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Our rhododendrons finally popped.
.
.
At least on the front side where my husband didn’t butcher them with the shears.
.
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For a sheer burst of color they’re hard to beat.
.
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And I’m not the only one who loves them.
.
.
Giant bumblebees swarm ever them all day long…
.
.
And it does my heart good to see their little legs covered in pollen.
.
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Long live the bees!
.
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🐝🐝🐝
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Our resident male mallard duck likes the deer grain.
.
.
He really likes it.
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He likes it so much he climbs into the bowl and guards it.
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And quacks loudly if anyone gets near.
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I think he’s pooping in it as well….
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Which would explain why the deer haven’t been eating it lately.
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Momma Chuck birthed them and nursed them…
.
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But now that they’re eating the same solid food ?
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She’s not sharing with them.
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Motherhood has its limits.
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🤣
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Siblings don’t always get along.
Or so I’ve heard.
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Clearly this goes for baby woodchucks as well as humans.
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Momma Chuck doesn’t intervene.
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And beats feet when things get too rowdy.
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❤️
.
.
Poor Momma Chuck has her hands paws full with five babies.
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Teaching them to be self sufficient and take advantage of the daily buffet we lay out is exhausting.
.
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More often than not she beats them to it and gobbles everything up before they wander over.
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Momma needs nourishment and strength.
.
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As well as a decent support bra.
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What does she think of the local paparazzi?
.
.
This.
🤣
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Momma Chuck is bringing her young ones out from under the barn on daily foraging trips.
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So naturally I sit on the barn porch and entice them with apple chunks.
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One brave little fella gets closer than the rest.
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He’s so sweet!
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Yes, they’re flower munching machines…
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But they’re also too cute to stay angry at for long.
💕
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My first baby chucker count was off by two. There are five baby chuckers and my flower gardens are doomed.
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I try to make friends by sitting on the barn porch and giving them apples.
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I do this so they’ll leave my carefully tended blooms alone.
Sometimes it works, other times I’m left with a bed of bare twigs.
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It seems there’s always one brave little fella in every litter… the one who edges closer and checks me out more thoroughly.
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Yes, they munch my flowers.
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But damn, they’re cute.
❤️
.
.
The husband and I planted three flowering cherry trees last year.
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Two of them were eaten and absolutely destroyed by deer over the winter.
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This one, planted closer to our house survived… even if it is looking a little spindly.
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🥴
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We had our first baby woodchuck sighting of the season the other day.
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Momma gives birth under the Man Cave/Barn Mahal every year and this summer it looks like three.
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They really are adorable.
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Scampering around trying to convince mom to share her apples.
,
.
I know my flower gardens will suffer.
.
.
But damn, they’re cute.
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.
😊
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Lilacs.
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From a scent perspective they’re hard to beat.
We have two giant bushes on the edge of our property that were planted by the original owners in the mid seventies.
One is dark purple.
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One is white.
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So of course my favorite color is the pale lavender that we didn’t have.
But my girlfriend did and about ten years ago she gave me some of hers.
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That’s it in the foreground next to our old ones.
Alive, but not in any hurry to grow.
At this rate I’ll be dead before it blooms…
🥴
River's world..... 