Wanted: Someone to function as sentry on the grounds of Mockingbird Hill Cottage.

Must be able to spend enormous amounts of time watching for adorable critters, big and small, and be willing to (nicely) scare them off from specific areas that are off-limits to the general public.

Job Duties include: Standing at the kitchen door and looking out the window, where you will often see little groundhogs scampering toward the areas known as The Big Corral, The Mini Corral and The Big Garden Bed. On no account are said animals to be allowed to enter these areas.

Sometimes your duties will take you to what is called The Front Porch, where you will observe adorable critters and loudly proclaim “NO!” This word may have to be uttered more than once.

Job duration: three weeks.

Example of critters that must be observed:

Other animals to watch for: deer. The current holder of this position saw a beautiful young deer this morning. She made the mistake of running for her camera in order to capture its beauty, thereby missing the fact that said deer was headed toward the big garden bed and was ready to eat the contents of that bed. The camera was hurriedly put down, the front door was opened – thereby activating the alarm, which was quickly deactivated – and the young deer was told “NO!” with a firm, but kindly voice.

This is the sort of thing you must do. All day long.

The other occupants of the house are well-meaning, but not up to the task. The male occupant will occasionally notice critters who are ‘getting into things’ and will open the door to scare them off. The other female occupant – a dog – seems not to notice or care, which is a far cry from the hyper, over-observant pup she once was. She has a much more zen attitude now, so she cannot be counted on.

Therefore, it is up to you.

End of job notice.

Hey, I’m not kidding. It’s Critter Central here. Last night I was standing right in front of the catalpa, camera in hand,  and to my shock, a skunk crossed the street and trotted right by me on his way to some destination in the woods behind the shed. I was so shocked that I was unable to get a good picture – just a blur.

By the way, isn’t the catalpa beautiful? The scent hits you as soon as you go outside. It’s sweet and heady and incredible.

Even with the torrential rains and winds and thunderstorms of a few days ago, there are still a lot of blossoms on the tree. Glorious. I’m so grateful I didn’t miss the blooms this year.

I was at Lowe’s yesterday and happened to notice this trellis – I believe it was called the Zen Trellis. It was only $18 and the clematis is now thanking me for getting it up off the ground. I should have done this earlier in the spring, but alas, I’m just now getting around to it.

I have to say, I love that splash of red.

Don’s night of filming went well. Like a dog who knows when it’s master comes home, I woke up in the middle of the night, noticed that Don was not in bed with me, and, two seconds later, heard the sound of the car coming up the driveway. It sort of freaked me out….

We spoke only briefly but he was happy and loved the experience, as he always does. I’ll find out more later, but he’s still sleeping at the moment.

More to do today in the garden; weeding, weed whacking, mowing. Time to start making lists for Don. Lists for me. Laundry. You get the picture.

Happy Thursday.