First hummingbird sighting!*

Yes, really.

I have no idea where they've been, it's very likely that I have the kind (Rufous?) that goes clear to the arctic to mate and then slides through here on their way out. They may also be timing it for when the agastache and scarlet gilia are in bloom - mid to late summer. It looked very dark colored to me, almost black, but that may have had more to do with being in partial shade. I'll keep an eye out. It just happened, mere moments ago and I was no where near my camera.

Instead, I was in the front yard finally installing my automated drip system into my potted plants and huffing about (Everything causes me to get breathless - Eric dug 3 holes for me, but installing the plants and putting soil around them caused me to get sweaty and breathless and have to lay down for an hour.) when I heard that funny buzzing chirping noise. There it was, under the cherry tree, sipping from scarlet gilia. Clearly I need more of that on the xeric side, since not a lot of hummer plants are currently in bloom yet. The agastaches are about to start, but they aren't there yet. Of course, my having been on the right side, in the xeric section, might have had something to do with its choice of location and plants, but I don't know for certain.

Oh and I can see that I clearly need to revamp more in the backyard - I have very few plants in bloom in the middle section and I need to balance it out. This, of course, will have to wait until I am no longer a Preggosaurus. Possibly next spring. Or next fall. It was at least a year after Caitlin was born that I had to give up on anything related to gardening and attend to her near constantly. Or nap.

Good thing I have automated sprinklers and tough plants! They're going to have to fend for themselves for awhile.

Poor year to try to start a nursery business, though. Ugh. Maybe next year?

Updated to add: Forgot to mention that yesterday, during the beginning of a thunderstorm, I saw the first Lesser Goldfinch of the season. I noticed it when it was hanging onto one of my birdfeeder hangers and I saw it fly over, grab some niger seed and munch away. Eric got a tiny bit of video footage while I ooh'd and ahh'd over it. I also have a handful of black capped chickadees, piles of house and purple finches, blue jays, robins, starlings, mourning doves, blackbirds, sparrows, squirrels, raccoons (they like to tease the cats and steal the birdseed), tiger swallowtail and black swallowtail butterflies and the occasional dragonfly.

* Thanks Janet! Caught in a spelling error! Eek!