Critters at the Lights, Hummingbird, New Cairns, and Estate Auction Reels

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

The celebration of the holiday weekend with the relatives and friends was a hoot.   Collected a butt load of adults around the porch lights, held a Ruby Throated Hummingbird for ~ 15 minutes until he got his bearings (think he was ambushed by a local cat), discovered cairns on Back Creek, and picked up 3 reels at a local estate auction (Johnson Century, South Bend Automatic fly reel, and a Mitchell 340 --- all made in the U.S.A.).   

Plus my dad and ex-Navy neighbor shared military stories at Sunday evening's feast of wild rabbit.

[Dougfish]

And it starts..........

Did you knock that shit down?

[Big J]

Looks like a good weekend Mudwall.  Cool hummingbird too. 

[Woolly Bugger]

As I drove by VT on Saturday, I was tempted to stop and take a flip off selfie with the school in the background.... but alas, I felt it wouldn't be worth the effort as no further insults are necessary...

did you sauté the bird in butter?

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

did you sauté the bird in butter?

I don't know how many of you have ever held a live hummingbird, but the experience was dreamlike, trancelike --- then senses started firing --- exhilarating.  I tried to recall the first time I held and cuddled a real live booby, searching for something for comparison.  I could not recollect, so the consensus among my few remaining memory brain cells was that holding the hummingbird was way cooler than any mammary gland ever fondled.   There are perks that accompany age. 

[natureboy]

Nice Johnson.

[Mudwall Gatewood 3.0]

Nice Johnson.

At least I didn't display ugly a**ed man nipples, man belly pudge, and man feet!

[creekfreak]

My dad, former USAF Col.,(cancer got em), gave me a Johnson just like the one in the pic, made me graduate to bamboo 5 wt w/single action pflueger knuckle buster, but then he let me have one one of his auto pfluegers! Still have that too! They were a gas.... not as much as holding that bird though Muddy. Very cool

[Dougfish]

Mud, I used to get hummingbirds that would wander into the greenhouses through the doors, then exhaust themselves trying to escape. After a while they would light on a plant and you could gently pick them up and take them outside and set them high on a plant in a shady spot. They would fly away soon after.
It is amazing how light they are, mere grams.

[benben reincarnated]

Nice birdie and good work on those cairns, I'm impressed.

As a kid I found a dead hummingbird in front of my grandparent's picture window, I assume it crashed into it.  Their tiny feet was what amazed me most.  I remember sticking it in their deep freezer under advice from my grandfather.  My grandmother was not advised of this, but I'm sure she found it, was creeped out and blamed it on my grandfather...I never saw it again.

[Onslow]

did you sauté the bird in butter?

I don't know how many of you have ever held a live hummingbird, but the experience was dreamlike, trancelike --- then senses started firing --- exhilarating.  I tried to recall the first time I held and cuddled a real live booby, searching for something for comparison.  I could not recollect, so the consensus among my few remaining memory brain cells was that holding the hummingbird was way cooler than any mammary gland ever fondled.   There are perks that accompany age.

It is very exhilarating indeed.  I have rescued two from garage cobwebs, one of which was depleted of energy.  Thankfully I had a feeder nearby.  I placed it's beak in the feeder orifice and it drank while watching me nervously.  After 8 seconds, the bird took flight.

[Woolly Bugger]

did you sauté the bird in butter?

I don’t know how many of you have ever held a live hummingbird, but the experience was dreamlike, trancelike --- then senses started firing --- exhilarating.  I tried to recall the first time I held and cuddled a real live booby, searching for something for comparison.  I could not recollect, so the consensus among my few remaining memory brain cells was that holding the hummingbird was way cooler than any mammary gland ever fondled.   There are perks that accompany age. 

For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets has been the eating of the Ortolan. These tiny birds—captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac—were roasted whole and eaten that way, bones and all, while the diner draped his head with a linen napkin to preserve the precious aromas and, some believe, to hide from God.

[Michael Toris]

Must be a good day for bird recovering.

Female Indigo bunting flew into the window. Picked her up and nursed her back to health. She few away about 30 mins ago

[Woolly Bugger]

[Big J]

Mudwall collects mayflies and stoneflies at his porch light, this is what comes to my porch light.