Birds and Bees

I was able to rusticate for a couple of hours yesterday - and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, watching birds, bees, insects and dogs.  I was sitting in the Snow backyard, between two large cottonwood trees, and about fifteen feet away from the garden.  The garden has raspberry patches on the north and south sides, that have migrated past the fence and into the yard.  I had a blast sitting there and watching a group of five hummingbirds fuss over territorial rights - between the hummers and the honey bees, the raspberry patch was very busy.  Of course, there were other birds all around and above me, too - chickadees, house finches, blue jays, nuthatches, magpies, crows, ravens, flickers, woodpeckers, sparrows, and lots of little wrens and warblers.  Several of the neighbors keep honey bees, so their presence was expected, as were the flies and a few mosquitoes.  I was surprised to hear the click of a beak near my ear, and glanced up in time to see a swallow swoop up and away.  Then a couple of the swallows started to eat the honey bees, so I had to go scatter the birds and bees from the raspberries.
   Lovey and Nedi were very happy to see me this morning - so were Yoshi and Aiko, Ooch, Mona and Boo, and I think Brandi was happy to get a pat and rub with her breakfast.  I loved and fed and medicated and walked at four houses before I came home to my kits.  Wow.  I just had to pause and look at Rawhide - Ken Curtis was on-screen, and I recognized his face, but he was playing a bad guy, and it didn't sound like him - certainly not his put-on screechy voice of Festus Hagen, nor his usual voice in John Wayne movies.
   I'm looking forward to the two football games tonight...  and I'll bake a raspberry pound cake tonight, too.  That I'll share with Alexy, and Kathy and Jim.  Jim is running the first part of his double marathon up Pikes Peak right now - today's race is up a gravel, rock and dirt trail.  Tomorrow he'll be running on an asphalt road.  More power to him!  I can walk, but I sure can't run - and here Jim is, less than a month away from his 69th birthday, and he's running back-to-back marathons.  The man is incredible.