A-mouse Bouche

The more rain we have, the more frogs we see.  Last week, I saw one wedged between the glass panels on our front door!

I could juuuuust see his eye through a tiny slit. 

I was worried that he wouldn't be able to get out, so I raised the glass.  He still struggled to free himself and left a little bit of froggy debris behind, but was able to successfully hop off.

Claudia, too, proved that she was back to her old self by thoughtfully providing a mouse for our supper.

The rain and cooler temperatures have been amazing...

...but even these optimum temperatures haven't ignited my passion for gardening this year.  I don't feel passion for all of my hobbies all of the time...some I lose complete interest in for years, but I always come back to them eventually.  I've been so consumed with gardening in the past, but this year I feel nothing.  Perfunctorily, I planted seeds in containers and moved them to the empty holes in the row garden, but it seems that I infected them with my apathy.  Germination has been incredibly poor and I've struggled to get even "the givens" (sunflowers, basil, marigolds) to germinate.  Things that have germinated haven't grown much.  Is it the cooler weather?  The substandard soil I was forced to use when my reliable source was out of stock?  My attitude??  Whatever it was, I was nearly ready to give up and accept a weed patch.

Then, a miracle.  The garden...self-seeded.  Two full rows and probably another full row, in sections...all filled with annuals that had grown from last year's fallen seed.

I recognize celosia, and maybe...balsam camellia?  Ageratum?

Whatever it is, I don't care.  Truthfully, I don't even know what's in the rows that I planted myself this year.  I used old plant markers on the labels, and they promptly faded.  I've just been dutifully shoving green things into available spots.  I don't think I'm going to have a big, wild garden this year, even with all spots filled.  It's going to get down into the 40s tonight...in June!  Things just aren't growing well...but I don't care.  There's green, and the green isn't weeds.  Puny flowers make great bud vase bouquets.  And as soon as I get this pesky garden done (within 2 weeks?  I've had to repeatedly plant in order to get a few seedlings), I can forget it and move on to something that I really care about!  Hooray!  

Meanwhile, the perennial garden has filled in beautifully.  I keep thinking of the BEFORE picture:  

Now it's wild!

Wild blackberries/raspberries are ripening...

Every little thing is creeping or flying:

tiger moth

katydid nymph

great spangled fritillary 

Our apple tree is absolutely bursting.  A bumper crop!

Inside, a little baking...

the sandwich loaf I bake every week

cake for a friend

...and a little laziness.

Ahhh...summer!

Have a great week!  

mandible mouthful

 Beautiful warm mornings for hiking!

I love seeing the woods wake up.

red maple

rusty blackhaw

spicebush

silver maple

anemone ran.

senecio aus.

Sometimes, when looking into the woods, the woods looked back! Someone did, anyway.

white-tailed deer

Things are stirring everywhere!

american bullfrog

There's definitely plenty of water for frogs to play in.  :)

At home, I'm picking the last of the early daffodils and the start of the late daffodils.

I love bringing them into the house!

When I was out picking daffodils, I noticed that carpenter bees were bypassing the flower throats and stabbing directly into the nectar pod behind the petals.

You can see how short their tongues are...

That makes it difficult for them to penetrate tube-throated flowers, like daffodils.  Instead, they use their cutting mandibles...so helpful when they're chewing wood fibers...to cut directly into the nectar pod.  The flowers are still getting pollinated by other visitors...

northern paper wasp

...and the bees get the nutrition they need.  So interesting!

In other news around the house, both sugar snap and sweet peas are thriving and ready to go into the ground this week!

I'm getting some nice growth in the outside mini greenhouses, too.  If our weather remains above freezing for the next two - three weeks, AND if the forecast is positive, then I will be able to put out the summer flower seeds by the third week of April!  Hooray!  I've got a lot of great plans for the garden this year, shoulder permitting.

Have a great week!

fancy jump and beetle, plump

In the heat of the summer, the blister beetles come out.  They're a bit rotund (for a beetle, anyway), with a lovely matte grey body.  One can easily picture a monocle on their cartoon version, right?

margined blister beetle

If bothered, they secrete a chemical called cantharidin, which causes skin to blister on contact (hence the name).  "Spanish fly" is made from the secretions of European blister beetles!  Like the Japanese beetles that infested my garden for a week and then disappeared, these guys aren't around for long.  They are a bit of a pest in the garden, but I enjoy them quite a bit!

Our heavy dews lately are evident on this brown damselfly.

Look at that crazy wing spread!

Damselflies are similar in many ways to dragonflies, including some pretty creative nicknames (bogdancers, devil's darning needles).  Some damselflies lay their eggs underwater, and the nymphs breath through gills in their abdomens.  Fascinating creatures!

I disturbed this green frog while working in the garden last week. They are nearly identical in appearance at this stage to bullfrogs, so the identification is a little shaky.

Days have been hot and dry but high humidity (rain, finally, yesterday).  Mornings are delightfully foggy.

Deer are beginning to feast on our fallen apples, and any garden leftovers too.

I still see Warren every...single...day.  Warren must have a warren, because Claudia finally brought us a little gift this week.

Our fields are teeming with rabbits, but I suppose that every single catch helps!

Inside, kittens are wild.  Kittens are crazy.  Kittens are insane.  Between relentlessly scratching the furniture, knocking over plants, jumping on tables and counters, using Calliope's small upstairs litter box instead of one of the three provided downstairs (upstairs warm and full of fabric/yarn that could easily retain scent), stealing and dragging my nicknacks all over the house, playing in the toilet, scratching up our windowsills, carpets, and rugs...sometimes I am thoroughly done with kittens by their 9 p.m. bedtime.  Then I stop, breathe, and resolve to just lay down more sticky tape the next day.  They're so sweet at naptime...

So darling...and I was even inspired to take in Cat Video Fest 2022 this weekend!

Still, those kittens...I'm exhausted at bedtime but recharged/excited to see them in the morning.  They're growing quickly and I keep telling myself...just a few more months before they start to settle into adulthood!   I love their friskiness but I have to admit to a certain longing for peace and quiet.

Maybe next week!