We don't need Wild Kingdom. We have a pergola.
PBS should start filming at my house. Things were pretty active this morning.
I should start by saying it cooled off overnight, and this morning (and, really, the rest of the day) was delightful. Low 60s means crack open the windows; it's stuffy in here with the AC not working that well. I went around and opened a number of them, including my bathroom window, so that when I was done with my shower, I could hear lots of mourning dove action outside. It was clear something was discombobulating them. It's because my father is a mean, mean man--he took down the hanging baskets and it was FREAKING THEM OUT. There were two of them, trying to figure out what to do. One kept hovering in the vicinity of the corner basket, as if to say, I know it was there, why can't I land on it?!? At one point it was even in one of the baskets on the ground, directly below where it had been hanging (several baskets are there--dad needs to replant them). The other dove is walking around on top of the table, occasionally stepping on something that makes noise. I see further movement and realize there's a chipmunk darting in and out of those baskets on the ground, digging holes, what have you. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, apparently.
I believe they were gone when I came down for breakfast, but I still had the door open. That's how I heard this odd sound, which ended up being a squirrel climbing down the lattice face first, trying to reach one of the baskets facing outside. Get out of there! Silly thing. These critter will find the baskets no matter what we do with them.
One other discovery I made was that, when I went to open one of the family room windows, I realized it was *open*--as in, no screen. Uh...that's a problem. It's something dad knows about, at least, but considering it's the easier window to open (it's hard to physically get to the other one), perhaps he could move the screen from the one to the other. They're the same size.
We'd also spent hours in the garden this weekend. It's been a few weeks since we were able to weed the front flower bed and it was full of green, but you could barely tell what was flowers and what wasn't. I spent 2.5 hours out there Saturday morning (we had plans that afternoon; you'll hear about them eventually), then 2.5 hours out there Sunday, with dad's help part of the time. Yep, it took five hours to pull those weeds, they were that prolific. We can now see the flowers, and it's easier to tell how big some of them are. Dad also bought multiple bags of mulch--he put a few bags in the back on Saturday, then I think 3.5 bags up front after the weeding. The mulch is red and really helps the flowers to stand out. Hopefully it'll also keep down the weeds. There's nothing sadder than spending several hours weeding one day, and the next, you spot more weeds where you'd been the day before. Sigh. We still have the rest of the front to tackle, plus the side and back of the shed, but every weekend we're doing something different. And, well, we're still better than this time last year--we couldn't even plant until the 4th of July, so we're definitely ahead.
I should start by saying it cooled off overnight, and this morning (and, really, the rest of the day) was delightful. Low 60s means crack open the windows; it's stuffy in here with the AC not working that well. I went around and opened a number of them, including my bathroom window, so that when I was done with my shower, I could hear lots of mourning dove action outside. It was clear something was discombobulating them. It's because my father is a mean, mean man--he took down the hanging baskets and it was FREAKING THEM OUT. There were two of them, trying to figure out what to do. One kept hovering in the vicinity of the corner basket, as if to say, I know it was there, why can't I land on it?!? At one point it was even in one of the baskets on the ground, directly below where it had been hanging (several baskets are there--dad needs to replant them). The other dove is walking around on top of the table, occasionally stepping on something that makes noise. I see further movement and realize there's a chipmunk darting in and out of those baskets on the ground, digging holes, what have you. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, apparently.
I believe they were gone when I came down for breakfast, but I still had the door open. That's how I heard this odd sound, which ended up being a squirrel climbing down the lattice face first, trying to reach one of the baskets facing outside. Get out of there! Silly thing. These critter will find the baskets no matter what we do with them.
One other discovery I made was that, when I went to open one of the family room windows, I realized it was *open*--as in, no screen. Uh...that's a problem. It's something dad knows about, at least, but considering it's the easier window to open (it's hard to physically get to the other one), perhaps he could move the screen from the one to the other. They're the same size.
We'd also spent hours in the garden this weekend. It's been a few weeks since we were able to weed the front flower bed and it was full of green, but you could barely tell what was flowers and what wasn't. I spent 2.5 hours out there Saturday morning (we had plans that afternoon; you'll hear about them eventually), then 2.5 hours out there Sunday, with dad's help part of the time. Yep, it took five hours to pull those weeds, they were that prolific. We can now see the flowers, and it's easier to tell how big some of them are. Dad also bought multiple bags of mulch--he put a few bags in the back on Saturday, then I think 3.5 bags up front after the weeding. The mulch is red and really helps the flowers to stand out. Hopefully it'll also keep down the weeds. There's nothing sadder than spending several hours weeding one day, and the next, you spot more weeds where you'd been the day before. Sigh. We still have the rest of the front to tackle, plus the side and back of the shed, but every weekend we're doing something different. And, well, we're still better than this time last year--we couldn't even plant until the 4th of July, so we're definitely ahead.