"h" is for

....hummingbirds! my hubby spotted a hummingbird's nest in a tree in front of our house. we weren't sure if the nest was active so i used our digital camera to take a picture of the inside of the nest.

look at what we found!

may 31, 2009

mama wasn't sitting on the nest when hubby first spotted the nest. it was very well camouflaged in the leaves. later, mama came back and we got a shot of her sitting on the nest. can you see her?

here's a closer look at her. she wasn't afraid of us.

i took a couple of pictures of an old nest that we found on the ground a couple of years ago. the inside of the nest is about the size of a quarter. i imagine the eggs are a bit smaller than pinto beans.

then i stuck the nest next to a dwarf marigold flower

it wasn't until almost 2 weeks later that i thought to see if the eggs had hatched. ding-dong here should have been checking everyday; then i could tell you how old the babies are.

june 13th
did you know that the hummingbirds use spiderwebs to build their nests? it looks funny to see the nest stretch and wiggle as the babies get bigger and move around.

the mama hummingbird usually lays two eggs; laying one, skipping a day, and then laying another. she does not start sitting on the eggs until both are laid. it takes 16-18 days before the eggs hatch. the babies are born naked and without the characteristic long hummingbird beak (which i am sure makes mama happy). they really are butt-ugly!

fledging usually takes place about 3 weeks after the babies hatch so i suspect that i will find the nest empty soon as the babes venture out with mama.

we have been following their progress and have been taking pictures every day or so. i will be posting more pictures. it's not everyday that we get an opportunity like this. isn't nature wonderful?!

"g" is for

....goody! goodies!!!!

i won a blogiversary drawing over at learner's per-knit by sharing my ugliest project. and no, i didn't win because mine was the ugliest, thankyouverymuch! but ugly did beget something most lovely....

storm moon knits - tornado sock yarn
"i kissed a girl" colorway

i love it! thank you, kristen!

and then i did finish my pair of "kai-meis" -only my way! i added the lace panel down the sides of the legs. i just can't do 6 inches of plain k3p3 ribbing. i'm sorry!

"kai-meis"
from sock innovations by cookie a
mini-mochi in violet rainbow
us 1.5 needles (2.5mm)

submitted them for the may contest on socktopia over on ravelry and won this:

the yarn is called "yummy' and is new to me. i love the colors. emm1e, the mod, personalized the prize by checking my rav profile. isn't she the sweetest thing?!

my hubby and i went to go see the new star trek. i was dubious about this as i grew up watching the original star trek. i must admit that the actors did a remarkable job capturing the essence of the original characters. and oh my! the "new" spock looked more like the "original" spock than the "old" spock did. i didn't realize that leonard nimoy was in this one. what a surprise!

oh boy! now i get to do "H"! i have something wonderful!

taking a break from the alphabet

to let you know that i've finally got "zen garden" ready for sale over at my ravelry shop. only took me a year and a half! i am working on my other patterns...slowly! very slowly

!

"f" for

..."fluffy, fun, fiber!"

lookie what i got in the mail from my "best friend" , susan (crystal palace yarns). YES! mochi plus in my favorite color. it is a new addition to my "stuff the mattress with mini-mochi and mochi-plus" campaign. for some reason, i can never capture the richness of the colors. the colors are more saturated than the photo. thinking these will make a beautiful scarf.


and i won a blog contest over at http://www.danido.com!

dani also has an etsy shop http://danidocrafty.etsy.com

she has a sock yarn club where her inspiration comes from "great rock 'n roll." the colorway i won is called "one beat." pretty, huh?! she also included some swag. thank you, dani!