Many times when my mother bought some useful thing, she bought several of the same thing. Her thinking was that by the time she needed a replacement for the one she was using, 'they' would no longer be making that particular item 'anymore.' It was irritating that we had to find storage for all this extra stuff, and there is still some of it around, the originals being so well-made they never wore out.

But as time goes by, I'm starting to see the reasoning. The bear was here the other day and ruined one of the hummingbird feeders, so we had to buy some more. The design we had worked just fine, but now we can't find them in the stores, replaced by an alleged new and improved model.

Old style:


The new one is tapered, maybe to look fancier, but the bad thing is they replaced the drinking holes with slits that are supposed to keep the wasps out. They are too small for the birds to get their beaks down into the juice, and they had to learn how to use them. When we first put them out, we saw them going from one hole to the next, trying to figure it out. A few managed, but then we expanded the holes and it has worked out much better. 'They' also made the juice reservoir deeper and more complex, which means it will be harder to keep clean. I don't know what was wrong with the previous clean and simple design.

We'd just as soon have the old style, and now one of our missions in life is to find them and buy up a bunch of extras since 'they' have indeed stopped making them anymore.