Begin Began Begun

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He had whiskers on his chinnegan,
Along came the wind and blew them in again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again!

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He kicked up an awful dinnegan,
Because they said he must not sing again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again!

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He went fishing with a pinnegan,
Caught a fish and dropped it in again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan. Begin again!


This children's song has a lot to teach about blogging and gardening both.  


Circumstances change, a practice that was once easy is made more difficult, the gap between what should be and what is becomes stretched.  Nothing new under the sun there.  


Or here.


As is usual this time of year, I've kept an eye out on the hummingbird feeders.


Not to watch the birds when they feed, but to watch and see if there are indeed any birds actively feeding.

The two Special Ops Hummingbird Strike Force, the irritable guys who show up annually to resume staking out both a front and back feeder as their exclusive territory, seem to have moved on.  

No migrating stragglers have been spotted for at least 10 days in our little corner of the world.  


In fact, I've seen more butterflies this past week than I have hummingbirds.  Which is saying something.* So I took down our hummingbird feeders and put them in the dishwasher to get them clean for storage until they are needed again.  

[*This year, considering reports that GMO soybean planting has nearly eliminated milkweed thereby threatening the survival of Monarch Butterflies, along with the more obvious hardships caused by our drought and heat, we've seen very few butterflies.  Maybe one or two a day are working the Fall Gratitude Blooms along with a smattering of bees, but nothing like what we usually experience. ]

Move over feeder, it is the bird house gourd's turn.

So ends another S/Hummer season.  Pool floats are out of the water, a shovel leans against the house close to a garden bed that is past due for a thorough turning over.  The need for work continues even if the nature of the work has shifted gears.  


And, oh, yes, there is this one other shift of note.  I am back at the blog again.  Yup.  I suppose you can just call me Ms. Finnegan.

Merriam-Webster Comments on the Weather

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day
July 23, 2009

skosh

\SKOHSH\

noun
Meaning: a small amount : bit, smidgen

Example Sentence: It rained cats and dogs in the Austin area last night much to the relief of many a gardener and farmer but at my house it only rained a skosh.

Sad but true people. A few miles to the north, south, east or west of here and there were rains ranging anywhere from 2 to 10 inches. 10 inches. That may be too much of a good thing.

Here where I live? Not even enough rain to get the driveway wet underneath the oak tree canopy.

It got nice and humid and we could hear the thunder, see flashes of lightning occasionally, but really nothing happened here last night. Kind of a rain tease if you know what I mean.

The forecast is for more rain "in the Austin area" again today. It has rained all around us for days in a row now, the moisture taunting us with a "so near and yet so far" attitude. I keep hearing a weather version of the soup Nazi in my head "No rain for you!".

Time to shake a rattle at the sky, people. Maybe if we all set up our largest fans we could blow this hot dry weather over to the folks on the East Coast where they have had nothing but rainy cool days for the most part. Y'all ready? 1-2-3...Blow!