Where Do They Go?

We have a plethora of Hummingbirds of which I, indeed, enjoy. This picture, below, was taken the day after the hurricane.
They are such little birds, I began to wonder where do these guys go during such strong wind. I pondered this aloud to my dear other half and he said that they probably get on a branch opposite the side of where the wind is coming from~ makes sense, they probably do... but I cannot imagine they can always do that with wind direction changing so quickly.
I said that they must have super strength in their foot grasp to be able to hold on to a branch during high wind... you know, like how an ant has super strength and can lift 10Xs that of a man... well, I wonder what the grip ratio difference would be between humans and hummers. My other half said that I might be able to get a research grant somewhere and do a study on the subject... he often is facetious like that~ probably a way to deal with my many 'wonderings'.



One other note on these hummers... as we didn't have electric for 3 days after the hurricane, we slept with our windows open. The first night after the storm was a doozy. We were all tired since the night before was when the storm hit. Hence, no sleep. Then, this first night after the storm was HOT and humid.... suffice to say, very little sleep. And when I was finally asleep... early the next morning AT THE CRACK of dawn, I am awakened by the furious little squeaks & twitters of hummers vying for their territory on the feeder that is hanging right outside our bedroom window.
I am not a cursing person.. but lack of sleep had me muttering in my pillow, 'damn hummingbirds!'

Hurricane Ike... from the hill

All was not bad with Ike, for us. He did remind me of some things to be thankful for: ELECTRICITY, for one. We just got our electricity back yesterday evening. All I can say is, wow, things had to of been difficult in the wagon-wheel days, especially if you had children ~ I cannot even imagine.
Below are some various pictures taken before, during, and after Ike.

Be sure and click on the pics to see their full size.

The sky pics are especially amazing when viewed full size.

While putting up boards, a 'little someone' reminded us that life is too short to not stop and dance on a good wood floor.


More windows boarded...


At 2 y/o old, Emma was quite helpful in picking up all of our 'garden art' (animal figures, etc. in the rock border) so they wouldn't become projectiles in the wind.


Daddy showing some musskulls.


Our dining room all boarded up & dark.


All three of these sky shots were taken within a total period of about 5-10 minutes. The sky was changing quickly and it was windy at this point. Ike blew in in the middle of the night. The lighting was amazing in the sky with different cloud layers having quite distinct colors.

Our kitchen window boarded up... but wait, there's a story here.

You see, I'm used to seeing a whole lot out this window; our back yard to our barn, and part of the pasture and more. Well, I asked my dear other half to leave the light on that is attached to the barn and that shines out a bit into the pasture~ so I could look out our door (that wasn't boarded) and see outside during the storm.

Sooo, that evening when all is boarded up and we are settling in and the winds have started kicking up, I go into the kitchen to do something at the sink... I look up to see darkness out the window and turn to my husband and say, "Hey, I asked you to leave the barn light on". He looked at me flatly while at the same it dawned on me and I said a short, "Oh yeah"... with a smile on my face, of course.

(duhhh).

It was 1:55 AM and Ike just started really to kick in. These two items below helped;
~water
~tums
and the weather station, that tells wind speed too, made things more interesting (you can see half of it in the pic).


AFTER Ike...






You can see part of the building's siding (on the left) in the tree.
This was a HUGE Pecan~ pics don't do its size justice.










Still windy and rainy, but Ike was gone and boards were coming off. After being cooped up in a dark house, EVERYone wanted to be outside, despite the conditions.

Note in the above pic: in the back left is our windmill. Kint took the fan-head off but I had made mention of wanting to know wind direction... he disappeared in the shop after boarding everything up. I went in to find that he had made a makeshift tail to go on the windmill post.
It didn't come off! ...and we could watch the direction through late that night and early the next morning.

Well, that was Ike, in our nutshell. He, obviously, proved more devastating for those in more vulnerable areas. You just cannot mess with Mother Nature... all the above damage occurred with winds just under 60 mph (according to our weather station... I think it's correct). We never received "hurricane force winds"... and I wouldn't want to.

That Humming in the Air (more like R!R!R!R!R!!!)...

...now that's my best guess on trying to reproduce, with letters, what a LOUD generator sounds like. We are in day three since Ike blew through and we still have no power. Not complaining, as I know many don't have a generator and having a refrigerator, water, & fans is nice.
At the same time, the advent of a hurricane is but one reason why we decided, years ago, that we would not live along the coast... sooo, while many in Houston have power, I would think that us ~ further inland~ would have had it by now. Oh well.
I am still getting pics together to illustrate Ike's presence. Ike peaked from 1:55 AM until about 4:30 AM Sat. morning.
Have to go for now... clean-up ensues.

YYY-Ike s!

So here's the pre-Ike post...

"Ike", the hurricane, is coming our way. This pic, below, was taken just before this posting at about 4 PM on Friday. We are already feeling the wind and are to get the Hurricane force winds in another few hours.
If you click on the picture, it will open bigger and if you look closely, you will note our location with the yellow 'star'.
By the way, Ike is moving WNW...hmmm, our direction.


Hence, the posting's title, "YYY-Ikes!"

This puppy is huge.

I have taken some pre-Ike pics of the preparation we have done and will take post-Ike pics to post.

I can only say that I sure hope they are very similar.

She turned TWO! (1 1/2 months ago in July)

AND she can blow candles out too! Note that our pups heard the singing (they were outside), but they still had to chime in (thanks for video Paula). This was one of her 'cakes'... her other cake came a few days later in the shape of "Poohy".


Poohy cake compliments of Gam-ma.

So focused on "poohy", blowing out candles was tough on this one...


A big girl @ two (Daddy is 6'4").

Puppy Love

She loves her pups~ and despite who's on who... her pups love her.

Ohh, Bodily Outputs

A discussion has arisen in our household recently -one that has been encountered before. But, due to recent 'events', it has come up again. That is: Which is more gross, smelly, and/or overall YUK to clean up... throw-up (i.e., vomit, puke, etc.., whatever your choice word is) OR poop?
I definitely have a leaning on this one. Perhaps it is because I'm more accustomed to encountering the smell of poop. After all, we have several horses, two LARGE dogs, and a cat and they all poop -plus our two y/o daughter, of course, poops too... and, unless you are quite a talent, we cannot escape our own. So, for me, cleaning throw-up is worse on the list than cleaning up poop.
Forget the slime-stick factor that makes throw-up hard to rinse off before you put whatever item in the washer, the smell is... well... nauseating and has been known to produce the tell-tell gag reflex that occurs when someone is truly repulsed by something.
So, we're curious, where do you stand on this inconsequential issue that does have consequence if you're the 'cleaner'?
Poll question on right.
Happy voting!

One Of Those Things You Learn Once You Have Children

I have amassed many new Wisdoms now that I am a mom.... little known facts that, to a childless person, don't amount to much.

But, like so many things... it's the LITTLE things in life that can make a day nice or not.
So, the latest tidbit of parental knowledge: though strawberries can stain, strawberries can be of benefit when one's child ingests them before that child throws up in the middle of the night. For the color aspect alone, makes it easier to see where all the... throw-up landed.

GADGETS!

Okay... I've always liked gadgets, widgets, and thingamabobs. I am in an Internet candy store! Now, not only do I know the moon phase, I know the weather ....yeah, yeah, so I could go out and look up in the sky. It is neat though if I've missed the forecast on the news.

Tweedle-dee Tweedle-dum

Ok... really, I could be doing SOMEthing else. Although, we do like knowing what the moon's up to.
:-)

Done a little tweaking

Okay, so I've tweaked this thing a bit. Am still not sure as to where I'll go from here. Oh, SOMEone is up, better get...

p.s. Here's that little 'someone'.

Why is this blog called "The Mosquitoes Buzz"?

Well, there are two reasons:
1. I couldn't think of anything else.
2. I was, only once, referred to that little insect by my mom. Her reasoning for the reference was because ...you buzz and buzz and can sometimes be relentless when you have something in mind.
The thing is, I have been referred to other living creatures as well; a Pit Bull~ because of "not letting go of things", a Banty Chicken, because they are "small & feisty" and a crab... because, I think I was being crabby & the person knew it was my zodiac sign.
Regardless, it is what it is, as nothing else came to mind. Maybe something more appealing & catchy will buzzz by me someday.

Just starting this blog thing...

Well, this is just a test run... that is, I'm checking out if I'm doing this blog thing correctly. I thought I'd try it as a place where family/friends can get the latest ongoings. Guess we'll see if it works!