Completely ignoring me. At first I thought this was a female calliope, but I guess it’s a female broad-tail. She’s not very big. About fifteen feet away.

There are enough flowers to entice hummingbirds this time of year, as well as three feeders, two of which I filled today and are now empty, because some jerk squirrel discovered that if he hangs by his hind toes he can tip the feeder up, empty it, and run around the garden for hours. The dog, of course, is completely useless in preventing this behavior.

Look at all the beautiful thistle in seed, just waiting to blow into my garden.

When she turned around, I got so excited at the prospect of taking cool hummingbird pictures that I did something weird to the focus on the camera, and only got this. These, I mean.

Yes, I know the fence looks really classy. It keeps out the elk, anyway. They know it’s there but can’t see the top of it. At least that’s what I tell myself.

This is what some people call “rabbit fence” for a reason I don’t quite understand. A rabbit can just walk through it. It’s all bent out of shape because of raccoons climbing over it, too. It makes an excellent support for bindweed, growing on the field side, turning it into a lovely green flowering fence.

It also holds the weight of a hummingbird.