park larks and pack stacks

We've had nearly nonstop rain for the past two weeks, and another week of rain is forecast.  It's been great for flowers...

...pretty spiderwebs...

...and especially fungus.  I believe this is called Witch's Butter, but I think it looks like an image of magnified mold!

We've got the usual slime molds...

...and dog vomit fungus.

The rain is relaxing, especially after the hectic spring we've had.  Our lives have had a little bit of this lately...

(waiting out a showing with the pets in the park)

...because of this!

Yes, we've put our house up for sale and are leaving South Carolina.  We have been talking about what's important to us - a network of good friends, proximity to great hiking and kayaking, four seasons, a town that's progressive and inclusive, somewhere with a lot going on and many ways to get involved.  South Carolina doesn't really check any of those boxes for us, but Bloomington, Indiana hits them all.  Todd lived there for a decade while attending Indiana University and we loved it.  Now that we're in our 40s and looking to improve our quality of life for the long term, settling there just makes sense. 

So back in March, we started packing up the house.

We filled two storage units...

...and are living in a fairly empty house now!  The empty house isn't so bad, but we've had several "Murphy's Law" events.  First, the improperly-installed back living room windows were bowing out more and more, so we had to have the entire wall of windows removed and rebuilt.

Next, an interior pane of glass in one of the guest bedroom doors experienced "spontaneous breakage" from, most likely, improper installation...fifteen years ago.  It's the door on the far left...

...which, close up, looks like this.

Eight glass-repair companies later, we've discovered that since these four doors were installed as a single unit, it may be impossible to separate them.  Meaning that this entire wall would have to be removed, trashed, and replaced with a new wall unit of doors.  It's a multi-thousand dollar repair and we're still hoping to find a contractor that can replace just one section of door. 

Besides these (and many, many other) professional repair jobs, we've also rolled up our sleeves and:  scrubbed and painted the trim and bookshelves throughout the entire upstairs, scrubbed and spot-painted walls, repainted interior and exterior kitchen cabinets, refinished the gas fireplace, did wall and floor repair in the basement, and a whole host of other jobs that just blur together for me now.  March, April, and May have been pack and clean, pack and clean, pack and clean.  The house was listed a little over 2 weeks ago...we've had some great showings...and just waiting for an offer. 

The cats miss the boxes...

...but they'll have an opportunity to frolic in them again once we sell the house and pack up our remaining things! 

Have a great week!

our fowl-weather friends

We found a tiny park not too far from our house that has the strangest-looking ducks.

They're called Muscovy ducks and are apparently wild and spreading in the south, just like Canadian geese.  They're wonderful domesticated, though - friendly, and practically eating their weight in mosquitoes and flies every day!  And the ducklings...

...pretty cute.  We also saw black ducks.

Feeding time was highly anticipated.

A nice group of ducks!

Meanwhile, our goz at home are growing and growing.  Their parents are taking them out of the water more, ranging far into the yard for tender greens.

Our youngest group has gone from six to four, but the older ones have stayed steady at three.  They're starting to get their first feathers, right at the tips of their wings.

I love watching them grow!

Another exciting discovery in the pond this week:

I watched this aquatic bird bob and dive for fish for quite a while.

Anyone who read Island of the Blue Dolphins as avidly as I did as a kid would understand how delighted I was to discover that this was a cormorant!  I loved reading about Karana and her skirt of cormorant feathers (incidentally, that book was based on a real-life woman who was found alone on an island off the California coast, Juana Maria).  Apparently there's been quite a scandal about cormorants here in South Carolina.  They are so adept at out-fishing local fishermen that a federal law was passed, allowing hunters to slaughter tens of thousands a year.  In 2014 - 2015, over 25,000 were killed.  Thankfully, enough of an outcry ensued to gain attention, and the law was suspended until further research can be done. 

I'm still seeing lots of familiar birds...

...included a very persistent pair of house finches, who daily try to build nests in my hanging ferns.  We have nesting boxes all over and plenty of small shrubs and trees, so they have endless places to make their nests.  We have so much activity through the front door that it is just too disruptive for them, so I take out their nest foundations.  They're quick.  They can build a nest in an afternoon, and I have to catch them before the female lays eggs.  If she does, we have to leave the nest alone.  So I'm trying to keep an eye on it! 

Something else we're watching out for...Clotilde!  She has shown up for breakfast and supper daily for months.  She's not one to miss a meal...

...but I haven't seen her for several days.  The perils of an outdoor cat are many - stray dogs, coyotes, foxes, cars.  I just have to hope that she's all right and is spending time at someone else's house right now.

Have a great week! 






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snake double take

With the temperatures climbing into the mid-90s every day, I'm trying to do my prowling around the property in the mornings.  I haven't seen the little fawn, but evidence of its existence is evident in the daytime pacings of its mother.

It's rare to see a solitary deer in daytime, unless there's a baby about!  Meanwhile, our goz are playing coy.  Most of their time is spent at the far end of the pond.

But sometimes they'll come by for a visit.

Six is now five, but we still have three older goz in our other group.

Meanwhile, we have a lot of other activity.  A turtle traversed our driveway on his way to the pond...

...and an anole watched me from a fence post.

Another snake slithered by as I walked the pond edge.

It looked like a copperhead at first, but I then verified that copperhead markings, while similar, have an hourglass shape. 

This was a non-venomous banded water snake.  Harmless!

Someone didn't make it...

Of course, the outdoor cats that we feed are usually around, getting into some sort of mischief!

Our indoor cats are somewhat less active.

Borga, however, watches everything with taut-nerved attention.

Have a great week!

empty nest syndrome

Every couple of days, I've been peeking into the house finch nest in our front porch fern.  Normally the babies just stare at me, and I replace the fern quickly.  But last week, I noticed a lot of activity.  Birds were standing and stretching in the nest...

...and the parents were hovering nearby, making a lot of noise.

I decided to investigate.  When I peeked inside the nest, there was a moment of startled silence before the babies exploded out in different directions.  I checked the ground around the fern, but they were all truly airborne.  I was afraid that I'd frightened them into prematurely leaving the nest, but after a little reading discovered that once they can fly, they're fine.  I'm just left with their feces-studded nest.

Yuck!  This fern went straight into the trash.  But speaking of empty nests...

That's right!  The nest I've been watching has been vacated.  Now we have an additional six goz!

They were so tiny and continually stumbled as they tried to walk.  Even though the weather was warm, they rushed to squeeze under mama's wing.

They tend to stay on the other end of the pond, where the bank has a gradual slope and they've got lots of grass.  Our end has a more angled bank, and lots of ivy and wild ajuga.  Hopefully I'll see them once they get a little older.  Of course, our original three goz are still around!

An old familiar face is making an appearance...the southern toad!

And another unseen friend:

Nearly unseen in the underbrush at our property edge: a newborn fawn, just a few hours old!

Mama was nearby, hovering nervously.  I moved away quickly to minimize their stress.  So sweet!  Later, I stumbled on another newborn in our front flower bed!  Tis the season!

Tabitha keeps a close eye on things from her usual perch.

Nothing gets by her.  Have a great week!