48 :: Relax

Two female House Finches

I have to chuckle at these two. They have been hanging out for a while and no one has bothered them. I like that the animals feel comfortable enough in our yard to relax.

45 :: Partner

Squeaky has hardly left me the whole night, even if she is sleeping. Earlier she was running around and rolling on the floor. Now she will probably sleep till noon.

44 :: Dawn

It is getting light out again.

I looked back at what I wrote and was amazed I had a coherent thought and managed to write it down. I figured it would have looked like one of the cats walked across the keyboard again.

I am starting to hear the birds arrive for breakfast.

40 :: Waiting

Rocky waits

37 :: Edges

Kitchen

Sometimes I make photographs of very ordinary objects or situations.

Sometime I capture "happy accidents".

33 :: Sub

What more can I say?

I like Subway veggie subs.

Just add hummus and hot sauce.

32 :: Night Crew

North American Raccoon [Procyon lotor]

We have a wide range of ages in the current group. They will run if I am outside, but I can talk to them through the window screen and they do not seem to mind. There is one little one who will tap on the glass to get either my attention or the cat's. Most people probably consider them a nuisance, but they visit every night, eat the leftover bird food and move along. They have never gotten into trouble around here.

30 :: Safe

"Ladybug" [Coccinellidae family of beetles]

This wee one was desperately trying to crawl onto a floating half shell in one of the water stations. I saw it when I was putting more feed out, let it crawl on my finger and then to dry land. Poor thing was trying to use its wings to get on the shell. I am sure it dried out and flew on its way.

27 :: The Pots

The square pot is the chipmunk's favourite pot to dig in, which is why the round pot looks so much better. Next time I have to come up with a way to keep the chipmunks out and the flowers in. I am thinking of some kind of fencing.

26 :: Burst of Sun

Sunflower [Helianthus genus]

I feed my outside friends a mix of cracked corn and black-oil sunflower seeds. Some of the seed that is not eaten or carried away by the chipmunks actually grows into mini sunflowers. These seeds are very fatty, full of protein and easy to shell. I have had 15+ species of birds feasting in my backyard; typical day 7-9 species, returning all day.

25 :: Purple Replacements

Echinacea [Echinacea purpurea] aka: Eastern Purple Coneflower or Purple Coneflower

We went to a local nursery to acquire some replacement perennial's which were pulled out as weeds by my Mother's husband. I am still hoping to get some more perennials before the season is over.

23 :: Fresh Produce

Sweet 100's (aka: Cherry Tomatoes)

I love tomatoes! I should not eat them, but I do anyway. Every year I grow the same three varieties: Sweet 100's, Juliet Hybrid (like a sweeter Roma Tomato which grows in packs like the cherry tomatoes), and Sun ray (yellow tomatoes) for a total of nine plants. Since I do not always pick up tomatoes that fall on the ground, I also grow what I like to call "rogue" tomatoes. I only consider them "rogue" because they pop up, usually alone, in sometimes the strangest places, and until they start making tomatoes I have no idea what kind they are; lost count at 11.

Sorry, my tomatoes are not cage free.

22 :: Babies

Rose of Sharon "babies"

If you look closely, may not be possible in this resolution, but all the bright green "circles" are actually Rose of Sharon growing in the grass next to the veggie garden. The second photo is of the Rose of Sharon I transplanted into a flower bed (like I was talking about before).

19 :: The Backyard

1. Some of the forest and you cannot see the pathway anymore, nor the pond.

2. The Veggie Garden: lost most of the zucchini and yellow squash to the heat

3. The back of the house showing the "inner field"; where the flamingoes are never gets mowed.

18 :: Flowers

Top: Snapdragons [Antirrhinum genus]

Bottom: Salvia

I planted these in pots which sit just outside the porch windows. The chipmunks continuously dig in the pots and I am constantly either replanting them or filling in the holes.

17 :: Bath time

American Robin [Turdus migratorius]

I even notice the robins bathing in the sprinkler. They started a trend when other species finally joined in. It is the only bird that gets, or looks like it gets, as soaked as it appears in the bottom photo.

16 :: Rocky

This is Rocky. I could have ended it just there, but I will not. He is my shadow, my "rock-head", my boy. When he was a few months old and still outside he nearly drown in a dish of water because he had to get into the dish to drink, not just drink "normally" like the others. Well he only made it halfway into the dish, just enough to get stuck and tip head first into the water. His little legs could not lift his head above water. Luckily I was right there to intervene. Needless to say I had to modify the water dish. He also went head first down the sleeve of a coat when it was on the back of the chair. When I found him I had to undo the button on the cuff and let him out --- gently shake him out. He did not do that again either.

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I also apologize for the quality of some of the images. I make them low resolution so they will load on other computers better, but sometimes the image takes a real hit.

15 :: The Ladies

Top: American Goldfinch [Spinus tristis] - female

Bottom: House Finch [Carpodacus mexicanus]

I have nine feeding stations and three water stations for all my outside friends whether they come during the day or at night, fly or walk. I keep a log most days of the species and the number of individual birds that visit each day. Some species tell me when the weather is going to change because they are only around during certain seasons.

13 :: Gnome

One of my garden gnomes. This is not the one that was tipped over and a chipmunk started storing seeds in and was also inside of the other day.

12 :: Basil

Here is the basil plant that my Grandparents brought to us. My cat Rocky has already been a bad boy by first getting on the counter, and second by sniffing this plant with his teeth.