The Adventures of Ruby, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

by David Crossler

Hi! My name is Ruby, the ruby-throated hummingbird. I live in Washington DC in the spring and summer. I like living in Washington DC, the capital of the USA. There are lots of trees and flowers that are so pretty. I live in the Washington Monument. It looks like a giant toothpick. I have a very, very good view of DC from my nest. In one direction, I can see the Lincoln Memorial, and in another, I can see the Jefferson Monument. And in yet another, I can see the Capital Building. It is a great place to live.

Right now, the month is October. It is time for me to migrate to the Gulf of Mexico, my winter home. I make this journey every year. It takes several weeks to get there. I don’t drive, swim, take an airplane or a train like people do. I fly! I am excited to go to my winter home every year. It is a very thrilling journey, and good because I am going to where the weather is warm, but all of that flying makes me tired!

My first stop on my journey is West Virginia, somewhere near Beckley. I saw the New River Gorge Bridge. I made it just in time for bridge day. There were people parachuting off of the bridge. I thought they were being silly. If people were meant to fly, they would be born with wings! The leaves on the trees in the mountains looked so pretty, I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. The colors were so magnificent. My next stop was in Tennessee, somewhere around Nashville. I heard different kinds of music. My favorite kind of music was the country music I heard played there. Some other places I stopped at along the way were: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and my last stop was Texas. My final destination was South Padre Island--my winter home at last.

I am excited to be at my winter home, and am also glad that I made it safely. I may be tired from all the flying, but there is good food to eat down here and the weather is warm. I think I will enjoy it down here. Maybe I will get to relax for once, or at least until I have to migrate north next spring.

THE END

Singing and Mixed-up Song Lyrics.

(the boys like dressing up in funny hats too)

My boys love to sing. For awhile, the D-man was singing 80s hits that he learned while playing Karaoke Revolution with us on our friends PS2 or when playing Rock Band with some other friends. Imagine, a 6-year-old belting out the lyrics to Eye of the Tiger and The Final Countdown without missing a beat. Then, this same child of mine learned Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. He thought one day when we were picking him up from Awana that it was appropriate to sing that particular song almost at the top of his lungs. When we talked to him about the inappropriate nature of belting that song out at that particular place at that particular time, he said, "Well, why can't I sing that one in a church, it talks about praying?" Hmmm...let's just say an interesting conversation ensued after that. ;-)

While David may be dead on with lyrics to songs to the point where he gets really irritated whenever someone mixes up the words to the lyrics (um, namely Daddy), Aidan has a little more trouble. For instance, the boys started singing Days of Elijah during children's church a little over a month ago. Both of them LOVE this song and will belt it out at random (Aidan does most of the belting, mind you--for a little guy, he's got quite the set of pipes). One day when they were singing this and got to the "There's no God like Jehovah..." Aidan's version sounded a little more like: "There's no god like Sebulba." I'm thinking, how in the world did a Star Wars character from episode 1 make its way into this song? This was bordering a little bit on obsession (there's already LOTS of Star Wars talk and play going on here, do we really have to sing about it too?). Then, the next go-round it was: "There's no god like Je-boh-ba." David got a little irritated with this and told him (very loudly and matter-of-factly in his best bossy big brother tone of voice), "NO Aidan, it's JEHOVAH!" Well, after a few times of David's not exactly kind corrections and Rob's and my kinder attempts, he finally sings it correctly. And, if you're standing in their auditorium during children's church, you can pick out my adorable blue-eyed boy's voice singing that part at the top of his lungs, and it makes his mama and his daddy smile.

Another song Aidan has had mix-ups with is a song called Take it All. For the longest time, Rob and I couldn't figure out what he was trying to sing since it came out as: "Tippy Wong" or "Tippy Wall." David finally had to translate for us, and again instructed his little brother on the correct wording of the song (oh, D is so much his mother's son).

Thinking about Aidan's recent song lyric mix-ups made me think of some others. If I'm going to expose his stories, I guess that I'm going to have to expose my own. Unfortunately, I do not have the excuse of being 5 to hide behind since I was in high school when my song lyric faux pas was brought to light. Mom, Dustin and I were listening to the oldies station one day in the car when Secret Agent Man came on. When the chorus came on, my mom and brother started laughing when they heard me singing it as "Secret Asian Man." I tried to explain that it wasn't any different than Dustin's mistaking the words "A set time has come" for "Set down a skunk," but they weren't buying that explanation. I guess that family jokes have to start somewhere, right? But, rest assured that I'll never mess up on the chorus of that song again. ;)

Cub Scouts Fall Party at the Park.

Our finished pumpkins--David wanted to show our VT Hokie pride. :) Since Aidan wasn't able to use the ghost design out of our carving book (we forgot to take tape to the park with us), he opted for a nice smiling jack-o-lantern with triangle eyes.

David helped me carve Aidan's pumpkin while Aidan was playing on the merry-go-round with a new friend he made at the park. The bottom photo is where Aidan is posing with his pumpkin after he helped me to design the face.

Bobbing for apples--Daddy was so proud of David for doing it properly and getting quite wet in the process AND don't forget gutting the pumpkin. David was a little grossed out over the feel of the seeds and stringy pulp (just look at his face!). He was better about it after Daddy told him that he was gutting the pumpkin--it became a game after that!

Rob taking the top off the pumpkin so we could take out the pumpkin guts and David was getting the carving tools out. The boys with their pumpkins by the front door after we got home from the park.

They mixed up the Tiger Cub Scouts and the Wolf Cub Scouts for a fun game of tug-of-war. The game started out being great fun for both boys, then David decided to give up right at the end. We had to talk to him about his attitude and how giving up wasn't doing his best (and being the "mean" mom that I am, I made him play again during the 2nd game with the caveat that he had to play with a better attitude and not give up the 2nd time around). ;) He did great then! Aidan had a blast getting to participate in the 1st tug-of-war match up. He was able to hold his ground pretty well even with wearing flip-flops. He opted to not play the 2nd round when the adults joined in, so he watched from the sidelines with Mama.

It may be hot down in these parts and not feel like fall, but we sure had fun at the Cub Scouts outing getting messy (some getting wet). We also enjoyed getting to meet other people who are on this scouting adventure alongside us.

Knitting: Sneak Peak

Isn't this color gorgeous? It's from Knit Picks Swish Bulky line: "Planetarium" and it's so BEAUTIFUL! This is part 1 of 3 for my mom's Christmas present. I was REALLY missing the support from my local yarn shop (LYS) back in the 'burg for this project. Thankfully, online help resources are readily available when you don't have a LYS in your new location. I had to start over on this particular item 3 different times due to my inability to read the directions correctly from the get go. Note to self: do not start a new knitting project that you have to pay close attention to before the kids are in bed or when you are beyond exhaustion...to do so may end up with disastrous results! But, the final product turned out rather successfully.

Another thing on the needles is a hat for my brother made from the same ultra alpaca fiber I made his "Scarf Askew" from last fall. Once I had cast onto both projects, I had to laugh because there is a lot of cable work done for each--something I didn't notice when I picked out the patterns. Thank goodness that I really enjoy knitting cables. :) I have a couple of knitting patterns in my favorites list on Ravelry for mittens that I could make for Dustin too. Hmmm...I might have to see if I can find any more of his yarn online since I more than likely won't have enough left after finishing the hat. Oh, decisions, decisions.