One of the attractions in our bit of forest are the birds. And of particular note are the hummingbirds. The predominant variety around here is the ruby throated hummingbird. Both male and female have an iridescent olive green back, and the males have a bright red collar. And both genders have a very aggressive attitude. They fly at incredible speed, hover in the air (especially when feeding) and can even fly backwards making the air quiver with the vibration of their wings. When there are two or three about, they chase each other away (often with piercing high pitched screeches) from the favorite feeding point of the moment. And that point is two birdfeeders containing a sugar solution hanging from the back deck. One hummingbird in particular has taken a very proprietorial attitude to the feeders. We thing that this is an immature male, as there is no ruby collar yet. The bird sits on the bracket above the feeder for hours at a time, guarding his property, and dropping down every few minutes for a quick sip at the bar below. When he first came to our notice, he was as big as my little finger, but as summer has gone on he has grown to the size of my middle finger, which is getting close to full grown. For a tiny thing, he has a lot of pent-up fury to display when other hummingbirds come along.
I wish he would be as defensive about the other bird feeder full of seeds – we have had a fine display of songbirds there, but a very hungry (greedy?) squirrel has chased them off as he attacks the buffet. We have tried to discourage him with a hosepipe to no avail. Spiking the seed with lots of cayenne pepper was supposed to also be effective against squirrels, but this one obviously likes his food very spicy.
We ended last week with a big hole in the ground with a filigree lattice of reinforcing metal rods awaiting concrete. On Monday, the concrete crew arrived and spent a couple of hours preparing the site for action, running a heavy metal pipe from the front of the house. Next was the arrival a relay service of concrete delivery lorries, where they dumped their loads into the hopper of a concrete pump. Yes, high pressure concrete was coming. Back in the pool, the workers struggled with the delivery end of the pipe, like a fire hose shooting out concrete rather than water (whilst the boss regaled us with stories of the time the pipe broke and coated the front of a four storey building in grey gunk).
Halfway through the process, the heavens opened. We have had virtually no rain in August, but Monday made up for that – inside eight hours we had four inches of rain (10cm for the international amongst us). We were worried that this would upset the concrete setting, but were assured that it was the best possible thing – concrete setting generates a lot of heat, and the rain would slow the process down and provide stronger concrete with less chance of any cracks. The workers struggled on in the deluge, smoothing the pool sides. By they were finished, they looked as if they had been working all day in a full swimming pool. Actually, there was nearly a foot of water in the deep end.
The rain continued on Tuesday, yet another inch falling. The work didn’t stop, though – removing the debris on Monday’s efforts and preparing for the various mechanical bits of the pool. Wednesday was declared a no-work day as drizzle continued, but Thursday and Friday saw the filter, pump and heating equipment in place. Now we wait for next week and the arrival of the electrician to wire it all up. Somewhere in the near future, I assume, the inside of the pool will be coated with the final surface with fine pebbles to give the pool texture. But not colour – the final coat is a greyish hue – but the refraction from the sky will give the water that typical blue colour, we are assured.