Melissa, I do watch my hummers mostly from inside, at the kitchen window while I'm cooking or cleaning up.I have two feeders that I can see from there. I have one window feeder and one on a large shepherds hook that has a hummer on it (what else??) We have had more hot humid weather than usual this summer, but I've been trying to sit on the patio a bit more so I can watch the hummers better! I am noticing they are using some of the flowers, and boy are they fast at that! They are actually using flowers that are not ones I've heard attract them. My husband made me a very large hummer garden this year...it is about 5 feet wide and runs almost the length of our "typical" ranch house. I really couldn't even afford to fill it and I didn't know what to try. I have a bit of everything and we don't even know where some of the flowers came from! We have two (taller than my 6'4" husband) sunflower plants that we did not plant...and I saw them use them this morning! I also have some regular salvia (can't even find any Black and Blue) that is a medium blue but the flowers are tiny, and also my red geraniums. THey seem to like both of those. I bought about 4 plants that were flowering at the time (and spent too much for them)and the hummers never even looked at them...now the flowers are gone and the plants not doing well. I'm definitely not a great gardener =( My red morning glory plant (I got the seeds from Helena on the forum) has tons of leaves and vines but no flowers. My husband even cut it back as it was so huge, and the Japenese beetles were eating the heck out of it. I hope my garden will be better next year, and I maybe will order some plants from somewhere...I really want a Black and Blue. Now that I've rambled on and on where did you get the cute little hummer by your name in your posts?? Hope your cyprus vine blooms soon. Verna

Hi Gena I have a friend (not me of course) with a similar addiction. My friend, (I'll call him h for husband) started out on the light stuff first, gardening then composting. Soon that was'nt enough. H works in construction, like myself, and things are slow so he and his wife (w for the rest of this tale) decided to start renovating their small house during his off days. Then w ordered him some worms for x-mas. H was careful not to schedule any work so he'd be home when they arrived (careless mailman could leave them in the sun). First sign of trouble: h calls w at work (which he never does) to state they arrived. He then calls again to say he called the company that sent the worms with a problem (they had sent more worms than were ordered and he thought the bin they sent was too small) oh and he had talked to the worm guy himself!! the same famous guy from the web site!! w was happy her gift was appreciated. W began to notice behavioral changes in my friend, small at first, a little dirt by the worm box, box moved to different parts of the house ect. Then the changes became more pronounced, work around the house had slowed, but h had finally taken his starter plants out of her empty aquarium so she was excited to get some fish and so she let it slide. Then the weather turned cold, (my friends h and w have an agreement that h has custody of the thermostat during the cold months and w during the hot, saves on electric and arguments as h likes it colder than his wife). Imagine her horror as she sat under her electric blanket and saw the worm bin in the fish tank with the heating pad at a comfortable 75 degrees. More trouble: work at my friends house has slowed to a crawl. W, while using the computer found the browser history had many worm related sites on it. Turns out when not messing with his worms h was reading about them. Like a true addict h explained this by saying he was just a concerned newbie. Begging forgiveness he moved the bin to the garage. h had a few busy weeks at work so all was good, then he had an entire week off and much to do at home, small house, 1 room at a time, lots of stuff to move to tile, paint ect. W notices this is taking a long time! H, who like me has 20+ years of construction experience has several thousand plausible excuses for this. It's a necessary skill to explain delays. Still there is more web proof that he's reading about worms, turns out he's not smart enough to erase his web history. w mentions the web use but rather than repent h considers using the library computers. Other personality changes: h agrees to accompany his wife to petsmart (which he never does) w finds him asking about redwigglers, turns out he read they sold them as exotic pet food. W is now concerned this is spiraling out of control, he has too many for his bin yet wants more. W takes hubbies atm rendering him helpless to buy worm related products without leaving a traceable paper trail. One day while shopping wife notices husband in fishing (bait) department at wal-mart(like me he does'nt fish) h now must show receipt if he shops alone. h is left with homedepot, lowes, and gas card only, none sell worms. Another cold wave in florida: H is worried about his worms so he closes the garage door all the way, usually he locks it slightly ajar so any of w's cats who did'nt come in at bedtime can sleep in relative warmth. w is awakened by screaming cat at bedroom window. worms in back yard now. h blames heating pad autoshutoff not himself and considers rewiring it. h repents and starts to get some stuff done; he totally reorganizes all of their large storage bins in the garage, he does such a good job one is totally empty! He also finds the paper shredder that was stored during the office renovation (w had been asking for a month) lets hope his motives are pure. unfortunately like all addicts h was thinking only of himself soon the storage box was drilled, and that sunday while looking for the sunday paper w found him shredding it. H explained that he needed to move his worms (the box was full, not his fault they sent so many and things would get better when they were moved. w then returned home on monday to find h filling the storage box with water. I need to make sure there is nothing to harm the worms he explained. w mentioned he uses the same paper for the rabbit and never worried but he did'nt hear her. after a week of filling and letting box drain w came home and found the box in driveway drying in the florida sun. H is in the house, he has gotten the juicer out and is juicing some apples (w's favorite) Alas the juice is to hydrate the worms bedding so they'll eat more. h apoligizes and starts sorting his worms to their new bin. things will be better he tells her and himself when they're moved. several hours later he is done and ready to start his new worm ignoring life. all he needs to do is put his harvested castings in his pots outside in the morning. Trouble: H starts to put his castings on top of his veggies, oh oh found an egg. well h thinks that's only about 4 worms but i should really sort this better. three hours later w comes out and asks whats going on. I found 20 or so eggs and some babies he replies and then explains how this represents a gazillion worms over time, w doubts his math and his sanity so h does his normal chores instead. He is still trying. H sleeps poorly worried about the neglected worms. The next day he begs off going to a superbowl party. Too much to do around here he says. wife attends party but leaves early to surprise h with some company and some takeout (she knows he loves football and is proud he missed the party to get things done). She arrives home, no tv on in living room, truck is in driveway, no sign of h. w goes outback and follows extention cord to shed where h is sorting castings and listening to the game on radio. As h stands in his now dark shed he hopes this is what they mean by rockbottom. Sorry this post was so long but i want my friends story to warn others of the dangers of this hobby.

I used to feed stale bread to the outside birds.My neighbors dad,who lived at the house part time after retiring to Pa,,,told me it was no good for the birds. So for the last 5 years I have bought wild bird seed,..A year or so ago my neighbor told me I needed to stop feeding them as they pooped on his 50 thousand dollar truck.I told him to F off...Months later I got a warning from town saying I can only feed them with a bird feeder,...I got one,,,,Then he told me not to feed them more than once a day.At 63,with a bad hip,I fed them if I happened to see it empty whenever that was.I got a ticket from town saying the food that falls to the ground as they eat,is illegal.,,,How can people be so mean?

Thanks to all for your thoughtful and heartfelt responses. I think I already knew that at least one of us needed counseling; maybe it took hearing it from "strangers" to finally make the deicision to do so. I control the checkbook, pay the bills, etc. I show him each month how much our regular expenses are in a vain attempt to get him to realize that we are spending more than he brings in each month. While he seems to understand the concept of income vs. outgo, it makes no difference to his spending. He keeps telling me that when "we" retire, his air force pension and 401(k) from his workplace, plus social security, will give us plenty of money. I've run the numbers, and it's true - IF he can stop spending so much! It was also very helpful to hear someone say I was being an "enabling doormat". I always knew I was being a doormat, but the addition of the word "enabling" was startling - and so true. Gives me more incentive than ever. Even when you understand the reasons behind someone else's addition (and I understand very well why he does this), it's hard to deal with. Thanks again to all!