cat-astrophes

So many interesting little dramas happening in the past week.  I noticed a big pile of ants on...something...in a porch beam.

It wasn't long before they completely extracted the mysterious white lump, and it fell onto the porch rail below.  It was an immature carpenter bee!

They face a lot of predators before they're fully mature, but we have so many of them around that I guess it's not too much of a concern.

And, in the back yard, I saw thousands and thousands of ants swarming on a log.

It's hard to get a feel for the scope from this picture, but there was about 4 feet of wood on the ground too, and every inch of it was crawling with ants.  Winged ants rimmed the stump edge.

They're called the St. Valentine ant, because of their heart-shaped abdomen.  Both sexually mature females and worker males have wings, but these are most likely females heading out for their "nuptual swarm."  They will mate and fly off to start new colonies.

Speaking of wings, Todd found the wings of a beautiful Cecropia moth on a walk last week.

More wings...look at this gorgeous red admiral!

And eastern pondhawk!

On our way to a walk this week, we saw that someone had hit a possum.  The next day, only a few bones remained...thanks to these guys.

We have so many turkey vultures here.  I see them every single day.

I love having them around.  They seem so dignified and stately!  And they do a great job of keeping our roads clean.  

Another kind of turkey is around nearly daily now, too...and in great numbers!

It's baby time!

The young goz are out in the field, too, but in smaller numbers.

Both gardens are blooming now, which are bringing the bees.

I have one more group of seedlings to get into the ground.

But that's it.  I've been astounded, truly shocked at how poor germination has been, even with the good soil.  I started ANOTHER group of seeds - sunflowers and zinnias, the world's easiest things to germinate.  Todd built a cattle panel enclosure to keep out the groundhogs.  I started to get some small seedlings in the sunflower container, but then a pounding rain destroyed them.  In my older sunflower container, I had 6 healthy seedlings...and something popped off their tops.  A few desultory zinnias came up, but insects quickly devoured the leaves and they died.  I'm done.  I've got these zinnias, toothache plants, and ageratum up by the house, where they're thriving.  They're going in the ground TONIGHT and then I am officially, 100% done with gardening for the year.  Woo hoo!  

I've been doing more baking...

healthy flourless peanut butter cookies

a three-fruit coffee cake to celebrate the 1st day of summer

...including cupcakes and a couple of cookie batches yesterday, for a get-together, that I didn't have time to photograph.  

We've also been dealing with ever-increasing cat problems with our two boys.  They look so innocent...

Barnabas

Frances

...but they've been absolutely tormenting our elderly cat...and we can't keep them separated, because Barnabas has freaky outward-turned hind legs that enables him to jump up to 8 feet.  He's cleared every single barrier that Todd has erected to keep him downstairs.  It's been a pretty stressful and chaotic week, but we're hoping that we have something figured out to help.  Fingers crossed.

At least our outdoor cat is not causing any stress!

I'm trying to take a deep breath on the porch swing whenever I need it.  Love the view!  

Have a great week!

a yummy mummy...

 A lot of help in the garden this week.

It's a busy, busy time.  First, we had a load of compost/mulch brought in.

Before plowing, the landscape fabric paths...now buried under multiple inches of dirt and plants with heavy, matted roots...had to be pulled up.  Tough, tough job.  

I'm so prone to migraines now that I don't dare do anything where I'm bending over with the blood rushing to my head, so poor Todd, still queasy from his tick bite meds, had to do the pulling...sometimes gagging from the nausea, but carrying on cheerfully.  He's a saint!!  💗

He also put up the cattle panels for my sweet peas...

...and laid the paths in the garden (more upside-down head work that I can no longer do).

I was able to power-wash the front porch (although Todd stained it)...

...and we're slowly getting the outdoor furniture and plants in place.  This half is mostly done and still working on the other side.

We aren't the only ones who've been active around here.  Every morning, I hear turkeys gobbling, and sometimes see them in the far fields...

The goz occasionally come back, even though we haven't gotten around to de-algae-ing our front pond yet.

Our chog has had babies!!

I hear the groundhog alarm whistle if I have to retrieve anything from the white barn, and I can watch them forage from my office window.  

They are very curious and sometimes I can see their little noses when I'm by their nest, poking and sniffing.

Hummingbirds are back!

I love the return of insects, too.  This teeny tiny spider (okay, an arachnid and not an insect, but still) on an opening peony, smaller than a pinkie nail (upper right side of bud)...

These guys are aphids who specifically attack dandelions, making them my very special garden friends, as I hate grubbing up dandelions over and over again.

Speaking of aphids, I originally thought the insect on this rose bud was a spider, with a mysterious hole in his abdomen.  When I looked closer, I saw antennae.

I did some research and discovered that this is a mummy aphid.  It was parasitized by an Aphidius wasp, who laid its egg via a sting about a week ago.  The larva hatched, ate, and grew.  The aphid swelled, then died as the now fully-formed wasp chewed an escape hole in its abdomen.  Pretty big drama going on right outside our front door!  

The kittens do a good job in watching for any other nature-related dramas near the house...sort of.

Have a great week!

  

lettuce get ready...

 It's crunch time!  Now we're reliably in the 70s and lower 80s, and I'm working just as quickly as I can to weed, mulch, and plant in the beds surrounding the house.  I'm 2/3 of the way through the largest bed.

From winter sowing, I have plenty of bachelor buttons, snapdragons, and nicotiana, and I'm flinging them into bare spaces as I weed.  I'm putting in 3 hours at a time and it's a lot of work.  My body aches, my fingernails are constantly black, my cuticles are dry and splitting from the gloves, and Todd picked the season's first tick off my back yesterday...but the work is moving ahead and I'm really pleased with the progress.

I gathered up my dahlia tubers from last year...cleaned them up...and put them in trays to see if any were viable.

This was a good sign...

After three weeks, several had sprouted. 

I cut the sprout, dipped it in rooting hormone, potted it up, and put it on my heat mat.  Ditto for the rest of the sprouts.  They're looking pretty limp right now, but hopefully they'll perk up soon and root.  I also planted my edible crop yesterday:  cantaloupe, zucchini, watermelon, peppers, 10+ types of tomatoes, and the herbs - all in small plastic containers, put on the heat mats.  Nice to get a head start on these for summer!  

Some nice things popping up outside...my lupine, which I winter-sowed years ago:

The cranesbill that I planted a few years ago in multiple clumps is growing really well too!  Nearly ready to pop!

Makes nice bouquets too.

I'm still seeing our possum every day, but no babies yet.

But we did have babies this week...goz!!  A nesting pair hung around our front pond for a couple of days.

I miss the goz from our South Carolina house - they came back year after year and weren't a bit afraid of us - so this was so nice to see.  After a day or so, they slipped into the stream that runs through the side of the property and headed for a new resting place!  I think that Claudia was watching them a bit too closely for their comfort.  She's the property manager around here!

Speaking of green and growing, I was cooking with cabbage this week and noticing how pretty the leaves were...

I am a HUGE fan of lettuce ware/cabbage ware.  I used to have some, but the pieces got broken with our multiple moves.  I'm dying to get a few pieces from this fancy set:

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

It's Dodie Thayer and costs tens of thousands of dollars...but it's so whimsical! Wouldn't it be fun to eat from these dishes?

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

The next level of affordability (Tory Burch) loses a lot of the whimsy, in my opinion.

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

The most affordable line (Bordallo Pinheiro) is flat-out wrong, from the color to the design...for me, anyway!

photo courtesy of Petit Haus

I'm still hoping to come across a few authentic Dodie Thayer pieces someday.  It would be just perfect for summer dining!

Have a great week!