UNWELCOME GUEST

I was looking out my back door and noticed a hummingbird circling the two hummingbird feeders I had attached to the porch. He would dart in, but quickly back away, then move on to the other feeder doing the exact same thing before speeding off around the house.

“I wonder why he didn’t take a drink?” I said to myself as I opened the back door and went out to check the feeders.

I moved in closely and could see all the sugar water was missing. “I just filled both of these yesterday!” I cried as I took the feeders down and brought them into the house.

Placing the feeders on the counter top I took a pot out of the drawer, put it on top of the burner, and went to the pantry to get the sugar.

My husband Steven came into the kitchen. “Morning!” He watched as I pulled a measuring cup from the drawer. “What are you up to this morning?”

I was filling the measuring cup with sugar. “Making hummingbird nectar.” I looked over at him as I poured the measuring cup of sugar into the pot and brought the pot over to the sink to get water. “Again!” I said with disgust.

Steven looked confused with my annoyance. “When did you make the last batch?”

“Yesterday!” I cried as I filled the pot with four cups of water and took it back to the stove and turned on the burner.

“They must be pretty hungry.” Steven reasoned.

“Oh, they’re not the ones drinking it all.” I pulled out a wooden spoon and began mixing it, helping to dissolve the sugar. “They did it the night before, too.”

“Who?” Steven was leaned back against the counter top watching me.

“Bats!” I cried.

Steven shook his head. “How do you know bats are drinking it?”

“Because I looked it up.”

Steven started to laugh. “What did you look up?”

I tapped the spoon against the rim of the pot and placed it on the counter top. “I looked up: ‘What’s emptying my hummingbird feeders at night?’ and it said a few things can be doing it.” I held up my thumb. “Bears, which is ridiculous one for around here. ” I held up my pointer finger. “Raccoons.” I shook my head and pointed out to the porch. “No raccoon is shimming up that post and licking the feeders until they’re empty.” So, I held up my index finger. “Which leaves bats!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you liked bats?”

“I did.” I shook my head. “I mean, I do. I just don’t want them up this close to the house drinking all the nectar every night!” I turned around and saw that the nectar on the stove had come to a boil. I turned the heat off and moved the pot to a cooler burner.

“You know, bats eat a lot of insects.” Steven reminded me.

“Clearly not here they don’t.” I held up the empty hummingbird feeder. “They seem to like sugar water on this property!”

Steven shrugged his shoulders again. “I guess you could bring the hummingbird feeders in every night?”

I shook my head and sighed. “I guess I’m going to have to now.” I looked over at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll just have to add it to the list of things I’m supposed to remember to do everyday.”

Steven looked out on the porch where my basil was beginning to droop. “Like watering the plants?”

“Oh, geez.” I looked out the window and could see all my herbs could use some water. “I knew I forgot to do something!”