garden — Page 227

Bee Balm, Birds, Bunnies and Scout

June 20, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

Except for a brief period of lawn mowing, I pretty much stayed by my girl’s side most of the day. When I was outside, Don was with her. Because I don’t want her to have to deal with the den steps, I’ve been staying in the living room, sitting in the yellow chair, just like I did last summer when I was recovering from my surgeries. Brings back memories. Scout is hanging in there. She sleeps most of the day, but definitely wants us by her side during this scary time. I’m hoping that tomorrow will bring some easing of the eye movements. Cross your fingers. And thank you for your loving and supportive comments. I told Scoutie that she has a lot of friends out there who love her very much.

The bee balm has started blooming and I have to say it’s the tallest I’ve ever seen it!

Look at that! The tallest one is this photo has to be over 4 feet tall. I tried to take a picture of me standing next to it with my iPhone.

It looks like it just might attack me. But seriously, I’m 5’8″. That stalk has to be over 4 feet – maybe even 4 1/2 feet.

Bee balm has such an exotic look, doesn’t it? I love that shot of red in the garden.

My friend the catbird decided to rest for a bit on my thermometer/rain gauge.

Catbirds love a dip in the birdbath and I frequently see them there. Today I saw two little birds that I hadn’t seen before. I ran for the camera, but quick as a wink, they were gone. Finches, maybe? I’ve seen these two before. They landed for a brief moment on one of my hanging plants. I think they are a pair – male and female.

Today I saw a mom robin feeding her fledglings outside the kitchen window. I made myself turn away. After last year’s worries over those robin fledglings and roaming cats, I can’t go there again. And my neighbors have outdoor cats. I wish they’d keep their darn cats indoors. I mean, they are their pets, right? When cats are let outside, birds, baby birds and baby bunnies become their prey – all of which live on my property. I’m sure I won’t make everyone happy with that statement, but I love all animals. Life is tough enough for baby animals and baby birds without being preyed upon by someone’s pet cat. I don’t let my dogs loose to roam around a neighbor’s property – if I did, I’d get complaints right and left. And I just get too caught up in the whole thing. I can’t help it. I want to save every creature. I want to protect fledgling birds and baby bunnies and the little chipmunks that are running here and there in my yard. This morning I looked out the window and there was a robin, a chipmunk and a bunny all doing their thing within a few feet of each other. That made me so happy. They were perfectly happy to be around each other – no one was threatened. All was peaceful.

Do you hear me cats? Those are the rules on my property, you little killers. Back off. Your owners are feeding you all sorts of nice cat food. You’re not being forced to survive in the wild. You don’t need to feast on anything living, thank you very much.

End of smallish rant.

Speaking of animal cuteness:

Checking out the shed area. My bunnies eat a lot of grass – I rarely see them in the garden – occasionally, but there’s a lot of grass to feast on here at the Cottage. We coexist rather nicely.

Happy Wednesday.

On Sunday

June 17, 2012 at 9:39 am by Claudia

Yesterday morning, I woke up way too early. But the upside was that I could spend some quiet time on the porch.

Unfortunately, I spied a busy wasp or two building a nest way up on the porch ceiling. This happens every year – wasps love our wooden porch. So far, they’ve been too busy building to be concerned with me. As much as I love nature, I think the nest will have to go.

Can you find my lens cap in the picture? I swear, that lens cap ends up in too many pictures. Or I misplace it. Later in the day, Don found it on the driveway as he was getting ready to go to work.

Let’s see. What else is new? I’ve planted two pots with Purple Hyacinth Bean vine. They are on either side of the little gate we use to get to the kitchen door. As you know, the dog corral, as we call it, is made out of chicken wire fencing. Practical, but not too pretty. So I’m hoping I can grow a vine that will eventually cover up some of the fence. I’ve also added a wee, narrow bed in front of another section of the corral fence in which I’ve planted seeds for zinnias and sunflowers. They’re just now emerging from the ground.

The main garden bed is lush and green. I shot this looking down on the bed from the patio area. There are the two pieces of the birdbath that was broken last year during Hurricane Irene.

What else? Oh yes, it’s Fathers Day. The father in this household is still sleeping and I have to sneak out and buy him some donuts. (He loves donuts.) Scout and Riley will give him a card. I took this picture of Scout about a week ago and entitled it “Is that Daddy?” This is the look she has on her face in the morning when she thinks Don is about to come downstairs.

Looking toward stairs.

Then, when she hears him, it becomes this:

Happy Fathers Day to my dad and to my doggies’ dad!

Happy Sunday.

Linking to my pal Elaine’s Sunny Simple Sunday.

Potpourri: Garden, PicMonkey, Etsy & Parsons

June 16, 2012 at 7:30 am by Claudia

Okay. The time for frolicking is over, Claudia. Your friends have departed. Back to work.

You know what’s pathetic? After the four of us spent our first day together on Wednesday, I couldn’t get to sleep. I was just like a kid that has been overstimulated. That gives you an idea of how exciting my life is on a daily basis. Two friends come to visit and I get overexcited.

Yikes.

Have you noticed that my Etsy widget isn’t up? Meredith and I are taking a break for the summer. There’s not much happening at the moment and we figure the break will give us some time to make new inventory. And rest our aching wrists and hands. And in my case, feet. But that’s from too much mowing with not enough arch support. I have to do something about that, pronto.

By the way, I took the above photo at our local nursery with my iPhone. This gorgeous butterfly was hovering over a hanging plant and I had to get a picture. What a beauty! And do you see the way it’s framed? I noticed that PicMonkey has a new frame available and I had some fun with it. It’s called Craft Scissors. There are a lot of different options. Here’s one:

That’s our shed, framed with one of the Craft Scissors options. The window boxes are planted with impatiens and vinca. The climbing plant is a Climbing Hydrangea. I’ve had it in that bed for over 4 years – maybe five – and while it grows like the dickens, it has never bloomed. I read somewhere that it takes 3 or 4 years to bloom, but I suspect it simply doesn’t get enough sun. I added some baby hostas this year in the bed on the right. Clearly, the shed needs a new paint job, but it’s not on my priority list. I sort of like the weathered look.

Every year some of that vinca that’s growing in the window box on the left gets so long that it seeds itself in the ground.

This year it bloomed. Thank you vinca! This photo has been given another Craft Scissors frame.

And this yarrow that has started to self-seed all over the property (this one is between the big planting bed and the funky patio) is framed in another Craft Scissors cutie-pie frame.

Go check it out. PicMonkey is adding new options fairly frequently.

We’ve had some beautiful weather the past 3 days and it looks as if (crossing fingers) it’s not going to rain for several days. I know many of you would give anything for some rain and I wish I could send some your way. Nonetheless, we’ve had quite a bit of it lately and a wee break is welcome.

By the way, next week Don and I are going to see my former student and good friend Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) perform on Broadway in Harvey. Jim and I have been chatting back and forth via email and I can’t wait to see him again. I have an enormous soft spot for Jim. Okay, I’ll be honest: I adore him. It should be fun!

Bee Balm, Birds, Bunnies and Scout

On Sunday

Potpourri: Garden, PicMonkey, Etsy & Parsons

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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