Morning chores

Everybody here in our desert runs errands EARLY in the morning or in the evening.  The rest of the day, we just hibernate.  I awake about 4:30 a.m. and my chores are done by 6:00.  Then I sit at my computer for an hour or so and watch all the birds outside my office window in the front garden.  This morning, a beautiful male oriole came for a visit and right now a hummingbird is at his feeder.

I wake up, put the dog out to pee, and feed the 2 outdoor cats, who are always waiting for me, demanding breakfast.  Then I feed the dog.  Then I get to pee.  Then I go out front and feed the birds.  I have several feeders to fill and 2 finch socks.  I also put out mealworms for the mockingbird family in  the neighborhood.  Then I come in and put the coffee on.  I usually wander around until the coffee is done, then I check my email and facebook.  By the time I've finished my coffee, all the feeders need to be filled again.  Oh, and I clean and scrub the hummingbird feeders at least 3x a week so black mold doesn't grow on them.

I bought two new feeders at WalMart the other day when I was buying mealworms.  I went to our neighborhood WalMart, but they don't keep their shelves restocked very well, and they were out of them.  So, I had to drive 7 miles at 4 p.m. (the HOTTEST time of day!) to the nearest Super WalMart.  They had them, so I bought 2 bags.  They also had 3 packages of Tithonia (Mexican red sunflowers), so I bought those as well, since the hummingbirds really enjoy the Tithonia that I have out front.  By the time I got home, I was too pooped to buy dinner, so hubby ordered a pizza for himself and a ham sandwich for me from our local pizza place.  We watched TV until 10:30 p.m. and I woke up at 4:30 again this morning...back to my chores!

Here's a photo of my male feral cat.  I call him "Little Man". You can see how feral he is now.  One of these days, I will capture him and take him in to be neutered, but we aren't at that point in our relationship yet...