I spent a lot of time right here this weekend. The weather was so gorgeous on Saturday and Sunday that I much preferred being outdoors. I sat on the glider and read. I swept and cleaned up the porch. I potted some plants. I did some tweaking to the Funky Patio. I added some hanging baskets.
This little girl spent some time with me on the porch. But she only lasts so long out there. She gets antsy. She has to ‘take care of business.’ She feels a push/pull. She always wants to go out there, but then she finds herself wanting to go back in the house.
But she does enjoy gazing out at the world.
This is one of the yellow flowers that I planted in the galvanized bucket that lives on the Funky Patio. I can’t remember the name, I’ll have to check on that. I fell for the look of the flowers and the silvery stems and leaves.
And one of the pink flowers in that same bucket – Gomphrena. There’s also some Sweet Potato Vine in there.
I’m going to try to get some shots of the patio and the porch this week. They’re looking pretty spiffy and are about as ‘done’ as they’re going to get. I tend to be very simple and somewhat spare with those spaces. A planter here, some potted plants, a splash of color, a couple of hanging baskets, some old cushions on the rusty glider. The star of the porch is the bluestone floor and the view of the gardens, so I let them take center stage. The Funky Patio is just that: cobbled together with some pavers, two wonderful chairs we found several years ago at a local antique shop, a wooden bench, the birdbath and some plants in barrels – funky.
I don’t have the budget to buy lots of pots and plants and garden decorations. I use what I have and am very frugal with what I buy. The fact is, after 8 years of gardening with perennials, I really don’t have to add anything to the garden beds. They, except for the ever-present weeding, take care of themselves.
I love this place. It’s never prettier than in the Spring, with lush green everywhere and gardens full of perennials. Yesterday, Don and I walked around the gardens and gazed at the plants and the trees and felt gratitude. Gratitude that we are here. Gratitude for nature’s bounty. Very, very grateful.
This morning I was opening the kitchen shades and saw the mama bunny with one of her little ones. That answers that question: the babies have been born. The little baby was sticking close to mom, getting tangled up in her legs, looking to her for guidance; so reminiscent to me of fledgling birds and their moms. Mom, however, was having none of it. I think it must be ‘find your own way’ time. I grabbed the camera but I only managed to get this one shot of the baby.
She’s no more than 4 inches long, about the size of a chipmunk. Later on, I saw her running across the grass outside the kitchen window, disappearing into the growth near the the nest – just a flash of her little white cottontail.
Adorable. No more weed wacking in that area for a couple of weeks, I think. I’ll have to research how long it takes for the babies to become full-grown.
See? Grateful.
Happy Monday.
So glad you had some time to relax and do some porch sitting. I wish I could squeeze in the time. Graduation is over so maybe this week :)
Hope everything went well, Dawn! Give yourself some free time this week – you deserve it!
Bunnies…how adorable. It’s a wonderful time of year and your porch looks so inviting. Give Scout a hug for me. Deb
I will, Deb!
I love baby bunnies. So precious. Your porch looks so inviting, Claudia. I would be out there, too. I haven’t purchased any flowers yet this year. Just no room in the budget, but I love walking around the neighborhood and seeing what other people have. xo Laura
I totally understand about budget restrictions, Laura!
So beautiful and Spring is just the best time. Love the bunnies!
hugs, Linda
That darned bunny is so cute!
It really is my most favorite time of year…getting in the gardens and getting dirt under our nails, the smell of that wonderful earth as it is worked, and the wonderful scent of grass being mowed. We had over 2 inches of rain yesterday, so we won’t have to haul water (or the hose) for a day or two, and that is nice. It is amazing to me what the rain does to the plants. I could water 2 inches, and things look about the same. But after 2 inches of rain, everything just pops!! Including, sadly, the mosquitoes and the humidity… can’t have one without the others, I guess!
I’m so glad you had time this weekend to enjoy your porch. We all need to do that ~ enjoy the simple things and moments which we could otherwise so easily take for granted.
I think we have rain on the way tomorrow, Chris.
Porch looks pretty…anxious to see more pics! Adorable bunny! We spent some time yesterday on the deck…in the shade. With the trees filled out, there’s a fair bit of privacy out there. You can here muted voices and laughter…but you don’t see anyone…nice! We all need that time to just commune with nature…bunnies and all! ;)
Amazing when all the trees are filled out. Just a short time ago, they were so bare!
I would love to it on your porch with a glass of lemonade or iced tea. Would you join me?
Spring is my favorite time of year. Everything is brand new. Possibilities are endless.
We were watching the woods last week making it’s Spring “green-up”. We had a bit of rain and the woods came to life! It is full now. The trilliums are just starting to bloom, and the for-get-me-nots are everywhere.
My husband’s daughter sent us a new table for outside. As soon as it stops raining we will be outside enjoying, and being grateful for the table and all of God’s beauty around us.
I love you funky garden. I am going to see about planning one for us.
Mosquitoes will not be invited.
Of course I would join you! Enjoy your new table, Trudy!
They are full grown and ready to have babies at around 6 months. When a rabbit has babies she seals them off in her tunnel in a nursery room to protect them from snakes. She only opens the seal once a day to feed them. They are in a nest of her own hair that she pulls out of her belly to make the nest to keep them warm. By about 3 weeks the bunnies are eating clover and greens and dashing in and out of the tunnels. They still get moms milk. The big surprise to me was to find out that when she has her bunnies, a male picks up the scent, and waits outside the tunnel for her to come out to eat. So as soon as she has her bunnies she is pregnant again. At 4 weeks old the babies are on their own cause mom already has a new bunch of babies.
Another surprise is if you start out with a pregnant cow, and a couple dozen pregnant rabbits, in 2 years you will have one young cow ready to butcher. I don’t recall how many pounds that would be. I do recall the rabbits. Tame rabbits have 10 to 14 babies at a time. I figured a 50% male/ female litter. Keep the females, butcher the males at 6 weeks which averages about 3 to 4 pounds per bunny. Every 30 days you have another batch. Keep the females. Add the males to the poundage of meat. In 6 months that first batch of females you keep are ready to breed. And your breeding stock multiplies every 30 days because you keep the females.
Now at the end of 2 years you have 1 young cow to butcher. 1500 pounds??? Or over a million pounds of rabbit.!!!!
Of coarse that only works on paper. And it leaves out the cost and time of building all those rabbit cages, which no one would ever be able to keep up with. Not to mention how cute those baby bunnies are.
Before I get angry email, I best mention we had a few rabbits that were pets. We kept the male and females apart until early spring cause we usually had a list waiting for Easter bunnies. The male was big, and was a cross between a checkered giant and a lop ear rabbit. All the bunnies were spotted like him. He reminded me of an old hound dog cause he liked to stretch out on the front porch.
Smiles to you.
Linda
I must confess I stopped reading the section about butchering cows and rabbits and resumed reading the final paragraph! I’m a passionate vegetarian, remember? Butchering anything? NO.xo
I researched this morning – babies leave the nest at about 3 weeks, when they have fur and their ears are erect and are about 3 – 4 inches long. Just like the bunny I saw this morning. We can see the nest from outside our kitchen. And we saw the mother pulling off her own hair to make the nest.
Oh no – Sorry, I did not remember. We did not butcher them either, we only bred them for pets around Easter and that was because so many people were asking for them. We gave each one with a booklet on how to house train and care for bunnies. It was to show how prolific they are, but to a vegetarian – (blush with embarrassment)
I will not be offended if you take the post off the comments.
Oh no, Linda, that’s okay.
We’ve been able to relax on our porch too; though a fan makes it a little bit more enjoyable!
We’ve not had mosquitos too bad…thank goodness. But I do love it out there.
Your porch looks cozy. I think I need to get some flowers for pots on the porch… once the flowers are gone on the veggies, I’ll barely have any!
Scout–she’s at that age, it’s hard to stay settled. ;)
Pat
Exactly. Even in the evening, it’s up on the couch – two minutes later, down on the floor – two minutes later, the water dish. She can’t find a comfortable place to settle.
Yes the weather has been wonderful and your pictures have just been lovely. Glad you are able to sit back for a bit and enjoy all the wonders. I have a bunch of little bunnies running around my yard also, they are all so cute! My cherry tomatoes are already coming in and I have more things to plant. Been laid off work so trying to get everything sorted. Life always throws you a curve, never a dull moment, but I was able to find a wonderful little rocking chair on curb alert this morning and went by and picked it up. So for all the rotten things that happen there is always a little surprise around the corner! Have a wonderful day ((hugs))
Sorry you are laid off, Nancy – that’s not a good thing! We are dealing with some setbacks at the moment as well. I understand!
I have 3 books about porches, so I guess I must love them too, huh? My own is only about 10 feet square and overlooks a parking lot, but is extremely pleasant nonetheless. I have 3 hanging baskets [geraniums and vinca vine] and several terra cotta planters with petunias and pansies. And every year 2-3 pots with cherry tomatoes that climb up green wire trellises. Every year I wait for that moment when the first tomato is ready to pluck, perfectly red and ripe. If it’s a sunny day, when you take that first bite, you get warm tomato sauce in your mouth. Yummo! PS – word of caution – my sister’s Golden Retriever – who had never exhibited any “feral” behavior before [or since] once gobbled up a baby bunny he unexpectedly found in my brother’s backyard, so you may want to keep a weather eye on Miss Scout. Although I’m guessing Scout would just round up any bunnies she finds and herd them back into their nest. :>)
Hi, staying present is my struggle, I tend to dig up the past or imagine the future, forgetting that the present is all anyone has. Although I am getting better at it every day, things still sneak in to take away from the here and now. Have you ever read any of Ekhard Tolle ‘s books? I am not a particularly religious person but he has some really profound insights into living life in the present and being grateful. Ciao, xxoo
Janet – I don’t think Scout is a threat – it would be really hard for a bunny to get in the dog corral because the grass is so enmeshed with the bottom of the chicken wire after all these years. I do keep a pretty good eye on her when she’s outside and she’s only ever in the corral. But I’ll make sure any openings that might be trouble are secured.
Yay!!! I get your blog again!!! Now my morning is back on track::))) Teasing. I stayed in touch by “clicking”, but it’s not the same as having you greet me everyday in my inbox.
I have a pet rabbit. She is spayed, because they are prone to cancer and live very short lives if not spayed or neutered. She is in a huge run outside, and comes in at night. She’s super tame and is liter box trained.
I hope you are doing ok with the passing of your mom. I confess to being a “skimmer” so forgive me if you mentioned it and I didn’t see it or read it’s entiety. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through.
Thanks for your wonderful blog. You are back:):):):
Really? It’s being delivered again? Great! I knew that Yahoo and sbc global were still not delivering, but that means sbc is sending it again. At least for now. Warning, it may be hit or miss!
I always love seeing photos of your porch, AND the fUnKy patio :) And even with things to worry about, I appreciate that you focus on the positive. An attitude of gratitude is an awesome thing! On my living room wall I have the words, “there is always, always, always something to be thankful for”, I truly beautiful that.
Yes – though sometimes it’s hard to find it!
Oh most definitely! Hang in there :)
The rabbit family is lucky to have you watching over them.
I worry about the neighbor’s cats – they are often roaming the property.
I love this time of year, too. I just did a similar post about our patio. Sometimes I will take a book of poetry out there with me in the morning with my coffee…or I take a novel and my water or iced tea out there in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes have just come out here big-time, so being out there in the evenings is more of a slapping game. I love that you’re not weed whacking because of the bunnies. You’re my kind of lady. :-)
The weeds are getting pretty tall, but I won’t touch them for another 10 days or so.
Hello there, Claudia. That yellow flowering plant might be a tansy. I’ve been enjoying all of your photographs, as always. The picture of Scout, gazing intently through the porch rails, is perfect. Is she looking for that wascally wabbit?
Wow Claudia..it’s amazing how you made those flowers pop out of the pictures..you have gotten quite good at that type of photo taking..I forget what you called it..I wish we could skip Summer and have two seasons of Spring..It is just a wonderful time of year..Gratitude is a word we all need to think of more often including me..Gratitude for what we having and not so much wanting what we don’t have..I have wondered if you had any baby bunnies yet..what a little cutie..
Hi Claudia,
I have found that Gomphrena dries beautifully. I once grew a long row in my garden of this in all pretty shades of pinks, purples, and white.I picked them and hung them upside down with there stems tied together in bouquets. They were so pretty. They remind me of clover blossoms.
Your little bunny is so cute. We had one run into the garage the other evening….when we closed the door, we hoped that there weren’t any more in there.
Balisha
Ahhhha… Springtime and sunshine. Savor the moments.
Sweet bunny – until it starts nibbling your pretty plants!!! Has Scout seen it yet?
Love your porch – perhaps we can sit on the glider enjoying a nice chat one of these days!
Off across the pond this evening – will try to keep in touch if Internet is available.
Have a lovely June – it’s such a splendid month before the real heat and humidity of Summer kick in.
Hugs – Mary
Your view is a breath of fresh air. I’ve always wanted to have such view from my porch, it’s like nature is greeting you a good morning. Have you considered fencing your garden so bunnies won’t eat your plant?