Join me by pulling up a chair and pouring yourself a cup of coffee. As always, though, I’m sticking to water since I don’t care for coffee or tea. Let’s take a break and try to talk about more than just fitness-related topics. Sound like a plan? I’ll kick us off…
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that…..
September was another fantastic month on the exercise front! Split between time at home and at the beach, I made sure vacation didn’t get in the way of staying active. In fact, my beach days were filled with long walks along the ocean, plus great bike rides with my husband and our friend who was vacationing on the Outer Banks near us. Since I only keep dumbbells at the beach house, I used the opportunity to start a new strength routine—Peloton HiLit—which turned out to be the perfect workout for my seaside setup!
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that…..
After stopping for a snack at a dipladenia by the garage doors, a female Ruby-throated hummingbird (I named her Miss Ruby) accidentally flew inside and got stuck! After five long hours of constant flying near the ceiling without food, our exhausted little visitor finally perched on the garage door opener wire. It took six hours total for her to figure out an exit strategy even with both doors wide open the entire time. Once she made it back outside, I set out a late-night feast so she could refuel before her next big adventure!
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that…..
Right on cue for the second day of fall—it was raining on the first day—I switched out my summer garden flags for festive autumn ones. The American flag flies off our deck pretty much year-round, though I do have a winter bird flag ready to go whenever snow is in the forecast.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that…..
I’m loving my stack of eNewton bracelets, which I started collecting about a year ago! Funny story: when I showed up for dinner with my running girlfriends back in June, several other ladies were wearing theirs, too! They’re obviously super popular around here and so much fun to mix and match. I also have one silver bracelet that I like to pair with my other bracelets whenever I go with a silver look.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that…..
I haven’t even thought about starting our fall yard cleanup yet. Between cutting back perennials, prepping the garden beds for winter, and storing the deck and patio furniture, it’s always such a massive undertaking. Thank goodness my husband takes care of the leaves!
Questions:
- • Have you had any surprising wildlife visitors drop by your home or garden recently? Or have you ever spent hours trying to guide an uninvited guest back outside? ~ We also had two adorable skinks get into our house and I had to carefully sweep them into a dustpan to carry them outside. They’re fast little guys!
- • Do you swap out your garden flags or porch decor for every season, or do you stick with one look year-round? ~ I love seasonal decorating! Mom also loved garden flags and I now have several of hers.
- • If we were having coffee, what would you tell me?
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Today I’m joining Deborah at Confessions Of A Mother Runner and Coco at Running With Perseverance for their monthly Ultimate Coffee Date linkup which goes live the first Friday of every month. Be sure to stop by their blogs for a cup of coffee and to say hello; and while you’re there, be sure to check out some of the other bloggers who are participating in the linkup.
I must have missed the memo about those bracelets! Sometimes the deer will find a way to get over our high fence and then get stuck in the backyard. Opening the door dos not seem to help 🙂 I have to chase them around to the area where it dips down so they can get out. I am so ready for fall!
A very popular gift shop nearby sells the eNewton bracelets. Maybe that’s why so many of my friends have them!
Oh those silly deer, but sometimes animals aren’t that smart. We brought the Dipladenia just inside the garage door hoping the hummingbird would swoop down for some nectar, but she never stopped flitting around or resting in the ceiling area until that one time, six hours later.
Oh so sweet of you to put out the food for the exhausted humming bird! It’s such a shame when they get stuck and can’t find the way out. And then they get all panicky when you try to help them find the exit… At least the bird will have a story to tell when it gets back to its friends!
Well done for keeping up all the exercise routines while travelling, Debbie! That takes a lot of discipline and planning.
We moved Miss Ruby’s Dipladenia into the front edge of the garage hoping she would fly down to feed from it again and find her way out, but she just wouldn’t fly down from the ceiling. Once she started resting on the wire, I thought she might be stuck in there overnight so I made her some nectar. When I carried it out to the garage she flew out! My husband saw her fly into the Holly tree so I hung the feeder near there. We saw her feeding from it the following day! I’m sure she’s well on her way to Mexico or Central American by now!
I haven’t seen those bracelets either, but they look like something I’d like. I am a bracelet girlie!
Glad the hummingbird got out safely — how thoughtful to put extra food out for it!
I’d made the nectar to hang in the garage so the hummingbird could feed overnight, and just as I walked out into the garage to find a place to hang it, she flew out!
Come out and visit, and we can go to Mon Amie Amy so you can shop for those bracelets. Here’s a link to their website.
Glad you helped that poor hummingbird! I’ve not heard of eNewton but I do love a good bracelet stack so I’ll have to check them out. Love all of your fun garden flags. The VT one flies here year-round! Haha! Now I’m thinking I need a Hokie bracelet stack!
Check out Mon Amie Amy’s gameday tab on their website. I see a burnt orange bracelet and a wine one. I’ll have to stop by the store and see if they have one in maroon instead of wine. Now I need a set of those, too! 😉 BTW, I checked Amazon and theirs look like cheap knockoffs so I don’t know how they’d hold up.
And yes, I’m sure Miss Ruby was happy to get outside and is well on her way to Mexico (or Central America) by now!
Well, I’m all about jewelry, so those bracelets caught my eye immediately! I have not heard of them or seen them in my area. Do they symbolize anything, or just have the varying color combinations?
I know that the eNewton bracelets have a Gameday collection, but otherwise, I think they’re just available for mix and match stacks.
Those bracelets are fun – I love the stack!
We don’t typically use flags, etc. but I wouldn’t mind starting to invest in more seasonal flags, or other outdoor decor! We have some spooky decorations for Halloween but that’s really it. We had some deer eating my flowers including ones on our front porch! But no hummingbirds I know of.
Aren’t they fun?!
I bet your kids love it when you put up your Halloween decorations!
I also love seasonal decorating, but I don’t do much outside these days except for Christmas. Right now I have a Halloween wreath hanging on our front door, and that’s it for the outside.
Poor little hummingbird! I’m so glad she got out safely. I always try to usher wildlife out of our house, but it’s mostly bugs and lizards. A couple times we had a frog in the house, but luckily got them out safely.
What are these eNewton bracelets? They’re pretty! I like bracelets (it’s really the only jewelry I like to wear) so I’ll look into them.
I haven’t put our fall wreaths on the front doors yet because of the contractors going in and out of the house all day. Can’t wait until I can, though!
Yes, we were happy that Miss Ruby finally flew out of the garage safely.
I love your autumn flags! Is your garden so large that you have all of those up??
Getting birds inside can be a difficult task to solve. They get so scared and just fly around where it’s hard to catch them. I’m glad she found an exit, and got some food too. We only get insects inside, unless it’s something Elsa takes in. Our previous cat Ester once took inside an alive bird, and it was a nightmare when she chased it all over the place! And another time she brought a rabbit, still alive.
I have gardens all around our house: traditional foundation plants (and liriope) in the front, perennials on the right side, pachysandra on the slope, the gnome rock garden way in the back, etc. so the flags are scattered all around.
We didn’t have a butterfly or fish net, or we might have had better luck getting her out sooner. My little neighbor had Lacrosse sticks, but I was afraid I’d hurt her with them. Elsa sounds like quite the gift giver! 🙂
I haven’t heard of those bracelets – I like them!
I’ve been dragging my feet on my garden clean-up too – so much to do! I need to get started before the leaves start to fall, otherwise it just feels like twice the work.
Last year I hardly got any of my beds cleaned up in the fall so I had double the work this spring. No fun!