A new feeder glitch

The forever a "work in progress" bear-proof feeder is now BIRD-proof too. Gotta tweak it AGAIN. I didn't know that could happen, but when we got to the oasis yesterday morning the feeder still had the 80 lbs. of seed in it that we had filled it with a week ago. NOT GOOD! (I'm sure the hanging feeder only kept the birds going for a few days.)  Best we can figure out is that when we put the cups below the feeder ports, the birds couldn't get their heads inside the ports to bring the seed down. And maybe having so much seed in it with a large portion of sunflower seeds caused it to pack in too tight also. Whatever, it has to get fixed.  I had not realized what a fine line there was between letting too much seed out and not letting enough seed out. Notice on a commercial feeder there are "hoods" inside at the top of the port holes to keep the seed from all pouring out. 

We did that too. But maybe because our port holes were at the base of the feeder, the seed was being shoveled out by thrashes and whatever. By installing the external cups to contain the seed, apparently it prevented the birds from getting their heads in far enough to shovel out the seed. So, I'm thinking that since  the hoods aren't adequate in our situation, and the cups are needed, we can't have the hoods. Lee would have ground down the internal hoods above the ports if he'd have had his grinder with us. We'll go back Friday and do that.

There's the internal cone too that might be a factor. The hanging feeder, which works great, doesn't have internal hoods over the ports, but does have a cone. However, its port holes are a bit smaller. Maybe with external cups the hoods aren't needed. I hate that it's so much work for Lee. The bottom line seems to be that in our situation, we can't have the internal hoods. Scary to remove them, and find out we needed them, so the plan is to just modify them to be smaller. Fingers crossed. Just removing the feeder from its stand to work on is a big undertaking. (Have to remove the stabilizing rocks and lift the heavy feeder off its stand, after emptying the seed out.)

I woke up yesterday morning with vertigo and still have it today. Am able to keep it under control with Meclizine, but really dragging, especially watering yesterday. My mouth pain is lessening a little. I do think the vertigo is related to the Herpes Simplex sores I'm dealing with.  I'm sure I caught it at the dentist's office. It'll be with me for life now. And what ever other symptoms it causes, maybe my tinnitus and essential tremors, which seem to have worsened since I got it. (Herpes lives inside the nerve cells.) I did have the H Simplex years ago*, but not since the cocktail of antivirals I took for the Hep C. I was so thrilled when it got rid of the herpes, knowing I'd never have to deal with it again. But little did I "know." And not having it for over a year (even through 3 torturous dental surgeries), probably weakened whatever immunity I had to it, so it really whammed me. I will recover, and more than 50% of the world deals with herpes, so I shouldn't complain.

A nice male Anna's Hummingbird has been occasionally visiting my Alpine yard.

If all goes according to plan, I'll have teeth within 10 days. Soon it'll be spring and I'll be a whole new person. 

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*Throughout my life I've spent endless hours in the hands of dentists, and in my poorer days, many not very hygenic. Most likely that's where I got the Herpes Simplex in the first place. As for the source of the Hep C, it had to have been from a blood transfusion I got 50 years ago before they screened for it. I'll never know for certain, but I never used drugs. Not ever, not once. Not marijuana or anything. I recall having a bad allergic reaction to the transfusion, but may not have been related, other than to show the blood hadn't been thoroughly tested.

I had a friend who a mere twenty years ago had a blood transfusion after a car wreck and got HIV from the transfusion and died from it, so I'm very lucky.