Thursday, November 12, 2009

DAY 95 Hummers & Determination


Hello Journal!

 Outside my studio window, the room where I spend most of my day, we hung a hummingbird feeder. It has been so much fun to watch them flit about every day. But lately it has been COLD here in Oregon. It's time to migrate, you guys!!

I was actually able to get some photos of them a couple of days ago. They aren't stellar pics, just taken with my cheapie digital camera. But it was fun to feel like this little guy (girl?) was posing. Flash after flash, it just looked at me, and then kept eating. It must have been hungry! (click pics to enlarge)





I  was concerned that I was messing up their instinct to migrate by leaving the food out this late into Fall. But my research revealed that it is not availability of food that affects them... rather, the shortening of days is supposed to trigger the instinct to migrate. UNLESS there is a need to delay, such as recovering from illness or injury, or not being big and strong enough yet.

At my feeder now I constantly see one big hummer and two little ones. A family? The babies born late in the season, and not big enough yet to travel??

I have been thinking about them each day as they come and go, filling their tummies. As the days have gone by I see them more and more, as the availability of real flowers gets less and less. I am hoping the little ones will get strong enough to follow Momma Hummer soon to where it is warmer, before it starts freezing hard here. This is life or death for this little family.

I can learn from these hummers. They are survivors. They are doing whatever it takes to live, to grow, to get strong. They must be very cold at night, yet they don't give up. They persevere. Food from a cheap plastic feeder certainly can't be as nutritious as the nectar from a real flower. But they are determined to survive.

This is life or death for me, too.  I am determined to be like those little hummers...to persevere, and do whatever it takes to make it.

And right now that means get off the computer, and go exercise!  LOL!

From Dr Phil's book: "Managing yourself during a crisis means that you will not live reactively, you will not let your life slide, and you will not let the crisis paralyze your life."

My verse for today: "Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

My quote for today: "Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen."--Peter Marshall


Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta
=^..^=

4 comments:

Cat said...

I didn't know there were any hummers in this area! Wow! That is (to me) a special event... And yes, it is most definitely perserverance! (Cool pix, too!)

Cat

{ALL} for a Better Life said...

I love that word -- PERSEVERE!

I enjoy the photos!

Today I will persevere...will you?

antgirl said...

Great analogy. We are little hummingbirds.

It's snowing here ... yeah, it is cold.

Retta said...

CAT: Hey, another Oregonian! Yes, we've had them all summer. But they'd better get gone right away... it's too cold them out there.

KIM/[ALL}: I like how put it... TODAY I will persevere. Me, too!

MARY/ANTGIRL: The cold here is that biting kind now, like it gets before a snow. I'm watching for it.

Loretta
=^..^=

Related Posts with Thumbnails