We’ve been busy experiencing the retired life and I must say, I think I’m getting the hang of it. I’m a little surprised at how quickly this has come to feel “normal.” I never fail to have gratitude for being able to experience it. It’s amazing how you cannot fathom tolerating things you tolerated while working, but you did it, or I know in my case, I did it because I felt like, “Well, suck it up because you don’t have the ability to leave yet, so dig in and deal with it!” When you know you DON’T have to deal with it any longer, it becomes another story.
Last week our retirement adventure was trying various hamburger places for lunch (The Fisherman’s idea.) I’m not talking about going to a restaurant that serves a lot of different things and just ordering a hamburger, but going to places that hang their hat on their burgers. The ones touted and featured for their burgers. It was fun and The Fisherman was REALLY excited about it. Me?–I love to go out and eat breakfast so I’m going to suggest our next round of culinary visits need to be in search of a great omelette.
The rain and cooler weather has arrived here in the Pacific Northwest and the forecast is predicting our first frost over the next couple of days. That brings me to my obsession that I’m indulging in now that I’m retired, although I was pretty into it, or “them” before and that’s Hummingbirds. Does that sound like a full-on “Old Person” thing or what? I’m an animal fanatic anyway so it’s no wonder birds fascinate me and especially Hummingbirds. I first was introduced to them when I was a kid. We were visiting someone who owned a Christmas Tree farm and they had this beautiful home up in the woods with a Living Room that had a wall of windows and outside those windows hung a line-up of Hummingbird feeders and that’s when I first became fascinated by them. I have two feeders outside our kitchen window and one that we can watch at the front of the house outside our Living Room window. I also have a chart I refer to for how frequently to change the nectar based on the temperature outside so that no bacteria builds up that can impact the birds’ tongues. That mold eventually kills them because their tongue swells and they cannot eat. Last night, knowing we could get frost, I brought the feeders in so they would stay warm in the house, then on those nights I make sure I get up early the next morning so I can have the feeders back outside by sunrise when the birds begin looking for them. Here in the Pacific Northwest we are lucky to have many hummingbirds stay year-round and not migrate away. I’ve been told some leave us, but others stay and even if we get snow, we don’t get so frigid that they cannot survive, but they DO rely on us who keep our feeders out more than ever. I’ve seen people on Social Media who live in other parts of the country lamenting that their Hummingbirds are leaving to migrate to a warmer climate.
The one feeder I have my sister gave me as a gift. Well, she’s actually given me two as gifts, but this one is the more unusual one that you don’t just find everywhere:
It’s from a company called Peter’s Feeders, http://www.petersfeeders.com and I’m not getting anything from the company, I just think they make a great hummingbird feeder the birds love and they have great customer service, so if you’re into hummingbirds or feeding birds in general, check them out!
So here I was this morning while it was still dark, making the nectar and filling the feeders so breakfast could be served when the sun came up. Getting the feeders outside without spilling sticky syrup all over takes the steady hand of someone who could easily detonate bombs. Seriously. Here I was, barely awake, feeders full of the sugary mixture, trying to carefully walk outside while not tripping over 3 bouncing dogs. In those tense moments in movies where they are being careful while deciding whether to cut the red wire or the green wire on the bomb they should add some bouncing dogs in the mix for extra drama. The Fisherman was in the Living Room having his morning coffee and while he didn’t say a word, I’m sure he was wondering why I was going to all this effort for birds, but he’s used to it. The other bit of humor can come when I make it outside and hope that I can successfully stand on my toes and not spill everything while reaching the hooks where the feeders hang. I CAN do it, but The Fisherman would believe I should ask for his help, but he won’t always be up early when I want them to go out, so it’s up to me to S-T-R-E-T-C-H my reach. He calls that me being stubborn. I disagree, of course. My parents made sure they told him the story of when I was a wee toddler and they would try to help me do something and I would defiantly stomp my feet, clench my fists at my side and yell, “I NOT NEED YO’ HELP!! I CAN DO MYSELF!!” I still believe that and the only thing is now I would correctly pronounce “your” rather than “Yo” and I would include “it” after “do.” Any time I do something The Fisherman believes he should help with, he goes, “I know, I know: You NOT NEED my help, you can do YO-Self but humor me, I’m here to help.” I DO ask for his help if I really think I need it, but I’m stubbornly independent……kind of like those hummingbirds who refuse to migrate. If I were a hummingbird I would probably figure I could stay in the Pacific Northwest and find my own food. I would need YO help with a feeder, though.
Observations on getting used to being one of those gray-haired retired people 