“Oh, it’s all right!” he cried,
“I’m quite alive. Just dust bathing!”
This was the baby thrasher in the driveway, on the last day there was actually dust rather than mud!
Dust and weeds, as you can well see. But pulling them up is a pointless waste of time.
Not that I don’t, occasionally lean down and yank one out if it particularly offends me.
The thrasher doesn’t appear often, but it’s a lovely bird.
It rushes around beneath the hedges searching for bugs and always seems to be in a hurry and very serious!
This little chap stood out last night, among all the other LBJ’s, the sparrow swarm that has returned to hang out in the bushes, waiting for rare moments when one of the furred creatures allows them access.
This one, according to my research is a song sparrow.
It resorted to pecking what seed it could find in the grass.
Whoever thought groundhogs would eat birdseed?
The babies have latched on to it now and when the bunny innocently hopped by, the greedy child arched it’s back and stuck out it’s tail. “Mine!” It said.
“Well that’s not very friendly!”
Groundhogs are a menace to gardens and if I had nearby neighbours, this sort of thing would have to be discouraged, being the civic-minded person that I try to pretend I am.
As it is only my garden that gets ravaged, things continue…
Recently a raccoon has been stopping by each night to see what leftovers there might be.
The first time I saw her, June 12th, she had a face-off with a skunk. Which was a bit smelly.
The skunk seemed to have won the argument, but at the end of June she must have moved to greener or less crowded pastures and when next I saw the raccoon, she was all wet and grovelling among the discarded sunflowers shells…..
Well… Not much I can do about the weather…
To defend my phlox against baby groundhogs, I had placed two in pots, safely on the garden table.
Safe until yesterday. Some creature that is either tall (my guess) or can jump, dug it’s way through the pot on the left, while we were out.
So the remaining phlox are now in a cage.
Never has a plant been so thoroughly abused.
Earlier in the year, when food was still scarce, some hungry creature chewed the new shoots off my little hazelnut tree.
It was a pathetic little twig when it arrived from Arbor Foundation, two years ago. We planted it hopefully and kept monitoring it and trying to encourage it.
This year it seems to have established itself and soon I will have to find a permanent residence for it.
Last year, Grant got help to move the little maple to a better location. It survived the move and is thriving down in the field.
My care may be a little haphazard, but I do try to keep things alive and happy.
You sure do have a lot of opposition to your gardening!
Call them my excuses!