Spring 2014

I ran up to the house in order get a few things ready for spring, like getting garden hoses out of the basement and turning on the outside water spigots. The temperatures are running in the low 60's during the day and mid 30's at night, so when I get here after dark I love whipping up a hot fire to take the chill off the house...and I mean hot!

No, Benji is not hiding from the wood stove. I'll sit in the white chair while watching TV and every time I go to get up, he is under my feet! Finally I tried moving his bed under the end table near where I sit and now make him lay there...stay out of my way, good boy Benji.

Still polluting the air trying to get rid of the left over deer feed.

My buddies have not abandoned me, although I think in a month or so it'll be "fawning" time and I expect the mothers will be more skittish.

This might be the deer's perspective while licking its lips thinking about how to get to Donna's tulips, a favorite of the deer. We tried planting vegetation that can be harmed by the herd behind a fence while letting the rest grow out in the yard.

It is Sunday, so I'm wearing my "Sunday best" outfit while working in the yard. I have used the typical cylindric tomato cage years ago and still have a couple in the garage but found an alternative  recently at a farm store. It is a triangle shaped cage, which doesn't sound that different but because it anchors with five legs instead of three... it should be much sturdier.

While it was hard to photograph, if you look closely you see a triangle shaped one and two triangle ones put together to form a rectangle. The rectangle would be great for tomato's, beans or even summer squash. Now when you join two singles to make the rectangle it has ten legs...more than enough for support. They are $2.99 each at "Big R".

I also hung a couple of "begonia" baskets in the front entry and two on the back patio. I have never tried this before but since I have 14 begonia tubers growing in pots I need a place for them. The two plastic yellow thing-a-ma-gigs are wasp and meat bee catchers. They had a bad summer last year here with these pesky little buggers, so we are trying to be proactive!

Time for the little critters. 

Here a male Northern Flicker drums constantly during the day on this old birdhouse, probably bragging to other males that he already has a mate. He never seems to hurt the house but must like the hollow reverberations that are produced by his beak. Take note of his "blurry" tail, I'll mention it later.

I'll accept all donations towards a better lens...haha 

We get plenty of California Quail coming through the yard at certain times of the day...and all winter too. Not too sure why they are called California Quail seeing that we are about 700 miles from California's most northern border?

I did see a good used lens that is only $7000, just saying :-0

Here is the same male Flicker utilizing a "quality" bird house for he and the little lady. I took a look in and they have dug a tunnel down towards the bottom further than I can see. 
The "tail"?
I have noticed in other photos that they use their tails as push bars, if that's the correct term. It looks like they exert pressure with the tail to get more power to the beak?

This area between the garden and fence was knee high in weeds when we bought the property. I sprayed a broad leaf control on it and then laid down some fresh straw to keep any growth from taking root...and to make it easier for the deer to walk around the garden, drooling! ☺

That's it for this blog..stay healthy.