Monday, May 22, 2006
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...
Take one upturned lillie pot, nine very hungry and very large Koi and one medium size toad trying to sun himself on the lillie pot. The ride begins when you toss in a little Koi food around the lillie pot. Not very good for the toad but a good photo opportunity...
Saturday, May 20, 2006
I think I’ll call “our” cat Specter. Just when you think he’s gone for good we find him outside in the front yard bathing himself (as cats will do). And, then he’s gone again. He visited the junipers for several days and then disappeared.
Here he is dining on cat food. Yes, we really did have to feed him. How could we resist?
He wasn't too sure about eating at first and watched for us to "surprise" him.
The smell was too enticing though and he finally succumbed to temptation. (To give you some idea of his size, the light to the left is 10 1/2" tall.)
He's digging for something he missed.
Got it.
With dining complete it's time to clean the eating utensils.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
On about May 6th I painstakingly planted my vegetable garden. I had started many of the veggies from seeds in the green house in March so they were well established plants.
I kept the little “buggers” warm, watered and well tended until the first week of May at which time I took them out to the tilled garden plot and placed them in the ground. I planted four rows of sweet corn, three rows of tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, sweet bell pepper, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, watermelon, cantaloupe and spinach. I also planted radishes and carrots from seed.
I kept the little “buggers” warm, watered and well tended until the first week of May at which time I took them out to the tilled garden plot and placed them in the ground. I planted four rows of sweet corn, three rows of tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, sweet bell pepper, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, watermelon, cantaloupe and spinach. I also planted radishes and carrots from seed.
I must have worked half the day putting all the veggies in and the laying out the drip lines so they received the water they needed to continue to grow. I could almost hear the little plants singing… or maybe they were screaming, “Idiot!”
Two nights later (remember, this is MAY) the temperature got down to 28 degrees. Now, I like frozen vegetables but, this is not what I intended when I planted the garden. Needless to say, the only thing not affected by the frigid temperature was the radishes (seeds, remember?). I’m not even sure the carrots survived. Maybe they were afraid to come out. After that the weather continued to remain cool but not freezing.
Last Friday we planted Roger’s grapes and blueberries. That night the temperature got down to 27. One of the grape vines looks a little frosted but it looks like it will pull out of it.
I no longer trust the weather man who assured us that the temp would be no lower than the low 40’s (yea, right). As it turned out the temperature dipped down to a frosty 33 degrees that night. Lucky I covered the plants, huh? Now, five days later with temperatures soaring into the 90’s I’m wondering if I should start applying sunscreen.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Monday, May 01, 2006
We have a cat. I’m not sure just when we took ownership of the cat or the cat took ownership of us…what ever way that works. He may have been here for weeks and that would explain the absence of birds at the bird feeders. It also might explain all the feathers we’ve been seeing on the lawn. Or, he may have just arrived on the scene and the smaller birds were victims of the numerous raptors we have in this area. Anyway, he is quite large and must take offense at us standing outside the door saying, “Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.”
He (I say ‘he’ for a reason) looks like a domestic house cat; a very large domestic house cat. The photos just do not do him justice. Sitting in silhouette under one of the ever green trees gives us some indication that he probably weighs more than 20 pounds. Last night he had a ‘conversation’ with something (another cat?). From the tone of the yowling he was not happy. We’ve made several sightings since last week and recently he seems less and less elusive. Not that he will come up to us and rub our legs but he doesn’t disappear when we walk out the door.
We’re beginning to wonder if there might be a family of cats living in the hedge in front of the house. It surely must make the rabbits nervous having him as a neighbor. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen the rabbits in a few days either.
