pitts from Tennessee gave an interesting talk on hummingbirds. He said the amount of sugar need not be exact because the amount in nature (in flowers) is not exact. You just want to make sure your hummer syrup has a little more syrup than your neighbor’s.
An important must with hummingbird feeders is cleanliness. The syrup will last far longer than the date it silently expired. From this point through summer, replace syrup into a well-cleaned feeder every two to three days, or you could be killing the very birds you’re trying to help.
Dr. Pitts told us hummingbird numbers have increased significantly in recent years because humans are helping, by providing syrup.
Let me interrupt this column with a not-about-nature announcement. Karen Herrmann called on me to roll words out about the April 2nd Mega BUNCO at Onion Creek Senior Center. 6pm bring a pot luck to share. 7 p.m. dice will roll. $20 benefits American Cancer Society and the local Relay for Life. For reservations, send word to herrmannk2000@yahoo.com or 512 268 6381. Silent Auction items appreciated.
Mountain City’s longest running long distance runner, James Hill, called out to me Sunday. Ten times that morning he had inhaled the delicious fragrance of our wisteria. Don Tokar, the original owner of our house, planted that bush to memorialize his wife close to 30 years ago. Now, swirling to the top of our “wildlife tree” (the skeleton of a live oak killed by oak wilt) it makes memories as never before.
I count it joy to count songbird eggs for NestWatch.org. This week, three nestboxes in our yard have 4 Eastern Bluebird eggs, 5 Black-crested Titmouse eggs, and 6 Bewick’s Wren eggs.
Is “This is My Father’s World” (Maltbie D. Babcock) playing in your head?
One stanza goes like this:
This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere, He speaks to me everywhere
Maltbie must not have had bluebonnets blue around at the time he (she?) penned the words.
Local churches offer all sorts of options on Resurrection Sunday (and, on Saturday). Very nearby, Fellowship Church’s three services on Sunday (8:30 a.m.; 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m.) will take place outside in the arbor.
Mountain City’s Easter Egg Hunt takes place on Saturday, March 26th, 10:00 – noon. 101 Mountain City Drive.
I have no Easter basket. But, I look for tidbits of every size and color. ptom5678@gmail.com (subject: tidbit) or 512 268 5678. Thanks! Love, Pauline
HE IS RISEN!
