A sudden, loud clap of thunder, directly overhead at breakfast this morning, sent Blackie skittering about the house with eyes like saucers.
She then hunkered down in the chair opposite and fixed a very cross look on me, as if it was my fault.
It’s not very nice to sneak up on us like that.
The smaller wildlife, however, didn’t appear to be disturbed. There is a great deal of activity on the milkweed. I have to do some investigating as I’m not sure what is the best way to care for these plants to offer the most benefit to butterflies and bees.
My mother would have said “those things are untidy, pull them out!” But I like the idea that I have so much happening right by my front door. I hope to see some Monarch Butterflies eventually.
When I took ownership of the house it was October and getting cold, and having just packed up all my worldly belongings and dragged myself cross-country, I was in no shape to even consider what might need attention in the garden.
There were some big green pointy things which seemed to me ought to be thinned out. Last year we only got blooms on one of these plants. So, at the end of the summer I got myself very hot and bothered and spider-bitten, thinning out these great spikey things.
Grant kept telling me that Nature would do its own thing. “After all, in the wild they don’t get thinned out.” What he said made sense, but looking at those plants gave me claustrophobia. They proliferate like mad and all try to grow out of the same bit of ground. Something had to be done.
So I struggled to make more room for them and see how pleased they are! I’m quite pleased too.
To my astonishment, the seeds I planted the other day are growing too. Not, of course, that I could tell you which seeds went where, but who cares. Those seeds were quite a challenge, as they were tiny little specks. They say you should space them 8 inches apart. They have to be joking. If I could actually see a single seed, I still wouldn’t be able to pick it up. The best I could do was coax a few out at a time. Then they fell to earth and who knows where they landed, so I scattered a bit of soil about and added water and gave them my blessing. I’ve never got seeds to grow before!
When Grant went out this morning, he had to use the side door because Willow and Colin were installed at the front. This was a most unusual event, that had to be photographed, because Colin does not share that space!
Normally, he plods up to the door and sits down, occupying as much space as he can manage and sending off whoever happened to be there first with a growl and a grunt. We shout “Colin!” to no avail. So seeing him sitting next to Willow, who he doesn’t much like….
What were they were talking about?
I went out to get pictures of the milkweed and as I looked back in at these two, the plot thickened with the arrival of Tinkerbell. She is a scratchy, irritable, unsociable little madam and she doesn’t just dislike Willow, she hates her. And vice versa. But there she was sitting meekly behind the other two….
Now, see that look she’s giving Colin?
Tinks and Colin shared a room for a long time in my foster home and they are like an old married couple.
There is a plot hatching.
I just know it.
Gorgeous kitties! Lovely post. Thank you!