I have a few plants growing that I never planted. One looks like a Gourd. Or, maybe it’s yellow squash??
Sanosuke and Kaoru love Zucchini. It can be raw, or cooked they will gobble it up.
Here’s another what is this..Eggplant? Watermelon? Audrey II?
Here’s the pumpkin..
Hello, everyone! This has been a very long, tiring month. With Michael unable to drive, I have been doing all the driving. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but I have a back injury that makes it hard for me to sit, stand, and walk for even short periods of time. Before, we were taking turns driving, now it’s all me. With multiple doctor appointments for all of us, including our teenager who will start ninth grade August 16th, I am having trouble even checking my emails.
Now on to other happenings..
Yesterday Uriah killed, ‘That Rat’!
We were standing next to the garden. I was complaining about all the tomatoes that have been eaten in the past week. Thirteen! Thirteen big beautiful tomatoes!
I can’t say for sure it was a rat that ate the tomatoes, it could have been the skunk, a family lives near the barn. Or the opossum, one tried to take up residence in the dog house. Maybe raccoons! There are plenty of those around. Even coyotes love tomatoes. Do foxes eat tomatoes?
Anyway, Uriah turned away from me and started nosing around a square drainage tube that was lying at the top end of the garden. Ground squirrels like to hide there. I raised the tube to slide out the animal, and it held on inside tight. I rolled it over, and over until it was pointed at the Bog Willows and the rodent slid out. A very fat, cute reddish rat ran a zigzagged pattern towards the trees.
Uriah looked up at me, surprised.
“Hey, you go catch that rat!” Ooops! I used the wrong word. Rat sounds like cat, Uriah isn’t supposed to chase a cat, and so he sat and watched it run. I pointed at the rat and yelled. “Mouse! Get that mouse!”
Uriah hesitated, then started chasing it through the grass.
Yes, it squeaked, so do Ground Squirrels and Chipmunks. I almost called Uriah off. Almost..
The chase lasted only a minute or two, with Uriah tossing it into the air, then turning in circles and a giant leap, then silence. Uriah waited. I praised him and gave him a pork rawhide bone. He happily trotted off, while I moved the body to the burn pile, fully intending to burn the tree branches and that rat, tomorrow.
We were due at the doctors in an hour and I won’t light a fire if I’m not around. So that was the plan, tomorrow light the fire…
It rained all night. The trees are flooded. The water line is inching towards the house and overflowing the burn pile. I need another plan…
Link on Chipmunks and Ground Squirrels:
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory_show.cfm?species=groundsquirrel
smooth and creamy, cold and sweet
leisurely, pieces slip apart
dripping
slipping
melting
so
slowly
yet…
to fast to catch with my tongue
white and dark
make their way over my fingers
past my knuckles
to my wrist
where i hasten to wipe traces off my shirt
i smear it, and
it melts faster
hurry
i need to hurry
to eat
that large piece of chocolate
before it slides off the melted cream
uriah waits
furry face upturned, hope shines
and he drools
Purple Martins are very brave or very stupid, I haven’t figured out which, yet.
Martins will dive bomb anyone that comes out the door. They have a fit when I’m standing on the back deck. They will swoop and whistle. Nearly hitting me and Uriah! The cats watch from the inside windows and love the attention they’re getting from those beautiful little birds.
I have never seen feathers that matte black, it reminds me of charcoal. I have to admit my camera isn’t able to capture their beauty.
I love having them around. I will overlook their mud nests because they eat their weight in mosquitoes daily.
Purple Martins have nested around my house for years, sometimes with dire consequences. They can build a nest fast; within two hours they can set up home. My first summer in this house, I made a mistake of leaving the garage doors open while I cleaned out the garage. I had no idea they had made a nest on the electric overhead garage door opener. So when I was finished I closed the birds in the garage, accidentally. The only reason I knew they were trapped, was when one of my cats brought a bird into the house and let it go…
Last night I took Uriah for his walk a little later than usual. I was trying to avoid the mosquitoes by heading outside when it was nearly dark. That didn’t work. They were busy buzzing, and bugging me just as they did and hour earlier.
Wednesday is garbage day. I have notes posted to remind me of the fact. I only had a couple of bags I debated dragging them down the driveway, but last week when I attempted that, Uriah though we were playing and grabbed one of the bags, breaking it, and spreading the trash all over the driveway…
This week, I tossed the two bags on the hood of the car and slowly pulled out of the garage.
I rolled down the car widow as slowly passed that large Blue Spruce when I felt a pinch on the side of my face. My immediate thought was, “Mosquitoes!” I tried to brush it off out the window, except it wouldn’t move. The small inset struck itself to my skin. Without even thinking, I peeled it off with my nails. I was still slowly moving towards the road. (I have a four hundred foot driveway.)
I glanced at what I pulled off the side of my face and stared at it. It was upside down and wiggling its little legs furiously. It was cute in a way. Sort of! The shiny back body sparkled in the sunlight. I was not amused, when my eyes adjusted and I recognized it as a tick. Still irritated when I pulled back into the garage, I told my husband all about being ticked when I rolled down the car window. He couldn’t stop laughing,..at me! He said, between laughter, that he never met anyone who attracted so many ticks the way I do.
He called me a tick magnet!
I would rather be a money magnet!
*I have been out of it for the past couple of weeks. I realized I had written the above post on Thursday, July 1st and never posted it to my Blog. Way too many things have been creeping up around here and I’m not including the mosquitoes, or the odd looking flying bugs. I even made a video that I never posted… Ooops! Had to find it! Here it is! It is a little long- four minutes. You are walking with me among the milkweeds near the front pond, and you won’t be bothered by the bugs.
The weather has been interesting. High heat and humidity and storms that attempt to blow the house down.
Today, July 10 is our eighth wedding anniversary. I know I’m on the internet updating. Michael is still sleeping so it’s okay:-)
My husband’s health took a turn for the worse. I dragged him kicking and screaming to a new neurologist. He now has tests all this month. He can’t drive until we know what’s up. He is not happy about that..
I have had thyroid problems my entire life, I no longer have a thyroid and it still causes issues. Heavy Sigh!
Just before my husband’s doctor’s appointment, I decided to try for examiner.com and they accepted me. I will write articles on, Hampshire’s plant life. If you stop over there I would appreciate any comments. Or, just send me an email and tell me what I am missing. Or, just read. I need to work on the set up of the articles.
If anyone wants to try to write for the examiner and needs some advice on how to get noticed- ask me. I will be very happy to help.
If you give them my examiner ID number 56021 I get a referral fee.
I will keep posting here, this Blog is for me and all of you who like to take a walk without the bug bites:-)
I hope everyone is doing well. Be happy and safe!
