A Random post about Strange things....

Or a strange post about random things, or... recent things I've seen that seem strange...  well, you get the idea.  But, because I am a person who likes things to be orderly, I thought I'd gather all these random things into a list for you. (in random order, of course!)

1.  This house finch is my most frequent visitor to my hummingbird feeder.  He drinks out of the ant moat.  Then he shakes and sprays droplets of water all over the window.  Thanks, house finch.  It's not like he's taking a bath, I'm not sure how he sprays so much water!

2.  Speaking of hummingbird feeders, we've not had many hummingbirds this year.  (maybe the order of this isn't quite as random as I thought!)  How about you? Do you have many hummies at your house?

3.  The weather has been strange.  Sorry, I know talking about the weather can be boring, but, really we've had a lot of rain and more is coming!  We've had so much rain recently that I've had to pour water out of the birdbath to keep it at the right level more often than I've had to add it.   Yesterday it poured here -- hard, off and on every hour or two.  Where my husband was working (15 miles away) he said there was not a drop.

And here's our forecast:

4.  I don't have a photo of the next strange thing because it only took a matter of a few seconds.  A rose-breasted grosbeak was sitting in the tree just outside my window, when a hummingbird flew right up to the grosbeak's bright rose-colored breast and hovered there for a few seconds.  Guess it thought it was a flower and was going to have a sip of nectar.  I don't know what the grosbeak thought!

"No, not a flower, even though I have "rose" in my name.... sorry!"

Since hummingbirds are attracted to red, you can see why they might be confused!

5.  Here in Pennsylvania, it's a bit unusual to see a red squirrel sitting in a tree eating a chunk of banana (he 'stole' it from the grape jelly feeder).  It looked strange to me, even if I did provide the banana!

6. Remember all the rain (number 3)?  Well, today the sun came out and some of the plants in my garden wilted -- obviously not from lack of moisture, but because they hadn't felt that much sun in so long they wilted from the heat!

7. This flower: 

 

 I have a number of them blooming in my garden right now.  Kind of fitting for the Fourth of July because  I think they look like fireworks!  But they aren't called Fireworks Flower.  They are called Peruvian Daffodils.  They aren't in Peru (though they are from South America originally).  And they aren't daffodils.  Strange.  Oh well.  I think they are pretty, plus my grandparents had them in their garden, too, so I think of them when I see the flowers.

Happy Fourth of July!  Happy Birthday, America!

Don't they remind you of fireworks?  Or it is just me?

They are bulbs (like daffodils), but they are not hardy here.  I have to dig them up before the first frost, keep them in my cellar over the winter and plant them again in the spring.  But other than that, they are quite easy to grow.  I plant them in among my 'real' daffodils so that after the daffodil foliage dies down, the Peruvian daffodils come up.  The flowers don't last very long-- maybe a week, but they have nice thick, green leaves, which add some texture in the garden.  You can buy the bulbs most places where packaged bulbs are sold (or you might be able to get some from a friend, since they divide fairly rapidly).  If you ask nicely! ;-)

8. No explanation necessary:

Basset hound from below!

 Have you seen anything strange this week?