Hummingbird Food and Painting

I just made hummingbird food (thank you to my mother-in-law for reminding me it's hummingbird season- I almost forgot!) I love watching humming birds come to the feeder... and hopefully will have some pictures of them soon! Hummingbird food is simple to make.

Just bring four parts water to one part sugar to a boil (no need for any artificial dyes!) Don't use any other sweetener, sugar is the one that most closely resembles nectar. After it comes to a boil, stir, remove from heat, and let it cool before you put it in the feeder. I made a 2 cup batch, so I boiled it with a half cup of sugar. When it starts to get warmer, I will only put a small amount in the feeder at a time. I have read that bacteria grows really fast because of all the sugar in the hummingbird food. They can get sick from it if you don't change it often enough. In fact, I just found this chart here to refer to when deciding how often to change the food.

High temperatures		Change nectar after
71-75		6 days
76-80		5 days
81-84		4 days
85-88		3 days
89-92		2 days
93+		change daily

In the middle of the sweltering summers here, I will only put a tiny bit out so I can change it every day!

On another note, Nate built a table for our potted garden plants. We haven't put the pots on it yet, so this is how we used it this morning :)

Notice Lilly on her cushion... she wouldn't have it any other way.

I also went and painted pottery today with my friends Lisa and Rebecca... oh Bec, how we miss you! It was my first time ever and was scared to do anything too creative. SO, I used a special effects paint to cover my entire vase. I'll post pictures once I get it back. Lisa made a cute dog treat jar for her puppy Lacey.

And Rebecca made a ring holder for all her diamonds :) and tie clip holder for her hubby.

Since my uncreative piece didn't take too much time, I had fun taking pictures while they finished painting.

As I always say, SUNDAY FLEW BY! It was a great day but wish it lasted longer. I am looking forward to painting pottery again sometime and will be a little more daring! I am also eagerly awaiting those hummingbirds so I can try to take some pictures.