The Robin Family

Baby Robins Awaiting their Mom's Instructions

I have had a family of robins nesting here since I can remember moving in.  I recall at removing at least 4 nests from the exact same location it seen wrapped up in there.ms that it has been the same robins returning every year.  Those nests are usually compromised of twigs, grasses, and leaves though on occasion I have noticed things I would consider garbage wrapped in there too.  The mother has always tolerated my presence reasonably well as long as I didn't venture too close to the nest.  We have always watched each other and kept a respectful distance in years past.  It must have been at least 5 years now, because one year they nested out front in my crab apple tree.

This must be a prime nesting location.  Many times robins will look for a sheltered nesting spot if they can find one.  Ideally predators would not have access to the back side of the nest and the front side would have an open view to any looming dangers.  They should have a clean water source nearby, it should provide camouflage to the birds, predators should be deterred from getting to the nest should they find it's location, the nest to allow them to blend into the surroundings, and offer an ample supply of food in the surrounding area as well.

Mother Robin 

Well this year I don't know if the original robins died or what (I have heard they live 5-6 years though I am not certain how accurate that claim is), but this mother is constantly swooping at me even when I am much further away than I have been any previous year.  Now it seems if I am anywhere even close to the back yard she dive bombs me!  She wasn't this bad at first, but the last several days she has gotten progressively worse.  I think it is because the babies are almost ready to fledge (leave) though because they are looking quite bit these days.  I did read online somewhere that robins usually spend about 13 days in the nest from the time they hatch to the time the fledge.

I must have popped out the door at the perfect time because they were all looking at their mom in the tree nearby.  I managed to stay in the doorway by the house so I couldn't get "scolded" and swooped by her.  She seems to sound a bit "angry" when I am too close and her call is closer to a "yelling" sort of "tone".  It is quite possible that is all in my imagination though as I seem to give animals attributes that they don't really display.

She is constantly standing guard over them in nearby trees as are usually several other robins, ever watchful over the young birds in her nest.  You don't see their presence as much when the babies first hatch.  I believe it must be because the other robins are on a constant hunt for food to feed either themselves or their young.  I understand that the siblings help the parents to take care of the young birds often times if they don't have a mate and nest of their own.

That is certainly understandable as raising these quickly growing babies would require vast quantities of food.  I have seen them capture a wide variety of food for the babies.  Mostly it seems that they bring insects and worms to the young birds.  I imagine the protein must be necessary to sustain such rapid growth.  Though I have seen robins eat various berries in years past.

Thank  you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd  love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Winter Visitors

I tend not to spend much time outside in the winter time here, I imagine if you lived up here you'd probably spend most of your time inside too. That means I don't really have much opportunity to see which of my animal neighbors have been visiting me. Of course there are signs of life even among the mounds of snow and piles of ice covering just about anything your eyes land on up here.

What signs of life, you ask? Well, while I don't see sprouts from my bulbs popping out of the ground, buds swelling on tree branches, or anything of that sort yet, I do see animal foot prints in the snow. They show me that not everyone headed south for the winter or went into hibernation mode like me. I do not venture into deep snow piles or anything as the snow would probably spill over the tops of my boots and freeze my poor feet. These pictures were taken in the snow that as most recently fell onto our driveway.

The most obvious visitor to the winter garden is the deer.

They have large footprints and sink deeply into the snow. The cloven hooves give them away, not many animals that live around here have prints like these.

Apparently the path Cheesehead had made for me to access the new compost bin he built me this summer for my birthday was quickly discovered by the deer too. It seems they have used the path much more recently than I have. Conveniently, it goes right by my apple trees. I need to remember to get the soap hung in the trees soon or the deer will start nibbling on them soon.

The bin is easily visible from the driveway. I think it looks good, but once the snow levels decrease and before the ground is no longer frozen, Cheesehead seems to think we need to move it. He doesn't like the fact that it can be seen.


Our next biggest guest is our lovely friend, the rabbit. Their foot prints come in groups of four as they hop their way through the snow. They don't sink as far as the deer do, but you can often find which direction they came from as well as where they headed off to. They aren't quite as noticable as far as the footprints go, but they also leave many other signs that they've been here. Our eaten seedpods which are now buried in the snow drifts along with the extra fertilizers they add to my beds. Those two signs make them the most visible visitor to my yard prior to the next new snowfall.


Our last visitor is a little mouse. It has stayed away from the house more this winter than the last time, but if you look closely you can see their barely discernable footprints in the snow near the shed. I had to adjust the exposure and the brightness of this photo to better highlight the prints in this picture. They are so light they seem not to sink at all even in our loosest of snow.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Who's Been Hanging Out in Our Yard Now?

While I was taking a stroll through the garden a few days ago, I noticed a few things that were out of place. A few other things just brought a smile to my face.

Take, for example, the bird feeders. They had no bird seed in them since I've been too lazy, er busy to fill them. I wonder what they wanted with those empty feeders? This will just give Cheesehead another excuse to ban my bird feeders from our yard. We're pretty sure that only bears would do this to a poor hapless pole. No smile here!

I also like to check on my recent plantings while I'm out in the garden.

I planted some sprouted garlic cloves in several areas of my garden. Cheesehead wanted me to throw them out because apparently he thinks once they've sprouted they can't be eaten. HUH?

Anyway, I planted them wherever I had some open space. They were coming up very nicely until I noticed some large, gaping holes in my mulch. *Scowl* They even left evidence behind, do you see the scraps that were left behind on our stone ledge? I assume it was the chipmunks this time instead of the squirrels that pestered us earlier this season. Can anyone help me to verify that suspicion?

Speaking of sprouts, we also had a bunch of sprouted potatoes in the basement that Cheesehead also wanted to throw away. I planted those too. They were so big that I had to cut them first.

I realized as I was preparing the potatoes for planting that I wasn't voted class klutz for nothing. I managed to slice my finger which bled profusely. I think next time I should ask someone else to use the sharp implements so I don't injure myself again. The potatoes are still under the sand so the critters must be too busy digging up the garlic cloves to notice them.

A week ago I planted the seeds in my garden. I noticed that I have a couple of spinach sprouts out there. Nothing I can really get a decent picture of though as they are still pretty tiny.



A huge smile spread over my face as I saw all of the perennials coming up. There are only a couple that have yet to poke their sleepy heads out of the ground. I hope they come up soon, I'm worried about my beautiful peonies that we transplanted last fall didn't have enough time to establish themselves in their new home.

The rabbits must have enjoyed nibbling on my tulip leaves too. I didn't think animals liked the leaves, wasn't it bulbs they eat? Hmm, I wonder where that picture went. Must be one of the 12 that didn't turn out and ended up deleted.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Frost already? Say it isn't so!

We had a frost advisory, so this should come as no surprise. Isn't it too early in the fall to have frost though? I'm sure Cheesehead was grumbling at me this morning as he was scraping his windows. You see, I've been too busy to move the stuff from the garage to the shed so we are still not able to park our cars in the garage yet. I guess that means I've got too much going on.

Clearing out the garage will become a priority this weekend. Right after I poly the moldings that is. I need a warmish spot to do my work now, don't I? Hopefully I'll get that finished today, we'll see how motivated I am. I have to be prety motivated though not to drop by and chat with everyone though since I like talking with my cyber buds!

Once again tecnology is trying to stand in my way of communicating, but I will prevail. These pictures are straight off my camera with no editing help from the computer since it is refusing to upload my pictures. Grr. That just means it will take me longer to get to the real work of the day. Maybe I've got my priorities messed up....



Anyway, there is frost just about everywhere out there. I could see my breath puff out of my mouth as I talked to Peanut on the way to the bus stop. There is a brisk chill to the air that makes the body scream out a request for more than just a spring jacket on mornings like this. I suppose I should haul out the winter coats. I am pretty sure that means the petunias are done for.



My side yard grass that I just planted is coming in nicely, but surprisingly that is the only area of the yard that didn't get frost. I guess my grass is being protected. Yay. Some of it is almost 4 inches tall already. See it coming in in the background there? The cool, wet weather has helped it to come in beautifully. Here's hoping it gets well established this fall so I have a wonderful yard come spring.

In the foreground you can see my vinca run wild. I guess it's trying to escape the cold, vying for it's freedom. I have never let it get this long before. I suppose that's yet another sign that I've been a bit too busy as of late....



With all of this cold weather abounding as of late, I went up to check on the beehive. Apparently the blackberry and hazelnut bushes surrounding it aren't caring for all of this cold weather, the leaves are dropping like crazy. The ferns are withering up, leaving a pretty clear shot of the hive. I almost went closer to see if the bees were gone for the year, but the thought of that last bee sting made me rethink that. They're probably gone, but better to be safe than sorry.



Some of the trees are protesting this sudden cold snap too. The ash tree has already dropped just about all of it's leaves. Do you see that poor little scrawny stick in front of the maple tree? The colors on the maple have moved to more reds than anything, but it is still alive with color.

It seems that fall is already on it's way out here making room for another long winter.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Walking in the Rain

I could hear the gentle drops of rain splashing quietly on the front entry when I was getting ready to go out, but it was barely raining at all. It's such a nice day out otherwise and I was itching for some fresh air. I grabbed the umbrella from it's hook in the closet just in case I needed it.



I haven't gone berry picking for quite a long time too because I've been working on landscaping and putting in a side yard. I am only 2 cups short of what I need for that blackberry jam my mouth has been watering for now. I know I've been saving up berries for quite a long time, so I should have reached my goal long ago. Those berries are just so darned good, we can't stop eating them! Since it was barely raining at all, I brought a measuring cup along so I knew when I could stop to leave the rest for our wildlife.

I grabbed the camera too, just in case I needed it and I was ready to head out the door. I planned on walking down the street to get that much needed exercise I keep meaning to get to, so I'm not sure why I didn't wear my tennis shoes. I guess I just like my sandals too much to put them away just yet. It's starting to feel like fall, but technically it's still summer. Doesn't that make it mandatory to keep wearing sandals? Okay, maybe not but I don't like having to confine my poor feet to socks and tennis shoes (or boots) so much of the year. Being fully equipped, I headed out the front door.



Look what caught my eye as I headed down the driveway. It was white just a few days ago, and now it's turning pink. The pink flower is the first one that opened. You can see the others are still working furiously to try to open too. I think it may end up getting way too cold before they even have the chance to attract the bees. Hmm, maybe that's a good thing for me....



I wandered along the driveway to my favorite patch up front only to find it covered in bees. Silly bees. They were on all of the best berries too. GRRR. I managed to pick a few from up there that weren't laden with bees, then sauntered on to the next patch. I glanced at the beehive as I meandered by it not daring to venture too close. No bees around it today, they must all be out enjoying the blackberries!

I can't believe that blackberry picking time is almost over, but judging by all of the empty spots where berries used to be I knew it was true. The rain started falling harder now. Enough now to make my glasses wet. I suppose that means I need to put up my umbrella, I DID bring it with for a reason after all!

I had to shorten my stride tremendously to keep my exposed toes from getting wet. It may not be so bad to get your feet wet when it's summer temperatures, but when it's not even 60 degrees outside it tends to make a person feel a bit chilly. I guess that walk will have to wait, but judging by the condtion of some of the blackberries I have found the blackberries won't. I decided to stay in the yard and finish my harvesting instead.



I think Anna would have paid money to watch the comedy that ensued. Imagine a crazy lady outside in the pouring rain trying to keep an umbrella over her head while holding a berry container and trying to free herself from the grabby bushes AND picking berries that don't have bees on them. (Boy is that a runon sentence or what?) Those darn bushes grab anything they can sink their thorns into including umbrellas. Who would have thought? It was quite a juggling act, I must say. I am glad I didn't bring the tool I use to move the bushes out of my way or I would have probably dropped something.

It was my hope that the driving rain would send the bees home so I went back up front. You know what? Those darn bees are as stubborn as I am, there they are underneath the berries still... eating? I take out my camera to get a picture of the industious bees once again and find that my battery is dead. Neighbors are driving by now. They must think I'm a total nut! I wave shyly since I'm still trying to be neighborly and all. If I could have seen their face through the water streaked windows on their car, they'd probably have been shaking their heads at me or something. Oh well!

Forlornly I collect myself and head back for the house with my miserable 1/2 cup of berries from today's harvest. I'll never get 8 cups of berries at this rate! The jelly recipe I found calls for 8 cups of berries. I have 6 1/2 cups. There are a few more berries out there yet too, but my optimism is quickly fading.

Maybe I'll get lucky and find a recipe that calls for less blackberries? Is it possible to cut the recipe in 1/2 and just use 1/2 a box of pectin? Then maybe I could make Cheesehead a dessert from the other 2 1/2 cups of berries I've already collected. Are there any experienced jelly makers and bakers out there who might advise this novice of what I should do?

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Morning Discoveries and Surprises

It was another crazy morning. Why should I be surprised? I really should call this blog Cinj's circus!

We like to watch the news to see what the weather is supposed to be like. Though that tactic doesn't always work since weather predicting isn't always very accurate.... It actually was this time. I looked out the window to check the temperature and saw that they were right this time. It was supposed to cool down.



Or should I say temperatures plummeted? Wasn't it just in the 80's yesterday? The news said it was 50, but my thermometer seems to disagree!

I reminded the children to wear pants today since it looks like shorts weather may well be done for the year. That made Peanut mistakenly assume that she had to wear a long sleeved shirt too. She spent 20 minutes downstairs trying to decide what to put on. My goodness, if she's this bad at age 7 what's she going to be like when she's a teenager?

I finally marched downstairs, grabbed a shirt, and gave it to her. Heaven forbid it was a short sleve shirt, but it looked great with the pants she had already picked out. Then the complaints started.

P: I'll be too cold.
M: It's supposed to be 60 later, it won't be that bad.
P: I'll be cold this morning.
M: Wear a jacket, then you can put it in your backpack later when it's warm.
P: What jacket should I wear?
M: Your spring jacket of course, it's not cold enough to wear your winter jacket.
P: My spring jacket isn't warm enough.
M: Maybe when it's really cold out, but it really isn't all that bad.

I got tired of attempting to reason with her, told her to put the shirt on, I expected her to have the shirt on and be ustairs in one minute and fled the scene before she could make any further objections.

By the time she was upstairs, her food had been on the table for 20 minutes and she started in complaining that it was cold. Of course it was cold, was I supposed to wait until both of them were ready to serve breakfast? Her brother would have about 5 minutes to scarf down his food if I did that. She started to say more, but between the nudge she got from her brother and the look I gave her she must have decided that she better keep her mouth shut. Thank GOD for small miracles!

The rest of the morning with the kids at home went without incident. Well, except her having to bury her head in my jacket while we were out at the bus stop because her cheeks were cold. Whatever!

On the way back to the house I noticed the final threads of summer trying to break through into the cool fall air.



The hydrangea that I planted last year has finally started to bloom. It's been fighting long odds with the somewhat shady location, cool temps, and lack of rain this summer. I'd put it somewhere sunnier, but I'm reserving my sunniest garden location for my vegetable garden I'm going to plant next year. It doesn't appear that the soil's ph had affected the blooms on it though.



Peanut picked this clematis from the garden center this spring. I wasn't sure if it would ever bloom, but it managed to choke out one lone bloom. Isn't it lovely? I hope it has lots more next year, but it does tend to be more shady here than these sun loving plants prefer.



I also saw a remnant of spring. I can't believe this cute little fella started reblooming since I haven't given it any special care or deadheading this summer. Let's face it, I just had more to juggle than I could handle this summer! But it was a welcome gift to see some unexpected glorious blooms!

Then, there was the one surprise that really wasn't a surprise. I've looked for a hive several times in my bee stinging spot and never seen it. I've always crept cautiously and stayed in the driveway just in case any bees happened to be lurking aout. I suppose the zoom lens on my little camera helped me unearth this discovery.



You were all right. There is a hive there. Now this makes me glad of my instinct not to swat those nasty little beasties, I really could have been in a world of pain! I have heard that if a wasp gets smashed it lets out a chemical that attracts more wasps. That just wouldn't do for a a person with bee allergies!

I don't know the exact type still. Sorry, but I won't venture near this nest until maybe the dead of winter so I'm not so hopeful that it will remain in great shape for identification purposes once it's buried under oodles of snow. I guess I'm just a bit afraid of getting stung a thrid time. It doesn't feel too pleasant, especially the puffing and pain the allergy causes!

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

The Lonely Blackberry Harvest

The kids are safely sent off to school. Both of them got rides from us this morning. Son's school is right on the way to Cheesehead's work and I drove Peanut in. We decided to drive them since we still haven't heard from the bus company about pickup times. I'm guessing that the times must be the same as last year or they would have bothered to tell us it was different. Now, if I could just remember what those times were, I'd be all set.



I was reminded of the time Peanut's bus comes by when Peanut and I brought out the garbage can and recycling to the end of the driveway. We saw her bus stop at the end of the road and pause to make sure we weren't making a mad dash for the bus like we did so often her first year of going to school. Peanut felt a bit insecure about finding her classroom today anyway, so I brought her in to town. She knew right where her classroom is and remembered who her teacher was. We found her locker, set her stuff inside it and headed out to the playground. She was the second person out there. Apparently none of the other kids who had headed out there earlier wanted to be the first kid on the playground or something. I hung around out there with them until aa adult came out oversee the playground. Once her friend who is in her class for a third year in a row showed up she was practically shoving me off the playground ready to start a new school year.



When I got home from the trip into town, I decided to go out early today to get the berry picking done before it gets too hot and humid. You see, it's going to be 85 degrees later so I wanted to do it when it's nicer and cooler. That means I needed to do the harvest today all by myself, especially with football to run off to tonight an hour after my son gets off the school bus. I'll have to have dinner ready at about 4:30 tonight. I hope that Cheesehead is able to get off at 4 like he's supposed to so we can eat together.



So out to harvest I went all by my lonesome. It was so quiet outside when I harvested the berries this morning. The only chattering going on was the squirrels. I'm so used to listening to Peanut chatter on and on it was strange to be able to hear nature for a change.

I also had to hold both the rake I use to move the branches and the harvesting bowl. I'm not used to that either, son likes to hold the bowl. If he's not "helping", Peanut usually holds the bowl. Son's idea of helping is holding the bowl and eating 1/2 of the berries that Peanut and I pick. Rarely does he even lift a finger to pick them off the bush though.

I walk past the best producing part of our berry bushes. I can see dozens of ripe juicy berries taunting me through the leaves. Nah,nah, nah, nah, nah!

I can't go in there, I don't dare. I have picked berries from this spot twice, you see it's hidden from view a bit so it's easily missed. Twice I have been stung by bees in that very spot. I don't want to inflict any more pain on myself, I am allergic to bees. I still have to figure out what I did to attract the bees' rage. I didn't see the bees til they landed on me. It seemed that they just suddenly decided to sting me. I was wearing only deoderant as far as smells so and my clothes were not bright so I don't believe I looked like a flower. Haltingly I wander by those luscious looking berries in seach of more berries in less dangerous realms.

We still have many berries yet to ripen too. There are quite a few green and red berries on the bushes yet. That's pretty rare for this time of year. Aren't berries usually just about done growing by now? Not that I mind of course as I am still trying to save up enough berries to make some blackberry jam, but it's weird.



Some of the berries are drying right on the bush, it's been awfully dry this summer. When Peanut sees these spots she runs off to get either to hose or a watering can. I can faintly hear the echoes of her sandals scurrying down the gravel topped driveway as I look at this sad fella. I don't know that it really ever made the berries plump back up or anything, but she likes to water plants.



That cute little squirrel was chattering my ears off. I know most people don't like red squirrles much because they're so mischevious but I sure think they're adorable. I watched this little guy quite a long time as I went around picking berries off the bushes strewn about our yard. He seemed nice and content looking right at me precariously perched on a thin branch. I could have swore that branch he was sitting on would snap off the tree any minute. He just sat up there contentedly chattering away at me. I was amused by him, lost in thought about how he was trying to chatter at me like Peanut does. He must have seen us out there every day picking those berries and knew how she liked to chatter.

The berry bushes grab at my hair and my clothes. It grabs me from all directions. I didn't even think how hard it might be to hold the branches back AND pick the berries at the same time. I feel like a wild animal caught in a trap clawing desperatley for freedom. Hmm, I wonder if that silly little squirrel isn't just laughing at me instead...

Suddenley we were both rudely started by this strange sound. What on earth? Oh, it was my cell phone! I'd almost forgot what the real ring sounds like since I have special rings for all of the people who call it regularly. That squirrel started to chatter at me angrily from his tree perch. How dare this rude interuption!

It was Cheesehead asking if I was still in town. Apparently he wants me to stop and pick up some distilled water for the store's floor scrubber. I'll do it when I'm in town again later bringing son to football practice.



I finsh picking the berries and head inside to the coolness of my wonderful ceiling fan. Not much of a harvest considering no one was there to eat 1/2 of what I picked today.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

BEES!

****WARNING**** If you do not like looking at fat, ugly, out of shape legs that have been stung by a bee, you may want to skip reading this post.***********


Peanut and I went out on our daily trip to the blackberry patch yesterday, she enjoys helping me pick them off the bushes. She has picked blackberries with her brother and grandpa over at his house every summer. Even though the bushes are prickly and difficult to pick the juicy treasures off, we find it quite challenging.



We hit the jackpot! We picked twice as many berries as we did any other day so far. Of course most of today's had been devoured before I got around to taking this picture of them. YUM! They're always best after sitting in the warm summer sunshine. I've been freezing a little bit each day to save up enough for a treat for the whole family, it's been tough going but it will be well worth the effort.

We were very pleased with our haul and began discussing the possibilities for usage of the plump juicy blackberries as we sauntered casually back towards the driveway. We were just in the middle of discussing saving some of the blackberries for the wildlife when I felt a painful poke on my thigh. OUCH. I looked down to move away from the offending thistle (we have LOTS of thistles) when I discovered a bee stinging me. What in the world?

Sure. I haven't seen a bee up by the house all summer by my wonderful flowers. There are just a handful of them by the wildflowers and now one decides to sting me??? I didn't do anything to it, I swear! I was just telling my daughter not to take more than we need and this @!*% bee STINGS me. GRR.

I washed the area, used hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial ointment, and placed a bandaid over it to protect it from irritating rubbing from my clothes. Then we headed off for football pracice.



I thought it would start feeling better today, but it hasn't. It looks worse today than yesterday. There is a 5 or 6 inch red patch around it and the surrounding skin feels feverishly hot. I looked it up on webmd, but it doesn't sound like it's anything requiring medical attention yet.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Were my Expectations too High?

I showed you all my wonderful cherry tree bursting with berries just a few days ago, right? See my Bountiful Blessings post. Hmm, I guess it's been a little longer than I thought. Every branch was covered in fruit. They were a gorgeous red, but I don't know much about how to tell when they're ripe so I left them on the tree. I mean, they were so small and everything, I was waiting for them to grow a bit bigger. Cherries are usually larger than a marble, aren't they? These aren't even as big as a pea. Way too small to be ready for picking! Or so I thought.

I left them on the tree and started pouring over cherry jelly recipes. Oh the plans I was making! Cherry pie, cherry jelly, cherry syrup,....

I went out today to find most of them had been eaten off the tree already! Were they already ripe? There I go again, asleep at the stick. Grr. I ran inside to get my bucket. While there really weren't that many cherries on the tree, I didn't think I would be able to hold them all in my hands. You know what?



I think I could have. No, there aren't any around the edge where you can't see in the bucket either. What do I do with such a small amount of cherries. It may be 1/2 a cup if I'm lucky. They ARE cherries, aren't they? I sure hope those bluebirds enjoyed my fruit. Maybe I'll have better luck with collecting nuts and/or berries. I wonder how to tell when I should try to pick those?

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Bountiful Blessings

Some people may be a bit skeptical about these so-called blessing of mine, but I'll let you be the judge. We had a busy morning today. It was cooler than it has been for a while and the breeze was blowing.

The next week is supposed to be humid and rainy, the perfect morning to get a load of work done! I was going to wait to plant any new plants, but with all of the rain that's supposed to be headed our way I decided not to wait.

First I planted the hostas that Lisa was so kind to send me. I know I said I was going to wait until fall, but I decided that I had to time to baby them and I want to get them firmly established before the frigid winter winds start to blow. I'll expand the shade garden in the spring instead. On the way to the shade garden, look what I found!



Cute baby toads. The ground seemed to be alive with these things. Everywhere I walked I spotted one hopping along somewhere. Where in the world did they all come from? The kids picked a few up to observe for a while. The toads didn't seem to like it though, so they didn't stay very long.

I also wanted to get my asparagus planted. Yup, I went and got a GREAT after season clearance deal on a wonderfully huge plant. It was orignally selling for $10 and I got it for only $3! Soon we'll be enjoying asparagus again. I put it in the mulched area by the house in the side yard. I hope this spot is sunny enough for it to grow abundantly, I'll get those kids to like it yet. I've decided I want to learn how to can and preserve foods that grow around here. That way we can live on God's blessings for a while and stretch our budget to include more fun family activities instead of using all of our hard earned money for buying food.



Look what I found when I was planting the asparagus. I'll have to find out what kind of wonderfully beautiful butterfly this little fella is going to be. I know they don't all turn out to be the best, but I like it when they're fluffy.

Then it was on to deadheading the petunias. It wasn't SO bad, but such a tedious job. I do want to get more blooms this summer though so it's a job I wanted to get out of the way.

As I wandered to the back yard to put the spent heads into the compost pile, I was reminded of the tree we discussed this spring.



You were right, it is a cherry tree! We grill out by this tree quite often all year long, even going so far as to shovel an area in front of the grill in the winter time. There weren't any fruits on this tree last year, REALLY. Not that I'm complaining. I hope the birds leave me a few of them to attempt to make some jelly later this season. I've never actually made jelly before, but I hope to be able to figure out how.

The compost pile is near our cook out area. As I passed by the grill I remembered that I needed to make a new handle for it. The old handle was broken off when a violent hail storm knocked it down 3 years ago.

I hope my fix works out, I used a 5/8 dowel rod and two "L" brackets. I've been meaning to get to that job for a couple of years now. Have you ever done that? You buy the materials to fix something right away and then they sit around for a long time before you get around to doing it?

I used some more of the dowel to fix Cheesehead's prized wooden lawn ornament that was damaged during the same storm. I need to find a couple of missing pieces before that job is completely done, but I got a good start on it anyway!

Once I had finally made a new handle for the grill and painted it to protect it from the elements, I decided to sand the rust spots and paint those too. To protect all of the work I had just done, I was going to clean off the grill cover that's been on the ground for quite some time.

Long enough in fact, to become a nursery of sorts... Look what was in there!



Not only was there a baby rodent, but also



an ant nursery. Those ants sure were scurrying to move the babies somewhere safe.

I decided the grill has gone without a cover for this long, a couple more weeks won't cause any major harm to it, right? So, we put the grill cover back as closely to it's original position as we could without spilling the precious cargo inside. The poor baby mouse sounded awfully scared squeaking while we moved it around, the mom came by to see what was going on. We decided to go inside so she could check on the safety of her baby.

When we got inside, we called Grandma. Peanut told her what we saw today she asked if we killed the mice. What harm is a couple of critters anyway? As long as they aren't in my house, I don't mind them. That baby is so new it has very little fur and it's eyes were still tightly closed. Was I supposed to kill one of God's magnificent creatures on the off chance that it may get into my house? I'm sure the wonder cats wouldn't be all that helpful if that should happen, but I've dealt with rodents before.

Now it's thundering and I'm feeling pretty good about all of the work that got finished today. I hope that the plants get plenty of water in the next few days.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Garden Whimsy

Why do you put statues in your garden? If I were to make a guess, I'd say most people buy statues because they think they are beautiful or artistic or connect with them in some way.

I got mine because they were cute. Well, truth be told, the price was right too. I used to sell Home and Garden Party, so I accumulated many of them to display at parties. They were just so darned cute I couldn't bear to part with them once the pieces were discontinued. Some of my favorites are the angels, but I will post them another day. Today Debbi wants whimsical. Here are a few of my favorites!



Any gal just has to adore a good planter. I don't have anything planted in here right now because there are no drain holes and I don't want to break it. The plants I had in here were over watered by Peanut, my overzealous garden assistant. Ooops!



I have quite a collection of feeder type statuary too. I think this one is cute. It's called it takes two. I just love the cats trying to work together to get a lunch. Somehow I think the bird will see them before it becomes lunch though. I probably should have discarded this piece since the top got a hole in it from our contractor's reroofing job a couple of years ago. I'll fill it with cement or something someday to fix it.



Last but not least is my frog gazing ball. I think this is perhaps the most whimsical piece in my yard art collection. I think he is trying to gaze inside to see his inner prince.

Hmm, come to think of it maybe that's why so many toads like to hop around my garden!

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Cindy

Empty Nest

No, the kids aren't old enough to move out just yet. I'm talking about the baby bluebirds.

It sure was quite out in the yard this morning as we went out for our shopping trip. I scanned the usual guard posts and they were all abandoned, not a bluebird in sight. I decided to risk a hidden wrath from the mad flying birds and took a peek in the nest. Nothing. It was empty, not even a feather left behind. They sure clear out fast! It almost makes it seem that they were running from the law.

I told MIL and she thought something got to them. I think they fledged. It was one day less than I thought I had, but it seemed extremely crowded in there for four babies when I sauntered casually down the driveway one my way to the mailbox. I could see movement with not a speck of space to spare in there. Am I wrong? Could something have eaten all four babies in so little of time?

All 4 babies were peeping up a storm when I was working in the garage yesterday afternoon. The parents must not have known I was out there since they are usually so quite you'd think they were sleeping. I saw at least 4 different bluebirds in the treetops. I think our babies have finally spread their wings and flown the coop.

Sorry Kathy, no more baby bluebird pictures for you! I even had my camera out there today. For some reason I didn't feel that an empty nest would make a very nice picture for my blog. Maybe I'm wrong though?

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Cindy

A New Home for Frogger

Since his house was so rudely taken over by the bluebirds, this poor guy was forced to find a new home.

Alright, truth be told I'm sure that Peanut "helped" him make a home in the bird house since he's not a tree frog, but a rather goodly sized toad. I could believe that the tree frog really lived in there though.



He seems to be perfectly at home in the shoe planter Peanut made at school for Earth Day though. Now it's not only a home for flowers, but for critters too.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Diving for Cover

Holy cow, those bluebirds are really becoming overprotective of their nest. Or maybe it's their helpers. Whoever it was refused to allow me to clean the birdbath OR add fresh water to it. I couldn't take care of my flowers either today.

I mean, I can see trying to protect the nest when someone is showing interest in it. When you're just minding your own business, it's just plain crazy.



Granted the birdbath IS extrememly near to the nest. I had my back to the nest with scrub brush in hand. Do you see that little plaster thing hanging from the tree directly above the birdbath? THAT'S where they built the nest. See what I mean? It is a bit close, so I'm trying not to be too annoyed at being kicked out of my garden. I'll be fine as long as none of the flowers die.

I sure hope the water doesn't get too horribly bad before the babies leave the nest. I suppose it will end up being any day now. It's supposed to be about 20 days from the time they hatch until they fledge, isn't it?


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Cindy

Mystery bird

I was outside the other day checking on the baby blue birds. They are getting so big! I'm glad I left that army of green catepillars alone, look how big and happy these babies are. All four of them seem to be thriving.



These babies are either trained to pretend they're sleeping when strangers are nearby or they're the most tired little birds I ever met. I accidentally woke them up the other day when I was locked out, but other than that I've never heard a peep from them.

As I was taking this latest picture I was being dive bombed by one of the parents. They were going by so fast and making all of these strange clicking sounds. I didn't even see which one it was. It was crazy.

I didn't have the time to hang around and see who it was since I was on my way out to bring Cheesehead some lunch on my birthday. He had to work 8am-10pm that day. His lunch pail just wasn't big enough for that much food and "ice cubes" and I knew I'd want to see him after being gone 2 days.

I was too tired to check when I got home after dinner, all I wanted to do was rest and get on the internet.

When we were outside yesterday working on the shed I saw two blue birds that looked identical fly away from the nest together. I used to think that it was mom and dad when I saw them together, but I have since seen that mama isn't that blue. I have seen more than one on several occassions, but usually not three of them. Mom bird was obvious of course but who is that other bird?

I wonder if it's an other brother helping the parents protect the nest. Maybe Grandpa came to visit? Was Dad showing off his babies to a good friend and neighbor? Weird. Usually I've just seen one at a time and didn't give much thought to it. What do you think?

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Introducing the baby blue birds.

I told the kids that we could check on them no more than once a day. They started looking cuter yesterday getting that fine fuzz on them to keep them warm, but that picture didn't turn out the best.



Well, I guess this one didn't either. We were in a hurry to get to the $1 movies in town this morning. At least it's good enough to be able to make out a beak on one of them. Maybe next time I'll get a better picture. I'm estimating that they are 3 days old. Their eyes were closed when we peaked in on them. I didn't see the fourth egg that Cheesehead had said was still in there, so I'm assuming it must have hatched. It looks awfully crowded in there though, so it's hard to tell.

MIL's sister passed away yesterday. It's sad, she's been trying to make arrangements to get down there to see her again before she died. She finally had everything all lined up to go see her yesterday morning when they called and told her not to bother coming right away. She had worried for days about not being able to make it down there twice if she went before she died. At least it didn't happen in June this time. We're pretty sick of all of the bad stuff that's been happening in June lately, like for the last 3 years.

BIL will be bringing her down to Iowa so I have volunteered to take the dogs. That way she doesn't have to pay all of those kennel fees for two dogs. I am worried that they won't leave the nest alone though. It's pretty low down to the ground since any trees that have reachable branches are barely taller than me. Oh well, if we get them I'm just have to keep a close watch on them. I think the kids and I will accompany them outside if they come to keep them out of the front yard.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Baby Blue Birds Have Hatched

They just hatched today, they were still eggs when I checked on them yesterday. The looked like little leaves laying in the nest, not a bit of fuzz on them yet even. I didn't run back out with my camera because I didn't want to disturb mama bird too much. She's got 4 more mouths to feed now, she'll need all the time and energy she has to take care of them.

I told the kids they'll have to play in the back yard until the babies have grown and left the nest. I'm sure glad that I have flowers planted in the back yard too. No more dawdling while I water flowers admiring their beauty, new buds, and blooms. I don't want anything bad to happen to the babies on my account! Her nest is about 2 feet from my sidewalk and driveway smack dab in the center of one of my gardens. I guess it's a good thing we don't get too many visitors out here or she'd be running scared all of the time.

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Cindy

Bluebirds!

You were right, they ARE bluebirds. Yey. I looked them up this morning while the troops were all still sleeping. Now the room is bustling with activity so we can all be ready before breakfast is over. Luckily I got ready before everyone else so I didn't have any competition for the bathroom.

Off for another day of activity! Today's itenerary includes Laura Ingalls in Walnut Grove and the cemetary to visit my dad's grave. MIL and I went shopping the other day because Peanut wanted to put flowers on his grave. We got some flowers for 90% off. I bought some for my Grandma and Grandpa's graves too at those prices I could actually afford.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Getting Ready for Vacation DIscoveries

I have been running around like crazy today trying to get ready for our vacation to MN. I know I've been going there a lot lately, but this time it's PURELY for pleasure. I promise I won't lift a finger to do work. We are planning on a trip to the Mall of America, a visit to the Science Museum where they are currently displaying Star Wars stuff, a Twins/Brewers game, a visit with Grandma at Como Zoo, and a day long jaunt to visit my dad's grave with a side trip to Walnut Grove to see the old Ingalls place thrown in. We're going to be super busy. I'll take lots of pictures and try to share a few highlights as the trip progresses, no promises though!

How was I getting ready you ask. I was pulling weeds, mulching, cleaning and filling bird baths, dead heading, you know all of the usual stuff. (Of course I need to pack and stuff too, but when I did that I only discovered that I need to do a load of laundry in order to have clean shorts to bring on vacation!)

While I was out making the rounds in the yard, I made some wonderful discoveries. I did take pictures too, but for some reason the computer won't read them off my memory card. I'll bring my computer with and try to figure it out later if I can't get it worked out tonight.

My most exciting discovery were the eggs in the birdhouse previously given over to the frogs. Imagine my surprise when I peaked in to see if the frog was home and was greeted by the sight of a nest the size of the one in that tree in the back yard with 3 small, blue eggs in it. I'll have to try to figure out what kind of bird the mom is. She has a blue back with a reddish orange abdomen and is about the size of a finch I suppose. SHH! Don't tell Peanut! I can't imagine that she'd leave them alone since she'll never leave a frog alone even when I tell her we don't have time to play with them today.

I'm sure if you're a regular reader you may have heard me mention once or twice about waiting for my peonies to open. Well, they're almost ready now. Why now? I hope a few buds wait for a week to open. I suppose that's asking too much though seeing as how they're peonies and all. SIGH!

I also saw the knock out rose I bought earlier this spring should have two open flowers tomorrow. Two delphiniums, a white spirea, and a spiderwort look ready to burst into bloom any day now as do some wild daisies and yarrow. My gardens will hopefully be over flowing with blooms by the time I return from my vacation. I sure hope they don't wilt, droop, and get stressed out because they need water or something! I want at least a couple of days to enjoy my peony blooms. I kept commenting to Cheesehead that they must not be blooming yet because we don't have enough ants. He looked at me like he thought I was crazy! But if they DON'T need ants, why is it that only the blooms that had ants on them when I came outside to check on them daily for the last couple of weeks are large enough to be ready to bloom? He didn't have an answer for me, of course!

Now, time for a little R&R!

Here are those pictures I told you about. Sorry it took a while!



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Cindy

Another mystery.

This time, it's a spider? I think... It has a tail though. Longer than the spider's body. Weird.



I've never seen anything quite like it. Maybe I haven't been very observant since I became depressed though. I mean I lived in this house for 5 years before we moved, how could I have possibly never seen something like that???

I know, I know I said I'd post my new garden arbor photos today. It got so hot though. It was in the 70's. That's not usually too hot for June, but when the day starts out at 40 degrees it's quite a big change. I'll finish tomorrow morning, I PROMISE! Okay? It's 1/2 done or a little more. I've got a couple of plants to move that I planted earlier this spring. I think they would go beautifully in my new arbor garden. I need a few extra plants anyway. Then the mulch to lay. I'm not sure if I'll get any edging done, but as long as the rest of it is done I'm not going to be too picky.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy