osprey_archer | Entries tagged with hummingbird cottage

Important Hummingbird Cottage updates! First, I am sad to report that the geese after all decided not to nest on the pond, presumably flying off in search of a larger pool. However, the pond is still frequently visited by ducks and geese, and also a red hawk which swooped across the pond and snatched something small and dark from the rocks. You go, red-shouldered hawk! Keep the small rodent population in check!

The flowers have begun to blossom. Velvety purple irises, blue-violet columbines, yellow roses, lovely gold-pink roses like a sunrise, these last outside the window of the downstairs bedroom, which at last forced me to remove the mattress blocking the window -

I have not yet told the story of the mattress. So. At a mattress fundraiser for my old high school, I bought a queen size mattress on clearance, only to discover upon delivery that my bed frame was, in fact, a full. This ended with the mattress leaning against the window for a month, until the roses forced my hand, and I took apart the old bedframe and lowered the new mattress to the floor, where it will reside till I get an appropriately sized bedframe.

(Hilariously, a week after my mattress misadventure, my former roommate bought a new mattress for a bedframe that was surely a full. But NO. That bedframe was in fact a queen.

One would like this to end with the trading of the bed frames, but Julie understandably wished to keep the charming wooden sleigh bed and therefore cut it down to size.)

The weeds are getting away from me, in particular the lemon balm (a variety of mint that is spreading all along the shady north side of the house). However, yesterday evening I did get rosemary and chives from the farmer’s market, which I planted, having cleverly come out through the garage in order to keep Bramble inside… only to look up from planting the rosemary at the sound of a happy meow. Bramble trotted past, intent on exploring the neighbor’s patio, which I must admit I’ve also been curious about, so I followed him nothing loath.

The Hummingbird Cottage is half of a duplex - all the houses in this condominium development are, except the ones that are fourplexes - but I’ve never seen the neighbors in the other half of my duplex. Nor have I heard any noise from their half of the house, seen their car, or seen a trash can pulled to the curb by their driveway.

Through the patio door as I chased Bramble (happily hiding under an overgrown bush), I saw a dining room set with a jacket draped over a chair, so someone must live there at least occasionally? A mystery.

Bramble eventually scampered down to the pond, and then apparently decided he’d had enough, as he docilely allowed me to pick him up and deposit him inside. Possibly all that water was a little alarming. I finished planting the rosemary and chives and contemplated the best place for a cherry tomato plant, but as I have not yet acquired said plant, that is a problem for another day.

Also, I found the perfect little wicker cart for my houseplants! Admittedly there is currently only one houseplant, but now that I have a home for more they will surely come into my life. The cart is currently a somewhat battered yellow and needs a wash and a coat of white spray paint, but it was only twenty dollars at the secondhand shop, and anyway how often do you see a charming wheeled wicker cart for sale anywhere?

Exciting news from the Hummingbird Cottage: a Canada goose is nesting by the lake, right across from my patio! There are two geese, actually, and sometimes one is on the nest and the other patrolling, but sometimes both on the lake, dipping their heads underwater so their white back ends stick up in the air.

So far no sign of goslings, but I’m keeping an eye out. The pond might be christened Gosling Pond.

However, I also believe that there’s a kingfisher (!!) in the area, and if I can get a positive ID on the bird, the pond will likely be Kingfisher Pond instead. I am not very confident in my bird identification skills and even less so than usual in this case because I would LOVE to have a kingfisher, and therefore fear deluding myself. But I’ve seen it more than once and feel cautiously hopeful that I have not after all led myself astray.

Other birds in the area: lots of robins. Cardinals. Blue jays. A lot of little brown birds that I vaguely classify as “sparrows,” although I’m sure some of them are chickadees. A lovely little red bird, smaller than a cardinal and without the distinctive crest, very red at the front and fading to brown at the back. I saw that one in the tree outside my office window, which is on the second story so I am of a height with the birds in the trees.

The office is a fancy name for a table pushed up under the window, where I do my Sunday Writing Mornings. Mostly I’m working on short stories, and I’m building up a little stash: seven so far! This is also the room where I practice my dulcimer (most recently working on “Scotland the Brave”), and think about practicing my tin whistle, but I haven’t managed to take the plunge on that one yet.

It’s getting warm enough to plant, so I need to get started in the garden. There’s a rosemary plant that appears to have overwintered, as there’s green coming into the tips of its gray leaves, and some very happy mint on the shady side of the house. Not sure what kind. I brought a little inside and Bramble was very interested, starting whizzing around the house, and then either jumped or fell off the upstairs balcony into the living room. (He was fine. He has been courting this experience for weeks, as he considers the balcony rail a fun enrichment opportunity for cats.)

My composting efforts were met with great enthusiasm by the wildlife community, by which I mean that something dug them up repeatedly until it ate every last bit that it found appetizing. Strongly suspect the agency of a possum that I saw waddling across the patio one morning. This is probably a heartening sign of biodiversity, but as I don’t wish to open a buffet for possums, the composting is on hold as I consider next steps.

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for Hummingbird Cottage updates, and I am happy to report that I’m all moved in! In the main the boxes have been unpacked, although not all their contents have yet found homes.

In particular, there’s a bottleneck at the linen closets, which are currently filled with books, which I would like to remove and put in the front room bookcases, but as the bookcases are currently the only furniture in the front room aside from the cat tree, it’s a bit hard to decide where they ought to go.

The cats are settling in. Bramble has taken to the cat door in the closet under the stairs and would like a Bramble door in ALL the closets, please, a suggestion he has delicately hinted at by getting caught one after another in every closet in the place. Why should Bramble have to wait for a human to open the door before he can get into the pantry??

He will not get his wish of a cat door in EVERY closet, but I will probably put one in one of the upstairs closets, as it would make a nice out of the way place for a third litterbox, which I hope and pray will stop Baby Boy’s annoying habit of peeing by the walls. (Probably not, though. I think the wall-peeing is scent-marking his territory and unrelated to the number of litterboxes. Why must you do this, Baby Boy!)

Have also begun work in the garden! Since I bought the house I’ve been saving fruit and vegetable scraps in the freezer, and on Tuesday when the weather was nice I took the opportunity to dig a couple of holes in the garden, alternate the scraps with layers of cardboard, and bury it all. I believe a truly dedicated digger could have got it all into one deep hole, but my wee little arms were not equal to the task of battling that many roots, so I did the best I could. Enriching the soil! Giving back to the earth!

Now the temperature is hovering around freezing again. It may be another month before it’s safe to plant herbs and cherry tomatoes. Still yearning after raspberry bushes as well, but not entirely sure where would be the best place to plant them. Overall the east-facing (pond-facing) garden will, I think, be best for fruits and vegetables, as it gets the most sun; the west-facing front area is shaded by trees.

Outside my bedroom window, iris leaves spear through the dirt, and a bare rosebush awaits warmer weather. Eager to see what it will look like as the weather warms and the flowers bloom.

At the end of 2024, I mentioned that I had made an offer on a house, and then never followed up on this fact, so I thought I’d update you all on my progress.

So: I’ve bought a house! It has a hummingbird stained glass window, so I’ve named it the Hummingbird Cottage. Before I bought the Hummingbird Cottage, I already had two pieces of hummingbird art (a painting and a stained glass window hanging), and two friends have already given me hummingbird cards, and one is making me a Hummingbird Cottage cross-stitch with a ruby-throated hummingbird, and in short the entire decorating scheme may swiftly become “hummingbirds.”

Hummingbirds may also prove an organizing theme in the disposition of the flower parts of the garden, as I have acquired a book about native plants that has a special list of flowers attractive to hummingbirds. I very much like the scarlet cardinal flowers, but alas I don’t think the soil is wet enough, so I may have to fall back on other blooms.

Other garden plans: a little herb border, with chives and rosemary and basil and thyme. Cherry tomatoes. Raspberry canes or blueberry bushes or perhaps both. Compost, which I have mentally moved to the side of the house with no windows. Does anyone know any good resources for learning how to compost?

Before I get too deeply into gardening plans, however, I’m going to see what comes up in spring, as the previous owner was evidently an avid gardener. (I looked up her obituary, and discovered that she lived to be 101, and went on over 100 cruises in her lifetime.)

And right now it’s too cold for gardening anyway, so I’ve been at work on the inside. I’m not moving in till mid-March, so I’m trying to get as much done as possible before then. The past three days I spent painting with a rotating cast of friends, and now it is almost all painted (including a rich cranberry red tea nook) except the guest room may need a second coat of the soft misty blue-violet agapanthus.

Have moved in most of my books (which currently reside in the linen closets) and will shortly begin packing my lesser-used kitchen gear. I’ve also put out a general offer to take unwanted furniture off my friends’ hands, and have scored a daybed, a TV, a pair of end tables, and a china cabinet. Need to find some rugs to protect the carpeting from the cats. Also need to cut a cat door into the cupboard under the stairs so I can put the litterbox in there, as it is one of the only non-carpeted places in the house and I would very much prefer NOT to get litter all over the carpet...

Also very much need a nap, but alas, that will probably have to wait until sometime after the move.