MUMMY HUMMER'S WILD RIDE

 

Subscribe to My Blog! March 28, 2023  Mummy Hummer's Wild Ride PREVIOUS BLOGS: TERRYBAUM.BLOGSPOT.COM PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED. PODCASTS, EVENTS, INFO, POSTERS: LilithTheater.com MUMMY HUMMER ON A PEACEFUL, SUNNY DAY Yesterday was lovely, as you can see. But this poor little bird hasn't had an easy time since I last wrote. Last week on Tuesday, we had a major storm. As things seem to go lately, this major storm was more major than previous major storms. It was extremely major in the wind department. In fact, the news described it as A "ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME" STORM! In San Francisco, There were winds up to 67 miles an hour! This is a very windy city, but we NEVER have wind like that. 67 miles an hour! Big trees blew down! GAS STATIONS BLEW DOWN! EMBARRASSINGLY BAD STATUES BLEW DOWN! Someone had just put a giant statue on his roof on Telegraph Hill. It represented Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. The roof owner wanted to create a kind of giant weathervane visible all over the northeast corner of the city. Let us say it was a sincere effort to contribute to San Francisco's quirky delights. The statue got a lot of coverage in the Chronicle. Polite coverage. No one mentioned that the statue was ... ummm... shall we say esthetically challenged? Or shall we simply say ... dreadful! Anyhow, poor scrawny Fortuna seemed to be lacking not only beauty but luck and was blown over by the once-in-a-lifetime-storm almost immediately after being hoisted up. Fortunately, the wind wasn't 67 miles an hour! in my backyard, which is somewhat protected. But as you can see from the photo at the top, my little Hummer Mummy is sitting on a very thin branch. My fuchsia tree is really not a tree at all but a tall weedy shrub. Mummy Hummer's tiny little cup was like a seat on some crazy cyclone ride in an amusement park! That branch was whipping around in the wind. Whipping whipping whipping! She just sat there, as if she was strapped in for the ride. It was absolutely horrible to watch, and I was home the whole day watching her because who goes out in such a storm if they don't have to? I cudgeled my brain to figure out how I could protect my little bird from the wind. I wandered around in my basement to see if there was something in there that I could possibly use. Could I make some kind of tent with that giant piece of carpet padding? Was there a possibility of using some old flats from a play as a barrier? But the truth is, I am a totally unhandy person. And even if I did figure something out, what if my jerry-rigged barrier blew over on her? Then I would have been the one responsible for doing her in. So I just sat there in my studio, trying to get my taxes done, while obsessively watching my little bird whipping around in the pouring rain and wondering how she could possibly stand it. I considered taking a video of Mummy Hummer's Wild Ride, but it was just too terrifying to want to share the experience. Finally the darkness came, and the wind died down. I went to sleep, praying the wind was finished with us and I would see Mummy H when I awoke. And I did. But it seemed to me that her tail feathers looked askew. Oh no! Had she gotten injured when she left the nest for a sip of nectar?!? I took a photo and then scrutinized it compared to a photo from before the storm. It seemed to me her tail feathers DID look different. Was she now going to pathetically flop instead of zooming? I worried about that for as long as I could, studying the two photos. By the end of the day, I had to admit that she was in fact leaving the nest, was not seen by me flopping on the ground, and was perhaps okay. Phew. Then I decided the one thing I could do for my long-suffering tiny Mom was to buy a hummingbird feeder so she wouldn't have to fly too far for a snack. I had never put up a feeder before, because you have to clean it twice a week or it becomes a source of fungus that is harmful to the little beings you're trying to help. I never felt up for the responsibility. But now that I had an emotional relationship with a hummer, I did. So I went down the hill to the hardware store and bought this lovely hummingbird feeder that you see to the right. Fortunately, I mentioned to Carolyn that I had hung the feeder as close as I could to the nest. She immediately texted me back that that was the absolutely worst thing I could do. It might cause another hummingbird to discover the nest -- and that could lead to tiny bird violence! I don't think I could take that after everything I've been through. Apparently hummingbirds are not very nice to each other. Well, no species is perfect. Right? We humans have a few flaws too. I moved the feeder to the other side of the yard. And now, since I began writing this blog yesterday, Mummy Hummer has soldiered through ANOTHER storm! Not nearly as bad as the once-in-a-lifetime storm and with very little wind in the backyard. Phew! Mummy is still out there, hanging on. The amazingly well-built nest looks pretty damn good, considering. There are no big storms in the foreseeable future. Perhaps true Spring weather is on the horizon! I think everyone in the Bay Area, not only Mummy Hummer and me, would be thrilled if this damn rainy season was over. All for now, Bloggellinis! Terry & Mummy Hummer (Mummy @ Night Below)

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