.
A buffet of carrots, green leaf lettuce and raspberries was laid this morning.
And before long there were two nibblers .
.
.
Then there were three.
.
.
And then things started to get interesting.
.
.
Siblings.
Two legged or four, they rarely get along.
.
.
I’ve always loved bugs and insects, the bigger and weirder the better. My father used to swear he found a new variety in the garden every year and I believe it’s true. Their diversity is amazing.
That being said, you know I was thrilled when I found this little beauty in my flower bed the other day.
.
.
Now that’s a spider!
.
.
Am I the only one who sees something wrong with this product’s Amazon pricing?
🥴
.
.
I think we’re down to four woodchucks now.
.
.
I haven’t seen six together for quite a while so I’m guessing momma finally booted some of their big butts out of the burrow.
.
.
Damn.
I wish they’d had these when I was young and in love with dinosaurs.
.
.
The other day my husband went to the woodshed to pull out his garden cart and came back in the house shortly after.
“I think one of your woodchucks is hurt” he said.
That made me drop what I was doing and rush out back to find this:
.
.
Junior, momma chuck’s full grown offspring from last year.. the one who never left the nest, was wedged in between the cart, some wood and a few landscaping bricks.
Or was he?
I knelt down, spoke softly and determined he wasn’t stuck… just scared.
.
.
We backed off, hid around the corner and waited for 10 minutes but he wouldn’t move.
Wanting to get on with his chores the husband slowly pulled the cart out of the shed and bam!
Junior was off like a shot to hide under the deck.
Not hurt, just antisocial.
.
.
It’s fallen to me to gather old photos of my husband’s late sister for her celebration of life.
Her daughter is still having a hard time…so the get together will be small, informal, and at her home. I’m going to set up a table of remembrance with flowers, this plaque…
.
.
A guest book where people can share memories…
.
.
A flameless candle…
And a large digital frame filled with pictures that will play continuously like a slideshow.
.
.
It’s been bittersweet collecting and uploading the photographs.
.
.
Life.
It’s fleeting…
.
.
And over far too soon.
I shed quite a few tears looking at the 160 pictures I’ve pulled together, but every once in a while I’d smile. Like when I found this old family portrait proof of my husband and his 8 brother and sisters. (Hint- he’s the one in uniform. Top left.)
.
.
And sometimes I even laughed.
.
.
That’s my husband, standing behind his late sister on the right. The couple with them had just gotten married and I think he was the best man.
I may have to print one of these for framing.
😉
.
.
There’s always something beautiful to see when you live in the country.
Last night?
.
.
It was a gloriously pink sky.
.
.
A sailor’s delight for sure.
.
.
But I liked it too.
.
.
We have two hummingbird nectar feeders on our back deck. (Sugar and water only please. Don’t buy that packet with the awful red dye. Use red glass feeders instead.)
2023 has been a banner year for hummers and I don’t think we’ve ever seen this many at one time. But with high numbers come battles, because while they’re beautiful … they’re also quite territorial.
.
.
The minute one sits down to feed, another arrives to chase it off.
.
.
Please appreciate the fact I had to take 20 photos to get these two of the little jewels in flight. Those little suckers are quick.
Here’s a short video of a male and a female. They drank together for a short while.
.
.
And if that wasn’t amazing enough?
.
.
Three hummers. Happily feeding together…
.
.
That’s never happened before.
❤️
.
.
Mother Nature is a beautiful thing and sometimes she rewards my insomnia with an early morning show.
.
.
When the dawn sky looks like this in our backyard, I don’t mind being awake at 4:30am.
.
.
Well, actually I do…. and curse that demonic body altering thing called menopause on a regular basis.
.
.
But at least there’s an occasional benefit.
.
.
Not that it makes up for weight gain, fatigue and hot flashes…
.
.
But it sure is pretty.
.
.
My husband is not happy.
Not in any way, shape, or form.
.
.
Every time he goes outside he gravitates to the hideous Grand Canyon we now have at the edge of our property.
.
.
Talk about an eyesore. People are literally walking by with their mouths open. A few have even stopped in to ask… why?
.
.
What a mess. And aside from the fact they took a good two feet of our lawn? They couldn’t even be bothered to do it uniformly, and that rankles.
.
.
Let’s forget that it looks like a giant gaping maw…the whole purpose of the project was to stop the caving in and erosion.
.
.
See the stripes? That’s what happened after the first rain. All the seed and hay flowed to the bottom…
.
.
And we had intermittent washouts. Which is exactly what we had before.
It’s maddening.
.
.
In case you’re wondering, it’s three feet in that spot. In some places it’s three and a half. Won’t that be fun to mow…
.
.
Assuming we can ever get grass to grow there again.
Sigh…
😫
.
.
Work has been progressing on the deck and the other day it was finally time for Lord Dudley Mountcatten to check things out.
.
.
He approached warily, and then took a detour.
.
.
To the stack of unused boards
.
.
And then to the stack of extra wood, which he promptly climbed on and knocked over scaring himself to death.
.
.
I laughed, so he jumped back on the deck boards and gave me the evil eye.
.
.
When he finally ascended to the half finished deck, he explored a bit…
.
.
And plopped.
We tend to do more sitting than walking on our outdoor excursions. His Lordship does not like to waste energy unnecessarily.
.
.
But when he’d had enough fresh air?
.
.
He paced back and forth in front of the door….
.
.
Not understanding why I wouldn’t jump across the divide to open it.
So instead…
.
.
He plopped, and seemed to approve of the new decking materials.
.
.
After arguing with state officials for a month and pleading with them to let us fill in our collapsing ditch, this was their answer.
.
.
A veritable Marianas trench at the end of our front lawn.
.
.
It’s huge.
More than twice as wide than it was.
.
.
It’s ugly.
A massive scar on the landscape.
.
.
See the gravel? They were supposed to replace that with dirt and seed it.
They didn’t.
.
.
See the sloping sides on which the temporary mailbox they refused to move sits? They were supposed to build those up so they wouldn’t collapse.
They didn’t.
This is worse than it was before.
A total nightmare.
.
River's world..... 