| How to Make Hummingbird Food Posted: 08 Mar 2017 04:00 PM PST We can all admit it--hummingbirds are magical creatures. They seemingly dance on the air, zipping around like tiny cheetahs with wings. Attract these beauties by hanging your own feeder filled with homemade hummingbird food. Follow these steps to tempt those little birds to stay awhile in your backyard. EditMaking Hummingbird Nectar - Make a rich sugar solution to attract hummingbirds to your yard. The sugary sweet mixture will encourage visiting hummingbirds to stay in the area. High-energy food is also important for hummingbirds in the spring because it helps to replenish the energy reserves that hummingbirds use up during migration.[1]
- Avoid buying nutrient-enhanced hummingbird nectar. It will cost you money that you don't need to spend, and the hummingbirds won't really benefit either. Hummingbirds get all of the nutrients they need from natural flower nectar and the insects that they eat--the sugar mixture you are providing is a quick pick-me-up for them (similar to a cup of coffee for us) when they are flying around and feeling tired.[2]
- Mix a solution of 1 part white, granulated sugar and 4 parts warm water. Stir the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cane sugar is a sucrose that falls into the carbohydrate family. Carbs are easily digested and give the hummingbirds the immediate energy they need to keep those little wings flapping.
- Boil the sugar water for 1 to 2 minutes. Boiling the mixture will slow down any bacterial growth that may occur. Boiling the water will also get rid of any extra chlorine that might be in your tap water (which in turn could harm the little hummers.)[3] It is not necessary to boil the solution if you are only making a small amount of food for immediate use.
- If you do not boil the mixture, you will need to change the food every 1 to 2 days or else bacteria may grow in the mixture that could harm the hummingbirds.
- Do not add any dye to the food. Though hummingbirds are attracted to the color red, red dyes have been known to harm hummingbirds. Natural hummingbird food (nectar) is odorless and clear--there is no need to add dye to your homemade hummer food.[4]
- Store the hummingbird food until you are ready to use it. Keep the food in the refrigerator. If you make a large batch of the food, you can keep the extra amount in the fridge until your feeder is empty. This will save you time when refilling your feeder.
- Pick the right feeder. Red feeders are the best because the color red attracts hummingbirds. You should hang your feeder in a shady spot if possible because the nectar will stay fresh longer when it is in the shade. Hang your feeder in your garden if you have one. Hang your feeder near a window (but far out of the reach of cats) to be able to enjoy these beautiful little birds.[5]
- Some hummingbird enthusiasts say that you should only hang a feeder near a window if you have cut outs of birds on the glass so as to keep the hummingbirds from flying into the glass and potentially injuring themselves.[6]
EditPreventing Mold and Fermentation - Know that your food can cause harm if left to ferment or mold. When your sugar mixture turns cloudy, it needs to be replaced. Yeasts eat sugar, causing fermentation that could potentially harm a hummingbird. A warm, sugary mixture is also a great place for mold and bacteria to grow.
- Check your feeder for black mold as often as you can. If possible, check your feeder every other day. Keeping an eye on your feeder will keep any harm from coming to the hummingbirds. If you find mold, mix ¼ cup of bleach in a gallon of water. Soak the feeder for an hour in this bleach mixture. Scrub any mold off and then rinse the feeder thoroughly before refilling it.[7]
- Clean your feeder before your refill it. Flush the feeder with hot tap water. Do not use soap--hummingbirds do not like the taste that soap leaves behind and will avoid your feeder if it has soap residue.
- Change the food in the feeders regularly. Be aware that the amount of time you can leave hummingbird food outside depends on the temperature in which the feeder is hung in.[8]
- If temperatures are 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (21 to 26 C), change the food every 5 to 6 days.
- When temperatures are 81 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (27 to 30 C), change the food every 2 to 4 days.
- If the thermometer tops 91 degrees Fahrenheit (32 C), change the food daily.
EditGiving Your Nectar a Boost - Decide on the potency of the food. Decrease the amount of sugar concentration in the food after a couple of weeks. Doing this will increase the activity at your feeder. One part sugar to five parts water, or one part sugar to four parts water will dilute the mixture. When the mixture is more diluted, the hummingbirds have to come back more often. [9]
- Do not make the mixture any weaker than 1 part sugar to 5 parts water. If the food has less sugar than this, the hummingbirds will expend more energy flying to and from the feeder than they will be able to replenish by eating the food.
- You want to make the food strong enough that you do not constantly have to fill the feeders, but not so strong that the birds visit infrequently and you don't get to see them. Making food that is incredibly high in sugar will give the hummingbirds a high amount of energy, allowing them to go longer before eating again (so they won't be visiting your feeder as much.)
- Plant flowers that hummingbirds like. If you have tried different mixtures but there are still no hummingbirds using your feeder, plant flowers that will attract hummingbirds.
- Here are plants that hummingbirds like[10]: Bee Balm, Phlox, Lupine, Hollyhock, Red-Hot Poker, Columbine, Coral Bells, Foxglove, Cardinal Flower, Lantana, Salvia, Butterfly Bush, Rose of Sharon, Trumpet Vine, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Crossvine, Carolina Jessamine, Indian Pink (Spigelia).
- If the hummingbirds are not eating all of the food before it goes bad, only fill the feeder part way to avoid having to keep throwing the food out.
- Do not use honey, powered sugar, brown sugar, artificial sweeteners or any other type of sweetener or sugar substitute. The chemical makeup of other sweeteners is not the same and does not meet the nutritional needs of hummingbirds. Some of these sweeteners could cause hummingbirds to sicken or die.
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| How to Have Willpower Posted: 08 Mar 2017 08:00 AM PST Willpower, also known as self-discipline, self-control, or determination, is your ability to control your behavior, emotions, and attention.[1] Willpower involves the ability to resist impulses and put off immediate gratification in order to reach goals, the ability to override unwanted thoughts, feelings, or impulses, and the ability to self-regulate. The level of one's willpower can determine one's ability to save for financial stability, make positive physical and mental health choices, and avoid substance use or abuse [2] You can move towards your goals and build willpower by continuously trying to forego immediate gratification for delayed gratification. This practice will build your ability to control your own impulses, much like exercise builds muscle overtime. [3] EditSetting Behavior Goals - Evaluate your habits. If you are trying to improve your willpower, it's likely that your lack of impulse control is adversely affecting some area of your life. Some people struggle with willpower across their lives, while others have one specific "weakness" when it comes to willpower. Determine the area you would like to improve; if you have several different areas to improve, you may want to address one at a time.
- For example, you may find it difficult to have willpower when it comes to eating. This can affect your overall health and quality of life.
- For example, you might have difficulty with controlling your spending habits, making it difficult to save money for "big" or important items or events.
- Make a willpower scale. Create your own scale for evaluating your willpower. You might make it a 1-10 scale, where 1 is a complete indulgence in the exact thing(s) you are trying to avoid, and 10 is a stoic adherence to strict rules you've set for yourself. Or you can make a simpler scale of "none, a little, more, a lot." The scale can take on different forms, but it offers an opportunity for you to evaluate yourself.
- For example, if you find yourself hoarding sweets and sneaking to the fast food drive-thru window every day, you may give yourself a 1 or 2 on a 1-10 scale.
- If you impulse-buy items that you do not really need because they are on sale, or if you shop online and spend money on things you don't really need just because you're bored, you might give yourself a "none" on a shopping-restraint willpower scale.
- Set a long-term goal for change. The first step towards self-improvement is setting a goal for change. Your goal should be clear, specific, and attainable. If a goal is too vague or not measurable, it will be difficult to determine whether you've met or made progress towards your goal.
- For example, a too-vague goal related to impulsive eating is "eat healthier." Healthier is relative, and it will be difficult to know when you have arrived at "healthier." A more concrete goal could be "lose 40 pounds through healthy eating," "fit into a size 8 dress again," or even "eliminate my dependence on sugar."
- A too-vague goal related to spending is "be better with money." Again, this is not clear or measurable. A better goal would be "save 10% of every paycheck," "build up my savings account to $3000," or "pay off my credit cards to a $0 balance."
- Set shorter-term sub-goals. One of the best ways to work towards a large goal (which may seem overwhelming) is to set short-term guidepost goals along the way. Short-term goals should also be specific and measurable, and they should lead you towards your ultimate long-term goal.
- For example, if you are trying to lose 40 pounds, you may want to make your first short-term goal(s) "lose 10 pounds," "exercise 3 times per week," and/or "limit dessert to one time per week."
- If you are trying to save $3000, you might make your first short-term goal(s) "save $500," "limit eating out to twice per week," and/or "have our weekly movie night at home instead of at the movie theatre."
EditDelaying Gratification - Keep the "big picture" in mind. The best way to "train" yourself to have willpower is to be willing to sacrifice your desire for instant gratification for the sake of a long-term reward. Eventually, your reward can be "living well" or "experiencing financial stability," but for learning to exercise your willpower, it's best to have a concrete reward.
- For example, if you are on a weight loss journey, trying to control impulsive eating habits, your end reward may be a shopping spree for an entire new wardrobe in your new size.
- If you are controlling your impulse spending, you can have something costly that you normally wouldn't be able to save for as your final reward. For example, you may buy a new big-screen television or go on a relaxing trip to a tropical island with a friend.
- Forgo instant gratification. This is the essence of cultivating your willpower. When you feel tempted to give in to an impulse, realize that what you really want is that short-lived feeling of instant gratification. If your impulsive behavior is contrary to your goals, you will likely feel guilty after indulging in the instant gratification.
- To resist an impulse for instant gratification, try the following:
- Acknowledge what you want to do
- Tell yourself you are just looking for instant gratification
- Remind yourself of your short-term or long-term goals
- Ask yourself whether giving into your impulse is worth getting off-track for or jeopardizing your final goal.
- For example, if you are working to control food impulses and you are standing next to a cookie tray at a party:
- Admit that you want a cookie (or five)
- Acknowledge that the cookie may satisfy your craving or impulse for right now
- Remind yourself that you are working towards a goal of losing 40 pounds and a reward of getting to buy a new wardrobe
- Ask yourself whether the temporary satisfaction of eating a cookie is worth getting off-track with your progress and potentially not getting your new wardrobe in the end.
- Give yourself mini-rewards for progress. A motivation or reward system will not change your willpower in the long run, but it can help set you on the road to success. Because a big end reward can take a long time to get to, it can be effective to give yourself smaller "guidepost" rewards for progress.
- For example, if you have one week of making good choices about food, you can indulge in a favorite treat at the end of the week. Alternatively, you can reward yourself with something non-food related, such as a pedicure or massage.
- If you are controlling impulsive spending, you might give yourself a reward for saving. For example, you may decide that for every $500 you save, you get to splurge and spend $50 on anything you want.
EditMonitoring Your Progress - Keep a willpower journal. Write down your attempts to control your impulses, including both successful and unsuccessful attempts at increased willpower. Be sure to include details that may help you evaluate the situation later.
- For example, you might write, "I ate five cookies at an office party today. I skipped lunch to work, so I was quite hungry. There were many other people there, and Sally made the cookies and kept encouraging me to have another.
- Another example is, "I went to the mall today with my husband to buy new jeans for our son, and I resisted buying a dress that I saw, even though it was on sale. I came out with exactly what I went in for and nothing additional."
- Comment on factors that influenced your decision-making. In addition to detailing situations in which you resisted or gave in to impulsive behavior, comment on things that were going through your mind. You may want to include your emotional state, who you were with, and where you were.
- Look for patterns in your behavior. Once you have established several journal entries, you should begin to read over your entries and try to find patterns in your behavior. Some questions to ask yourself include:
- Do I make better decisions when I am alone or around other people?
- Are there certain people who "trigger" my impulsive behavior?
- Do your emotions (depression, anger, happiness, etc) influence your impulsive behaviors?
- Is there a time of day that you find it more difficult to have impulse control (such as late at night?)
- Consider making a visual representation of your progress. This may sound silly, but some people respond better to a more concrete visual representation of their progress. If you have something that you can look at to show you how far you have come and how far you have left to go, it can help you stay motivated.
- For example, if you are trying to lose 40 pounds, you could put a quarter in a jar every time you lose a pound. Seeing the level of the quarters grow as you lose weight can give you a concrete idea of how much progress you've made.
- If you are trying to save money, you might draw a picture that looks like a thermometer and color in the level of money you've saved; when you get to the top, you have reached your goal. (This is commonly used for fundraisers to show fundraising progress.)
- Find what works for you. By using your journal or just thinking about your success or setbacks with impulse control, find what works best for you. You may find that giving yourself weekly rewards helps; you may need to have a visual to focus on; you may find that giving each day a written rating of your willpower scale helps. You might find that being alone is a trigger for your impulsive behavior, or that by going to a certain place or being with a certain person can act as a trigger. Tailor your approach to increasing your willpower to your specific needs and situation.
EditAvoiding or Dealing with Setbacks - Be aware that stress may be a barrier to progress. Regardless of your specific goal, stress from work or life events has the potential to derail your progress. You may need to use techniques to reduce stress such as exercise, getting adequate sleep, and giving yourself down time.
- Find ways to avoid temptation. Sometimes the best way to resist temptation is to avoid it. If you do not feel that you have the willpower to resist impulsive behaviors, then try removing the opportunity for indulging in an impulse. This may also mean avoiding people or environments that trigger your impulses. This may not be a long-term solution, but it can help you during particularly difficult times, or when you are first starting out.
- For example, if you have trouble with impulsive eating, you may need to purge your kitchen and pantry of unhealthy food. Removing anything that does not fit the requirements of your new eating habits can be given or thrown away.
- If you are working on not spending impulsively, you may find that it helps to carry cash rather than credit cards. You may even want to leave home with no money at all if you are feeling especially vulnerable to impulsive buying. If there is a specific place that is a trigger, such as the mall, avoid going there altogether. If you need one item, send someone else to get it for you.
- Use "if-then" thinking. An if-then statement can help you know how to react when you feel tempted. You can "rehearse" how you will react to a given situation by coming up with some if-then scenarios ahead of time. This can help when you know you will be in a situation in which you will experience temptation.
- For example, if you know that you are going to be at an office party with many cookies, you can use the if-then statement "If Sally offers me a cookie, then I will politely tell her 'no, thank you, but they look delicious' and move to the other side of the room."
- If you are working on spending control, you might have the if-then statement, "If I see something that I really like on sale at the mall, then I will write down the item number and price and go home. If I still want to make the purchase the next day, I can send my husband to pick it up for me."
- Seek therapy. If you try on your own to control your impulses and it doesn't seem to be working, consider seeking therapy. A therapist can offer support and specific suggestions for behavior modification. She may also be able to determine whether an underlying issue is contributing to your impulsive behavior.
- Some therapists specialize in impulse control, and cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective in helping individuals cope with impulsive or addictive behaviors.[4]
- Some types of impulse control or willpower problems may also be aided by a strategy known as habit reversal, which replaces an unwanted habit (such as eating cookies anytime you see them) with another, more desirable habit (such as drinking a bottle of water). [5]
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| How to Succeed in Distance Learning Posted: 08 Mar 2017 12:00 AM PST Distance learning has opened doors for many students, especially for those who cannot afford to pay for the high fees of full-time courses. Although online distance learning courses have many advantages over on-campus degree classes, many factors come into play in order for students to successfully complete distance learning courses. EditSelf-Motivating for Distance Learning - Familiarize yourself with the syllabus. Think of your syllabus as the bible for your class. It should contain all of the class guidelines and rules, as well as what your instructor expects from you over the course of the semester. Make sure you read through this document in its entirety and keep track of it all semester.[1]
- Ask your instructor any questions you might have about the syllabus. Make sure you clearly understand what your responsibilities are as a student from the very beginning.
- Knowing what to expect from your course will help you plan how to proceed in the course from day one. So it's important to figure this out early on.
- Set a schedule for yourself. A big part of being successful in a distance learning course involves setting a schedule for yourself that you adhere to throughout the semester. You won't have a teacher reminding you every day about due dates and reading assignments, so you'll need to stay on top of this yourself.[2]
- Create a schedule with all of your due dates listed and when you want to start working on each project so that you can plan your time accordingly.
- It can be very easy to fall behind in a distance learning course if you don't set a schedule for yourself.
- Manage your time diligently. Distance learning courses take time – time that you must commit to spending without any outside encouragement from your teacher or classmates as you might get in a physical classroom setting. You are responsible for completing all of the work on your own time.[3]
- College courses are said to take about two hours of work per week per credit hour (outside of class time). So a good rule of thumb if you are taking a distance course that's three credit hours is to expect to spend about nine hours per week completing work for that course.[4]
- Try to stay on top of your time/scheduling from the beginning. It can be very difficult to get caught up if you fall behind, especially if you're taking more than one online class.
- Submit your work on time. Meeting class deadlines is crucial to success in a distance learning environment. Your instructor will expect you to manage your time and complete assignments on time, so they may be less flexible with extensions and less forgiving with your excuses.
- If you miss a deadline, there are fewer excuses available to you than in a regular classroom because everything is submitted online.
- It is assumed that you are tech-savvy enough to handle the online aspect of the class. And your teacher will receive a timestamp on everything you submit, so there's no fudging about when you turned something in.
- Use proper online etiquette. Even though you may feel somewhat anonymous in an online classroom (as is the case in many online spaces), you are still required to behave as you would in any normal classroom setting. This means treating your professor and classmates with respect when you engage with them.[5]
- Don't air your grievances about the class online or exhibit anger in any form in a class discussion post. Your instructor will see these comments and it may negatively impact your grade.
- Respond to your classmates' posts with kindness and respect. You would want them to treat you the same way.
- Communicate with your professor. You may not see your teacher in class every day, but they are still in charge of helping you through the course. If you have questions about an assignment or a subject, contact your teacher for guidance.[6]
- Most distance learning professors will make themselves available to you via email, internal messaging through the classroom platform, or even via phone.
- You may even be able to visit them in person if they hold office hours and you are near enough to the campus.
- Contribute to online class discussions. Since distance learning doesn't typically involve actual classrooms full of people engaging in conversations together, it's important for you to participate in the online discussion posts instead. You will learn a lot from these conversations and you will probably be required to post a certain amount for credit in the course.[7]
- Most distance learning classes allow the instructor to see how many times a student not only posts, but also whether or not they have even opened specific conversation/posting threads. Keep this in mind, especially if part of your grade is based on participation.
- Remember that an online class gives your professor much more access to knowing just exactly what you're doing in the course. In a traditional classroom setting, you may be able to avoid some of the work and fake it in class. But in an online class, your professor can see exactly what you've looked at, what you've read, how much time you spent, etc.
- Participate when you are supposed to. One of the most important parts of learning in an online setting is engaging with your fellow learners. However, if you make your contribution (on discussion posts, project submissions, etc.) after the deadline, or after everyone else has already posted, then it is less likely that your classmates will read and respond to your comments. This cheats you out of a big part of the learning experience.
- Also, if you are always commenting late, or at least after everyone else, your teacher will notice and this will probably affect your participation grade.
- Participating late will decrease the learning experience of all of your classmates as well as decreasing your grade in the class.
EditUsing Distance Learning to Achieve Your Goals - Apply what you've learned. Successful distance learners do more than just memorize and regurgitate information. They think critically about what they've learned and how they can apply it to the real world or how it might be useful in their job.[8]
- Relating what you learn in class to your real-world experience will help you internalize what you've learned in class which will help you be more successful in the future.
- Set short-term goals. While a college education can be an overwhelming thing to consider (especially if you think about it only in its totality), there are many smaller pieces that you can focus on as you go to make it seem less daunting. For a distance learning course, it's important to set short-term goals that help you manage the course as a whole and your college career in general.
- Short-term goals for a distance learning class might include completing a particularly difficult discussion post on time, achieving a certain grade on your paper, or learning one important thing every day.
- Take it one class at a time and complete each step as you go. Before you know it, you'll be close to the finish line!
- Set long-term goals for yourself. Many people who enroll in distance learning classes do so because they have many other obligations in their lives that prevent them from being able to attend regular in-person classes – often this is because of work commitments or family obligations. For people like this, it is important to think about not only your short-term goals for the course, but also to think ahead to what you want to get out of the class in general.[9]
- While your short-term goals might include making a good grade on a particular assignment, your long-term goals should be geared more toward how completing this course will further your career, help you provide for your family, etc.
- Long-term goals help you look at the bigger picture to see how this distance learning course is actually beneficial in your life.
- Only take courses that you need. When you are working toward a college degree (especially if you are a person who finds it difficult to make it to regular classes), you should be very particular about what courses you spend your time and money on taking. Make sure that this course benefits your specific career goal or counts toward your declared major.
- If you take classes that won't work for the degree program you're in, taking them is basically just a waste of time, energy, and money.
- Figure out what classes you need, when they're offered, and plan ahead so that you don't encounter any unnecessary obligations related to scheduling or course requirements that could delay your graduation.
EditPreparing Yourself for a Distance Learning Course - Select the right distance learning school. There are many unscrupulous "degree mills" around in the market that are just interested in selling their degrees without necessarily providing a good education. Do proper background checks on the institutions you're considering.
- Carefully look at your prospective school's website and read other online reviews about them to figure out what kind of school they are and how much these distance courses will cost you.
- Talk to a current or past student of your prospective school and ask them specific questions you may have – about cost, credit transfers, degree to completion time, etc.
- Utilize credit transfers. Most distance learning institutions allow students to transfer their credits from courses they had taken from other colleges. So if you've taken college courses before, make sure you notify your new institution through the necessary channels. This way, you don't have to repeat what you have already learned.
- This will also help you balance your work/family/school time since you'll have fewer overall courses to take because of your transfer credit.
- Additionally, you should make sure that credits from your prospective school are transferrable. You don't want to waste your time taking a bunch of courses that you won't be able to use if you end up having to transfer schools later.
- Learn what technology you'll need for the course. Most online courses don't require a lot of special technology equipment to participate in the course. But you will probably need several different kinds of technology to be able to complete the class.[10]
- Some items you will almost certainly need include a computer, regular access to the internet, and Adobe Acrobat viewer.
- Your teacher may require some additional technology items that are specifically needed for the course. Make sure you find out what you'll need ahead of time (these requirements should be listed in your course syllabus) so that you can determine whether or not you'll be able to acquire the needed items.
- Use the resources available to you. Try to take full advantages of the facilities provided by your online school. You are paying for these services through your tuition, so you may as well take advantage of them while you can.[11]
- Resources available to you may include online libraries and resources, one-on-one attention with your instructors, and online sessions with tutors.
- There may even be in-person facilities available to you for research, study, counseling, printing, and other services.
- While not always so, a credible online program is often tied to a credible bricks and mortar program. If the program you are looking at is offered by a notable school that offers on-campus education as well as distance learning, this may be a good sign.
- A basic rule for the amount of work is the "Rule of 3": For every hour of "in class time," there is supposed to be three hours of "homework." This is true for face-to-face classes and online classes. So, a 3-credit course means that you should be "in class" for three hours per week and have 9 hours of homework, for a total of 12 hours. Therefore, a face-to-face course or an online course expects up to 12 hours of work per week. (Do the math – two classes would be 24 hours per week, three classes = 36 hours, four classes = 48 hours, and five classes = 60 hours). Be sure you can handle the load.
- Know your limits – legitimate online courses will have a normal college load of work. If you're working full time, consider taking only 1-3 classes. Too many students overwhelm themselves and burn out by taking 4-6 (or more classes) at a time while working full time, too.
- Realize that credible online schools will expect you to perform like any face-to-face student – that is, excellently. Any place that is too easy and doesn't care what you do is just out for your money. Watch out for these types of institutions.
- Make sure you only choose a college or university that's accredited in your own country. Some colleges or universities are accredited in their home country but not abroad. You should check that before enrolling.
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