“Have you seem my lady love, Zoomer?”
“No mate. I’m just eating corn.”
“Oh! I hear her calling!”
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Playing it cool….
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“For goodness sake! Are you just going to stand there?”
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“Do that grovelling bit again.”
“I liked that.”
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All too soon the Flicker couple flew off.
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Shortly after, a skunk turned up.
Exquisite creature.
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Displaying its tail like a runway model.
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This one visits often lately.
Probably a mother seeking nourishment.
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After 5 years of poor performance due to late frosts, the lilac bush seems recovered.
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As well as equipment malfunctions and wonky eyesight, Summer adds another challenge to my photographic efforts.
Bugs. They too are thriving.
It’s not just that they are annoying. It’s that they seem to find me a particularly tasty target and their bites bring me up in large itchy welts.
Grant provided a net that fits over a hat, which helps a lot although the little swine get themselves caught up in it and come indoors with me.
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Which brings me to the problem of keeping bugs out, given that twice a day various doors are left open for the convenience of pussycats.
My preference has always been to keep them in because bad things can happen to cats that walk abroad.
Back in Washington, in proximity to busy roads, any cat allowed out for a walk had to be safely in a harness. Here, roads are not an issue.
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Nevertheless, it makes me nervous when cats are out, which is why a door (or two) gets left ajar.
(The notion being that if they come to a closed door they will leave permanently rather than wait!)
The alternative to open doors is for me to sit in a chair playing doorman, keeping an eye out for when the little dears return.
Which it may come to, but usually the walk is concluded in about 15 minutes. It’s a matter of persuading other parties to not leave additional doors open…
Poor little kitties must have options!
Methinks they already have too many.
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My new head gear gives me the option of being out and there is always something that needs photographing.
PlantNet identifies this as bittercress.
The iPhone does not recognise me with the hood on but tapping in my code is not a problem.
Trying to determine whether a frame is in focus or even lined up, that is a problem with a mesh hood.
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Never mind. These are annoyances, not problems and small ones, at that.
Up near Scooter’s burrow, honeysuckle.
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Most honeysuckle is invasive which I did not know till we moved here.
It grows everywhere, rapidly.
Unchecked, it takes over.
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Last Fall Grant spent a lot of time fighting it.
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In Washington I must have had one of the few varieties that is not invasive and I was at pains to keep it alive.
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Especially after a tree fell on the fence where it grew.
That garden in Washington State was no place for a complete amateur. Mum would have knocked it into shape in a matter of weeks.
She would have said I had a poor attitude.
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When I witnessed the devastation wrought upon my hostas by slugs, I went in search of a means to discourage them.
Slugs do not like copper, so I did my best to surround my plants with copper tape. There were plenty of other food options for them.
Potted plants can be protected this way. Not so, plants in flowerbeds.
Mum would have applied one of her foolproof methods, but I could not and soon I was going out of my way to protect the slugs.
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Several times I was stung by wasps. On one occasion my hand blew up like a balloon but I figured it was my fault for getting in their way.
Half of that property was on a very steep, ivy-covered slope. The woods were full of beautiful ferns and in Spring trillium grew there.
My successes were few but I celebrated them. A plum tree bore fruit, as did a grapevine I rescued. I planted Japanese maples and they were beautiful.
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After I left, the property was completely made over. That small little green pocket that had offered refuge to wild animals and so many birds, became home to a children’s playground.
The house itself, from photographs I saw, was robbed of any character and seemed anti-septic, but I could not stay there.
The memories come, quite often and many are very nostalgic, but time moves ever on.
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This, I believe is chokecherry)
It’s always difficult going back to see a property, and particularly a garden, once you’ve left there!
I’m sure you’ve considered it, but a cat door works.
Oh I’ve thought about it just don’t know where we could install it in this particular house. Also, we’d have to get the cats to agree. They are very set in their ways.
Installation issues aside (easy for me to say), I have found cats remarkably adaptable when it comes to getting their way. especially in and out of the house. Of course, being about to lock it down is also key.
I did install a cat door when I lived in Duchess County. cats adapted etc. But i ended up locking it down because ticks and coyotes. Different story on Long Island
Love the conversation between the Flicker couple! Your lilac bush has not only recovered, it’s like the summer bugs — it’s thriving! My honest opinion about your thought that the cats will disappear permanently when they come to a closed door: I don’t think that for one second because they know where cat paradise is – they will wait for that door to be opened!
I was going to ask why you had no cat-flaps in the doors, but Josie beat me to it. From what I have seen, even the most stubborn cat will eventually use them once it wants to get back inside to eat or sleep. Slugs like beer, so bowls of cheap beer around affected plants will attract them and stop them from eating your garden. They die drunk and happy! https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/insects/killing-slugs-with-beer.htm
Best wishes, Pete.
Yes, my mum sent many away happy!
I had a dog door which also became a cat door when I began having cats too. However due to the cats it also became a baby rabbit, a snake and various birds door. So when our dog days ended, that door was closed. I now spend my days in retirement as cat butler.
Car butler…yes!