The Hummer Thread

[thijsdegraaf]

Yes, our founding fathers, drank beer for breakfast and often with every meal. That wasn't because of being sots, but because it was more pure than the water. Good reasoning. When people worked harder, they would eat and need a diet that was more loaded with rich ingredients and their body used them. I suppose now we just take pills for everything?

The simple point also, is anything in excess is going to be bad. But food is good, not bad. The natural and holistic people will try to tell you otherwise. It's like a cult following beliefs, where self validation means something related to a food fear obcession, instead of scientific facts.

But cheese isn't bad for you, won't shorten your life and maybe will make your life more enjoyable. Obviously I am a cheese lover, many different kinds, so yes I have a personal agenda for noticing this article and posting it. Cheese is one of my favorite foods, also for cooking and as snacks. I confess, I'm a Cheesehead.

I grew up with minimal sugar and salt. That was Mom's way. Never hurt me to not go overboard and pile it on. While the opposite I might question.

They charge extra to not put extra sugar or salt into things? How's that?

I am also a cheese lover and come from a cheese country  . No, that seems excessive to me.
Fortunately, less fat cheese now tastes good, unlike in the past. So I sometimes buy that too.

[thijsdegraaf]

Too much is not good. If you keep that up, you'll go a long way.
I am also an oldie. 
I recognize what you write, but I have also seen many people die unnecessarily early due to their lifestyle (eating, drinking, smoking)
In the past, fatty foods were often also important because people worked very hard (just like the hummingbirds!!!).. With an office job, for example, it's better to take it easy with food.

What you say is true!  None of us needs the high-fat, calorie-rich diet that our grandparents needed, because they worked hard, physical jobs, and most of us don't.

As for the "lifestyle" matter, I have a personal story�

You weren't on this forum a year ago, but in December I reported that my husband had just died at age 82.

Now, his history is an "interesting" one. He never did drugs, never smoked (rare for his generation), hardly ever drank. Ate relatively little red meat, mostly fish and chicken. Exercised. Kept his weight down. Did everything possible to stay fit.

Nevertheless, despite that diligent lifelong lifestyle, in 2011 he came down with a brain disease called Viral Encephalitis. He survived it the first time around but then had a quick relapse. All in all, during 2011-12, he spent 3+ months in the hospital, specifically a neurological intensive care unit. It was not a happy time in our lives.

He survived all that and lived 9 years longer, only to have another relapse last fall and after 2 more months of a dire situation, died of the same long-time issues.

The dear man did everything possible to be healthy but ultimately died of a brain disease� thereby proving that there's no justice, zero fairness in such matters.

Very sad to hear. You can also say that your husband may have lived longer because of his healthy lifestyle. But you feel it is unfair.
My wife is diabetic, has had two meganic heart valves since she was 58 and had surgery for a tumor in her intestines 8 years ago.
She also often likes Why me? Still, I think if she had lived less healthy, it would have looked worse.

[marthamarks]

I always thought it was good that your husband came along with you on your photo outings and stayed in the car, painting. When you showed me his work, I was even more impressed. He wasn't just doing hobby painting, being along on the road trips, he was outstanding and exceptional.

Actually, for decades we traveled together and each did our own creative thing. But early in our life together, he was the one painting while I was the one sitting in or near the car reading or grading papers (that was back in my high-school-teaching days).  We were a well-matched, perfectly tuned couple until he got that * encephalitis� which turned everything in our lives upside down.

BTW, last summer I bought myself a camper van and have been enjoying it this fall. My kitty has learned to go with me, and we both can hardly wait for spring!

[marthamarks]

Very sad to hear. You can also say that your husband may have lived longer because of his healthy lifestyle. But you feel it is unfair.
My wife has had two meganic heart valves since she was 58 and had surgery for a tumor in her intestines 8 years ago.
She also often likes Why me? Still, I think if she had lived less healthy, it would have looked worse.

I'm not saying that what happened to my husband was "unfair", because none of us is guaranteed anything, just that it's not entirely "fair" either. Does that make sense?

I think you're right about the healthy living paying off in one way if not another.

My career-Army father, who survived active service in both WWII and the Korean War, lived to be 85. Lung cancer finally took him out, even though he had stopped smoking 20 years earlier. Once we knew his cancer was terminal, he told me he thought he'd beaten it by going off cigarettes when he did. I said, you might have died 10 years ago if you hadn't stopped when you did.

That's what you're saying here, and I believe it's right.

BTW, Daddy was actively involved in the liberation of Belgium and Holland in 1944-45, and during the following half year lived in the home of a wonderful Dutch family who treated him like a long-lost son. To the end of their mutual days, they stayed in touch. I remember meeting them as a little girl when we lived in Heidelberg, Germany, between 1951-54 and traveled all over Western Europe. We got Christmas messages from them for decades later.

[Uncle Pete]

I am also a cheese lover and come from a cheese country  . No, that seems excessive to me.
Fortunately, less fat cheese now tastes good, unlike in the past. So I sometimes buy that too.

Low salt low fat cheese looks and probably tastes like the putty I use on windows to keep the water out. 

I don't drink coffee, but why would someone drink decaf? Kind of defeats the whole reason and purpose. Why do people order a meatless "Impossible" burger that tastes like meat, if they are against eating meat? Isn't that a contradiction?

No I don't like Brussels sprouts, unless they are drenched in cheese and butter. I confess. I'll eat pretty much anything, including raw from the garden, or some pretty nasty things like a blind robin or pickled turkey gizzard, or marinated herring, but Brussels Sprouts are the one that tastes bitter and I can't stand to even smell it cooking. Lobster is a close second, which probably saved a lot of money in my lifetime, because it's way too expensive.

I'm just happy that for now, cheese has been vindicated, and might lose it's bad reputation, unjustly given to it by an unfair trial and conviction. 

ps Blue Cheese is on the top of my favorites list, on a plain pepper cracker. Yum Yum, creamy blue mold. That's got to be something that other people are turned away from? Oh well, we all have choices. I'm just in favor of fair treatment for foods.

[marthamarks]

I'm just in favor of fair treatment for foods.

Sounds like a great campaign slogan. Pete, are you planning to run for something?

[Suspect]

Here's a screenshot of the original (second) Hummer Thread from the Sstock forum.
You all have a way to go to equal the posts (but it's nice to see this going again) 

[Suspect]

In the Netherlands we have no hummingbirds, I have seen them long ago in the covered Dutch butterfly garden in Emmen. Unfortunately I didn't have a good camera at the time.
But we sometimes have a Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) in the garden. A diurnal moth. They are difficult to photograph and resemble hummingbirds in the way they flying soek honey. (Photo not in focus for Shutter of course. I was hoping for a better photo this year, but unfortunately didn't see them. Better next year I hope)

We get those in our garden too Thijs.  I have some photos of them feeding on Lungwort in my Sstock port.
Not as good as yours though as not so close-up.
I spent far too much time laying on the ground trying to get those photos 

[thijsdegraaf]

Very sad to hear. You can also say that your husband may have lived longer because of his healthy lifestyle. But you feel it is unfair.
My wife has had two meganic heart valves since she was 58 and had surgery for a tumor in her intestines 8 years ago.
She also often likes Why me? Still, I think if she had lived less healthy, it would have looked worse.

I'm not saying that what happened to my husband was "unfair", because none of us is guaranteed anything, just that it's not entirely "fair" either. Does that make sense?

I think you're right about the healthy living paying off in one way if not another.

My career-Army father, who survived active service in both WWII and the Korean War, lived to be 85. Lung cancer finally took him out, even though he had stopped smoking 20 years earlier. Once we knew his cancer was terminal, he told me he thought he'd beaten it by going off cigarettes when he did. I said, you might have died 10 years ago if you hadn't stopped when you did.

That's what you're saying here, and I believe it's right.

BTW, Daddy was actively involved in the liberation of Belgium and Holland in 1944-45, and during the following half year lived in the home of a wonderful Dutch family who treated him like a long-lost son. To the end of their mutual days, they stayed in touch. I remember meeting them as a little girl when we lived in Heidelberg, Germany, between 1951-54 and traveled all over Western Europe. We got Christmas messages from them for decades later.

Even the war has beautiful sides. It is hard to imagine that another war will break out between European countries around the Netherlands.
Historically, the tiny Netherlands has been at war with every neighboring country. Even against Belgium. 

[thijsdegraaf]

In the Netherlands we have no hummingbirds, I have seen them long ago in the covered Dutch butterfly garden in Emmen. Unfortunately I didn't have a good camera at the time.
But we sometimes have a Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) in the garden. A diurnal moth. They are difficult to photograph and resemble hummingbirds in the way they flying soek honey. (Photo not in focus for Shutter of course. I was hoping for a better photo this year, but unfortunately didn't see them. Better next year I hope)

We get those in our garden too Thijs.  I have some photos of them feeding on Lungwort in my Sstock port.
Not as good as yours though as not so close-up.
I spent far too much time laying on the ground trying to get those photos 

They are beautiful aren't they? I see its relative Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis) more often, but it is also difficult to photograph sharply.

[Suspect]

In the Netherlands we have no hummingbirds, I have seen them long ago in the covered Dutch butterfly garden in Emmen. Unfortunately I didn't have a good camera at the time.
But we sometimes have a Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) in the garden. A diurnal moth. They are difficult to photograph and resemble hummingbirds in the way they flying soek honey. (Photo not in focus for Shutter of course. I was hoping for a better photo this year, but unfortunately didn't see them. Better next year I hope)

We get those in our garden too Thijs.  I have some photos of them feeding on Lungwort in my Sstock port.
Not as good as yours though as not so close-up.
I spent far too much time laying on the ground trying to get those photos 

They are beautiful aren't they? I see its relative Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth (Hemaris fuciformis) more often, but it is also difficult to photograph sharply.

Yes, I was astonished when I first saw them + my husband made me laugh as he (seriously) asked if they were possibly very small birds 

I must look out for the hawk moth.

[Suspect]

Sari - if you read this, I just checked you out on Google books + you have lots of hits for published photos in books.

[thijsdegraaf]

I am also a cheese lover and come from a cheese country  . No, that seems excessive to me.
Fortunately, less fat cheese now tastes good, unlike in the past. So I sometimes buy that too.

Low salt low fat cheese looks and probably tastes like the putty I use on windows to keep the water out. 

Why do people order a meatless "Impossible" burger that tastes like meat, if they are against eating meat? Isn't that a contradiction?

We always said that about the cheese, but it tastes much better now in the Netherlands. (But my favorite cheese: Very old cheese)
My nephew (son of my wife's brother) is a cheese carrier at the cheese market in Alkmaar, where we live nearby. Website Cheese market  https://www.kaasmarkt.nl/en.

No it's not a contradiction Pete.
My father was a farmer. He had about 30 dairy cows, 30 pigs and sheep. We had a lot of land. That was very normal then.
Now you have a lot of factory farming in the Netherlands with thousands of pigs. One hundred cows is not much. Farmers now need a lot more animals to earn as much as my father did. If there is swine fever it is a disaster.
The CO2 emissions are far too large for such a small country. It is also not animal friendly.
That is the advantage of organic meat. That means much less pollution. And becomes tastier. Many people from the Netherlands eat it for that reason.
On TV I now saw them experimenting with printed meatless meat, which according to top chefs is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Now a lot of soy is used in animal feed, which is better used elsewhere. People have also come a long way with making milk directly from grass. Not yet for drinking, but already as a replacement for soy in animal feed. When my father was a farmer, we had never heard of soy.

[marthamarks]

It is hard to imagine that another war will break out between European countries around the Netherlands.

True that.  (Or as some prefer to say� True dat! )

Unfortunately, it looks more likely that war � another civil war � will break out here in the United States than anywhere "across the water."  Sad. Scary.

[sgoodwin4813]

Cheese Vindicated!

Recent Study: Animal fats in our diet are not a cause for higher risk or heart conditions.

Also they might actually be good:

Thanks for pointing that out - now I can go back to having milk on my breakfast cereal again instead of beer!

[cathyslife]

Martha, that's great to know. There's one particular bird that I would really like to photograph and that's the humming bird. But I confess that Ive never seen one in my life as I live in Australia. I know that they are unique to the Americas. I visited Canada in the late 90s and was hoping to see hummingbirds there but didn't see any. A few years ago, I went to Michigan, US but didn't see any there either. Though I did see fireflies for the first time in Michigan and they were amazing. Really surreal. I regret not being able to photograph them because my camera battery was being charged at the time.

I�m late to the party. I just looked at the dates. I�d delete this if I could. Oh well.

My brother lives in South Carolina and he gets tons of them at his feeder.

[Uncle Pete]

Martha, that's great to know. There's one particular bird that I would really like to photograph and that's the humming bird. But I confess that Ive never seen one in my life as I live in Australia. I know that they are unique to the Americas. I visited Canada in the late 90s and was hoping to see hummingbirds there but didn't see any. A few years ago, I went to Michigan, US but didn't see any there either. Though I did see fireflies for the first time in Michigan and they were amazing. Really surreal. I regret not being able to photograph them because my camera battery was being charged at the time.

I�m late to the party. I just looked at the dates. I�d delete this if I could. Oh well.

My brother lives in South Carolina and he gets tons of them at his feeder.

Better late than never?

[thijsdegraaf]

The topic is not nearly as big as on the Shutterstock forum. I was reminded of it yesterday and today when I saw Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) in our garden near the peanuts for the tits.
The bird does not belong in the Netherlands, of course, but it does feel at home there and even causes nuisance in large groups.
I had never seen them. This one in the photo was in the back of the garden. Today there were a few close to the window, but it is a foggy winter day, so shooting (photo) is not possible. I hope to be able to take another photo suitable for stock when it is sunny.
It reminds me of the large groups of parrots that I saw looking up a tree in Australia at night.
Now I have to wait for feral hummingbirds!!!   

[Uncle Pete]

Is this a non-indigenous type bird?

Wisconsin we have no flocks of the infamous, escaped, "feral budgie" that's found in Florida and California, but we have Ring Necked Pheasants, Chucker Partridge and some others that were brought in for game farms, that have established small feral populations.

[thijsdegraaf]

Is this a non-indigenous type bird?

Wisconsin we have no flocks of the infamous, escaped, "feral budgie" that's found in Florida and California, but we have Ring Necked Pheasants, Chucker Partridge and some others that were brought in for game farms, that have established small feral populations.

These are escaped aviary birds that do well in the Netherlands and Belgium and can withstand the cold fairly well. In the beginning they were mainly found in parks of large cities. According to my daughter, who lives near a park in Amsterdam, there are hundreds of them.
They can crowd out native birds by such large numbers. They are complained about, but now I enjoy them. I also see them at the moment. And there is enough food for the native birds in our garden.
Due to warming, species of animals are also coming to the Netherlands along the natural route.

[thijsdegraaf]

I read an old newspaper article about hummingbirds. We've had them too!!!! 

Translated: Hummingbirds flew through Europe 34 million years ago
AMSTERDAM - The hummingbird, the aerial acrobat that can hover in front of a flower, already fluttered through Europe 30 to 34 million years ago. Two fossils excavated in Germany bear witness to this.

From our editors scienceMay 7, 2004, 00:00
The age of the fossilized bird remains is remarkable. The oldest hummingbird fossil to date, from South America, dates back only one million years. The location is also surprising, because hummingbirds are nowadays only found in America. No one knew they ever populated European skies.

German zoologist Gerald Mayr excavated the fossil birds near the southern German town of Frauenweiler, on the edge of a former sea where remains of sharks and turtles have also been found. The loot consists of two skeletons of four centimeters long. Mayr describes them today in the journal Science.

Although hummingbirds -for unknown reasons- have disappeared from Europe and Asia, according to Mayr the local vegetation still bears their traces. For example, some calyxes seem evolutionarily attuned to the unique, match-like beaks.

[cascoly]

in seattle, we have year-round anna hummingbirds & they come to both my feeders (outside my office window) & plants - i've had them hover in front of me about 2' away while gardening. even when i cant see them, their clicking is obvious

sphinx moth in Vermont:
 

[cascoly]

Pacific City, Oregon coast

[thijsdegraaf]

Pacific City, Oregon coast

Beautiful. I saw them once in the Netherlands in an indoor butterfly garden together with tropical butterflies.

[marthamarks]

Is this a non-indigenous type bird?

Wisconsin we have no flocks of the infamous, escaped, "feral budgie" that's found in Florida and California, but we have Ring Necked Pheasants, Chucker Partridge and some others that were brought in for game farms, that have established small feral populations.

I've seen and non-lethally "shot" some of those feral budgies in southern Florida, and I understand they're in south Texas too.

Also once saw and "shot" a pair of green parrots on the Pacific Coast, near Malibu. And once came upon a little cabal of charming, fast-moving Chukars in Utah. They made for some lively chasing!

There are Ring-necked Pheasants almost everywhere in the US. I've "shot" 'em here in New Mexico.