We’re swinging

I shall not be typing a lot on this post as I have had an industrial accident whilst deadheading the candytuft.   Apparently the garden gods and goddesses felt the need for a blood sacrifice and it took the form of pruning my left pinkie.   I now sport a slash that goes right throughmy finger from top to bottom approximately half a centimeter long right next to the nail but not involving it, which is now wrapped up and protected from bumping, which I kept doing all day yesterday.   Anyway, it seems to be healing well, but the bandage has severely hampered my usual typing facility.

The interacion with Ruby and Mallory is still going on.   They have inveneted a couple of games, one is a tag game which would only be cute if there was video.  The other game is “Kill the Tail on the Doggy”  which goes a lot like this.   Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, but the animals are distracted by the flash and stop what they are doing if it goes off.

I did indeed get a new garden swing for my birthday.  It required assemblage, and since I was hors de combat, our lovely young niece helped Jim do the job.   Of course, like a proper Virgo, he had everything laid out neatly in preparation for the job.

The team at work, gesturing appropriately as models should do.

A different gesture was made when the problem below was discovered.

Oopsy, the arms are on upside down.  That seat wouldn’t be that comfortable for long.  After rectification. . .

Ummm there was another problem too.   The final bolt tightening exemplified why cheap stuff from China is sometimes a trial and tribulation.   One of the bolts sheared off before it was tight.   So, the old bolt had to be drilled out of the hole, and an extra trip to the hardware store made to acquire a nut and bolt that would go through the whole shebang.

The instructions and the package claim that all tools necessary for assembly are included in the package.  All of them except the carbide drill, the drill driver and the clamp made necessary by the poor quality hardware.

Ruby thought the whole process was boring in the extreme, but at least no one was killing her tail.

The jumping spider who lives in the plant light area was over getting a drink in the kitchen sink the other day, and I almost drowned her before I realized what was going on down there.   She left in a huff.

Out in the asparagus patch, there is a very young argiope that has set up housekeeping.   This spider is about 3mm long.  She had successfully caught an asparagus beetle that was larger than she was.

On the pond, a fishing spider.   This one is cool because when you disturb her she dives under the lily pad, taking a bubble of air with her trapped in the hairs of her abdomen that she can breathe from for 20 minutes or so.

Well, my folks are coming to dinner along with my little sister to continue celebrating my birthday.   So I believe I shall take my finger away from the keyboard and give the dog a short walk.

I am amazed how much the left hand problem has affected my right hand typing.   Weird.

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Fanfares

It is my birthday today, I will be 58 officially shortly after dinner time.

The day began quite early, as it is a work day for Jim, so we got up at our usual pre-dawn arousal time of 4:30 a.m.   After we had a bit of coffee, and before he left for work, he took me out to present my birthday present to me.  It wasn’t really a surprise, since he asked me what I wanted and he has a tendency to get exactly what I ask for.   It is a new garden swing, to replace the one he got me about 10 years ago, which the squirrels have been mining for polyester batting with which to insulate their nests.

He gave it to me that early because it was in the bed of the truck, and he knew that I was going to be taking Ruby for her walk very early on in the day, and he wanted to see my pleasure.   When he gets home from work, we’ll probably set it up.

I did go off to walk the dog, it was a pleasantly cool morning with a nice breeze, so the mosquitoes weren’t too bad.   Sunrise was not particularly colorful, but the presence of storms in the area made the light very interesting.

Came across a box turtle making her way into the meadow for her breakfast.   I could swear she was telling me “Happy birthday.”

So we had a lovely walk, and returned to the house to find that there was a fanfare of lilies out in front.

Not to be outdone, the Little Mouse Ears hostas in back were also trumpeting a welcome to the dawn.

A passing monarch butterfly stopped for a portrait.   She continued on over to the milkweed patch in the Petite Prairie for breakfast.

The echinacea around the place are looking quite splendid today.   I think they enjoyed the artificial rain they got yesterday.

I have to get out there and provide a similar service for the vegetable garden today, before we head off to the birthday party.   It isn’t for me, it is for a good friend of ours who shares a birthday with me (and my cousin, for that matter!).   He will be 60 today, and I’m sure he will be receiving some very silly gifts from our friends.  I intend to give him a very cool fossil, which is something he will like a lot but will also carry a “message” of sorts!

Thanks for stopping by today, hope your day is as good as mine is sure to be.

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Photohunt: Triangle

The photohunt today is “Triangle”.   I had to search long and hard for a suitable image to post, but I did find a fine set of triangles in the frost flower that formed on my pond last winter.

You can find other Photohunters here.

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It’s the Ruby and Mallory show. . .

Things are progressing in the Ruby and Mallory relationship.   I have no photographic evidence of this, largely because most of this activity takes place at night in poor light conditions.

But, Ruby has decided the Mallory is a “good thing”, and they have begun playing together in a very charming way.  Ruby has a big orange ball that sort of looks like a tennis ball and has a squeak.   Mallory thinks that ball is just right for wrassling with.   The other night, Ruby was a little jealous because Mallory was getting all this attention, and she brought her ball to us.   So, we were multi-tasking, making the string work for Mallory while throwing the ball for Ruby.

Ruby brought the ball back and dropped it, and Mallory attacked it.   After she kicked it away during one of the wrestling “falls”, Ruby picked it up, and then delicately dropped it again and nudged it with her foot so it rolled over to Mallory.   Pounce!   Mallory was on it again, and Ruby watched benignly at the ball being “killed” until Mallory kicked it away again, towards Ruby.   Ruby pushed it back. . .  They also play chase games, which are very exhilirating for Mallory since there is an element of danger in them.

We have also witnessed Mallory running up to Ruby as she lies with her head on her paws, wrapping her little cat arms around that big head and washing that large expanse of forehead.  Ruby looks slightly confused, and Mallory stops washing after a few licks and sort of makes a “that’s a lot of hair” face.

Meanwhile, the gardens are growing.   We are having to water quite a lot, as it is very hot and dry right now.   Not looking forward to my water bill with much pleasure, I’m afraid.

Managed to bruise my wrist rather badly the other day.  The occasion was a demonstration of how to apply elbow grease to wall washing activities so as to actually remove the dirt from the wall.   Unfortunately, I forgot about the little edge of counter top that was extending onto the wall about halfway up, and came in contact with it in “full elbow grease” mode.

I found time to make an art journal page…

I cropped and posted this picture of spiderwort a few days ago.   This morning as I was examining the image, I realized that in addition to the tachnid fly I was interested in, there was another bit of wildlife occupying the spiderwort.   Check out the little green crab spider that is lurking to the left of the pollinator.

I think it is interesting that I cropped and uploaded that image and never noticed that spider until several days later.    How things can hide in images and your subconscious is fascinating!

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June news

I suppose this is a pretty common opening gambit here at The Havens, but a lot has been going on around here!

I have gotten to the point where I am starting to wonder when, if ever, I will have time to open my art journal again.   The garden is growing apace, and I really ought to be out there picking peas rather than making a blog post.   But I was out near the pond this morning early and discovered that the mosquitoes are rather fiercely hungry this morning, and before I spend a lot of time in the garden I want to put more clothes on.

Besides, I really feel like I need to make a post.

What I did find as I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes is that the spiderwort is particularly beautiful this morning.

There was a tachnid fly pollinating this group.

Pursued by the swarm of buzzing blood suckers, I visited the Hosta Dell, where I discovered a basking dragon fly.

Some of the small sedums are blooming too.   These flowers are right around 3 mm in diameter.   So darned cute.

I stopped at the swamp milkweed, which has recently come into full bloom.   There I found my honeybees busy at their pollinating and nectar collecting chores.

For some reason, they seemed mellower than usual, allowing me to come in close for some shots.   This made me curious, so I went to look at the hive, and discovered that they were milling around smartly on the front of it.

I’m thinking that they may be getting ready to swarm, and if they are I am not ready for that eventuality.   I was hoping to have a hive available for them to move into, but we’ve been occupied elsewhere for the past three weeks.   We are mentoring the niece Zoey who moved here from Iowa a few weeks ago.   That seems to be going well.  She is quite a bit of help around the house and garden.  The rental house went vacant a few days ago and she is helping get that ready for renting again.

See?  There isn’t enough to do around here, now I am thinking of establishing a colony of bees that I can tend when I’m not weeding. I need to have my head examined, I suppose.

Meanwhile, out in the front garden the lilies are blooming beautifully.

So far we have picked over 6 gallons of strawberries from the raised bed and frozen them, while eating as many as we care to.  That was a great thing we did, building that bed.

And we still have a terminally cute Mallory tearing around the place terrorizing Ruby, who is not really sure what she thinks about her new role as playground equipment.

Things will get better around the time that kitten learns to keep her claws in when she plays.  Also, she is teething right now, so she feels the need to chew any and every thing, including Ruby’s toenails, which apparently is not really something that Ruby really wants to participate in.  Also, Ruby has developed the strong opinion that it is high time Mallory got weaned, so there is a certain strain in the relationship at present which will pass soon, I imagine.

Meanwhile, I had better get a wiggle on and pick some peas.

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