Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Text Work, Subtasks, Butterflies & Bugs

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Act One of Midsummer: check. Today, Act Two.

The eventual delivery of the O’Keefe & Merritt stove has set up all sorts of subtasks. Isn’t that always the way?

Cleaning under and behind the stove. Cleaning the walls. Deciding to paint the wall before the stove arrives so we don’t have to move the stove for future painting. Picking out a paint color. Deciding I need to paint the trim around the windows as well. Don picked up the yellow paint yesterday, along with the primer. I need to buy some TSP and trim paint today.

Don came in the house yesterday and told me that he had decided that we needed to open up access to the back of the house, where the propane tank will be. So we opened up the fence, then we assessed the area directly behind the kitchen and decided we needed to pull all those weeds and perhaps put some gravel down so that there will be a flatter surface for whatever we put the tank on. Which means I may have to buy some gravel. And Don bought some pavers to make a little path in that area.

Then, as we stood outside, I asked Don if he thought it would be a good idea to take down the fence that we originally put up to keep Scout in the lower part of the corral when she began to have difficulty walking. At first, he said no because he considered it part of the Memorial Garden, but then he rethought the whole thing and we took it down.

It looks so much better! We reminded ourselves that our memories of that section of the fence are not happy ones, as Scout often fell there when she lost her balance in her final days. The memorial garden is not the fence, it’s the plants and the ribbons and the prayer flags.

I tracked this beauty to the butterfly bush, late yesterday afternoon. Since he was completely absorbed in the blossoms, I was able to snap a few pictures.

Beautiful.

Then, as I was walking around the house, I saw these tiny bugs on the milkweed plants.

Aren’t they incredible? The markings and colors are beautiful!

A closer look. I’ve just identified it. It’s a candy-striped leafhopper. They’re pesky little eaters that often feed on plant sap. I’ve never seen them before!

But they’re pretty.

I’m off to make another list. I leave a week from tomorrow, which is too soon.

Happy Wednesday.

Monarchs, Flowers, Paint & The Stove

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The butterfly bush has started blooming.

I spent time yesterday walking around the garden beds. Camera in hand, I wanted to record just what is blooming right now. And then I saw a Monarch butterfly.

I’m always so thrilled when I see them – usually around this time of year, and, I assume, emerging from our milkweed plants that are scattered around the property.

Anyway, that butterfly wasn’t about to sit still long enough for me to take a picture. He sensed my approach, even if I was far off. Not to be deterred, I kept up the ‘stalking’ while trying to water the porch plants at the same time. I finally captured a couple of pictures when he landed on the coneflowers on the far side of the house.

Then a second Monarch appeared and the two of them chased each other around the property. This one kept flitting around the area in front of the porch, never landing on anything for long, as if unsure where to go to get the nectar she needed. I found myself wondering if she had just emerged. It seemed that way – as if there might be a learning curve until she landed on a proper source of nourishment.

She landed on one of my hanging plants and, as I was trying to get a picture, she took off. This strangely wonderful photo emerged from that moment.

I’m completely fascinated by it. Her wings are beating furiously and I can see her body. Amazing!

I stopped off at Noble and Tina’s house to give them a little gift for watering my plants and we had a nice chat in their beautiful garden. Petey (their little dog) slept on my lap for a long time. He’s adorable.

And we officially paid our 40% deposit on the O’Keefe & Merritt stove. Huzzah!

We’re so excited about the stove but it will take a while until we get it. A bit more work needs to be done on it, then Antique Stove Heaven will crate it, then we have to call a shipper (recommended by them) and arrange pickup and delivery. In the meantime, our local plumbing and heating guy, Gino, will figure out where to put in a line for propane and get that ready. I also need him to trim some of the metal covering on our baseboard heating so that it doesn’t interfere with the placement of the stove.

Oh, and now we’re thinking of painting the kitchen a pale yellow. All of this came out of my suggestion that we paint the section of the wall behind the stove before it arrives so that we don’t have to move that heavy stove later. There’s lots to do and I only have less than two weeks here before I have to go to Hartford. Some of those days will be taken up with doing prep work on the text. Yikes.

We’re probably going to paint the kitchen a section at a time. Over time. So it may look like a crazy quilt for a while.

Happy Saturday.

Investigating

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The wind has died down, thank goodness. We had about three days of it, which is three days too long for yours truly. Today is coolish and sunny and still. Good.

I moseyed around the property yesterday as I checked on new growth. Everything is taking off. I haven’t yet cleaned out the area around the peonies, but I see the red stems coming out of the ground.

Two of these beauties were dining on some clover in the lawn. They were very small – maybe an inch and a half to two inches wide? I thought they were moths, but my investigation (I use that word loosely) tells me they may be Painted Lady butterflies. They migrate from Mexico to Canada in the spring. I’m going to settle on Painted Lady unless someone has more information?

The maple right outside the kitchen door is leafing out. Huzzah! The big sugar maple always takes a bit longer, but it’s on its way.

Yarrow in the big garden bed. I love those delicate, lacy leaves.

The hyacinths are so beautiful. I found these bulbs – mystery bulbs to me – when I created another garden bed on the side of the house. I didn’t know it they were viable, but I took a chance and planted them here in the big garden bed. I was so delighted when I realized they were hyacinths!

I found another crabapple tree in the middle of an area of brambles which is close to our property line but very near to the kitchen window. There were so many brambles that I didn’t dare try to get close to it, so I ran inside for my new lens.

After almost 12 years here, I still find surprises. It’s a nice sized tree, so I imagine I’ve somehow missed it because it’s in an area that I usually leave to itself. Brambles and I don’t get along, though I have to do some trimming today. Wish me luck.

There’s also a baby tree springing up  right outside the kitchen window – that’s what sent me outside yesterday. I saw two little flowers blooming and knew I had to investigate. That little sapling led me to the bigger tree.

If I have misidentified this, let me know. There is another crabapple that I’ve spoken of on the other side of the property, down near the street. I see that it’s budding and here’s my quandary: that crabapple has a pinkish color of unopened flower bud and when the flowers finally open, you can see traces of the pink on the back of the petals. I don’t see that with these flowers. But I’ve searched and searched and the only possibility I can settle on is…crabapple.

Once things start taking off in the gardens and on the property, there’s always something new to investigate! Maybe instead of Nancy Drew, I should invent a character named Nancy Grew…

Happy Tuesday.

 

Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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