Where to begin? Well, I guess it's best to start with the sad news and work our way up...wouldn't you agree?
Monday evening, there was more carnage...this time in the butterfly/hummingbird garden. A dead juvenile Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). It appears that he flew into the window of my office, as there was a very large smudge mark and a single feather stuck to the window. Chris noticed the poor thing and told me. I went out to remove him from the garden before Oscar found him. I took a plastic grocery bag and used it to pick up the bird. Before we determined the cause of death, I did a visual examination. I noticed that one of the bird's eyes was cloudy/milky and that there appeared to be a small amount of blood coming out of its mouth on the same side of his head as the ruptured(?) eye ball. It was then that I looked up at the window and realized just how this little guy expired.
I think what's saddest about this is he was one of about six juvenile Blue Jays that had been visiting our yard and feeders since Friday. Saturday they were all flying about, squawking, eating, and otherwise playing around. It is easy to tell they are juveniles for several reasons. 1) They are still very awkward in flight and landing, 2) their feathers aren't as smooth and full as an adult, and 3) well, they carry on like a bunch of teenagers! They were a source of entertainment all weekend long. And now, one of their own has fallen. I was home sick yesterday and I swear the rest of the Blue Jays were looking and calling for their sibling. So sad...
Now onto happier thoughts, eh?
In an effort to catch and relocate our resident groundhog, I believe I previously mentioned that we borrowed a trap from someone from my office. Well, we finally caught something, but it wasn't a groundhog. Thankfully, it wasn't a skunk either...it was a rabbit. On my sick day. I had a terrible headache - a sinus headache - and had just woken up at 9:30 AM and decided to go down and fix myself a cup of tea. I let the dog out and went to the sink to fill the kettle and turn it on. No sooner did I do that and Oscar started barking, barking, barking! I looked out and lo and behold, there's "Thumper" in the trap. I march outside in my bathrobe and slippers and try (in vain) to get Oscar to calm down, sit, and let me release the rabbit. Yeah, right. So instead, I carry the trap with the rabbit back to the house, where I fool Oscar into going into the house, and then turned around and released the rabbit from the deck. The poor thing was terrified. Of course Oscar was barking at it a mere inch from its face the whole time we were walking back to the house. At one point, the rabbit moved as close to me in the cage as it could get and looked at me like, "Human? Help me!" So much for my subsiding headache...it came back in full force. I think we might be done with that trap. I'm convinced the groundhog has moved on.
The five House Wren babies fledged from their nest late last week. They hatched on August 6th and were due to fledge on or near August 20th. I checked the box on the 20th and they were still there; by August 23rd, they were gone.
On Saturday, I spent an hour picking "stuff" in the garden including one pound of green beans, 20 Roma tomatoes, 28 other tomatoes, SIX POUNDS of grape tomatoes, a nearly five-pound zucchini (I have no idea where it was hiding!), a cantaloupe, and a dozen ears of corn. Needless to say, I spent Sunday morning blanching and freezing quite a bit of vegetation!
Chris planted the red hibiscus I bought at the beach - it is a Bordeaux variety and it is really beautiful. It is supposed to bloom through autumn and I hope it thrives in its new location. It should get plenty of sun. I am very excited to have a hibiscus...I just love them!
Another thing I love is having hummingbirds be such frequent visitors to the feeder and garden! I suspect that the pair from earlier this summer may have nested and had babies. I have routinely observed a small female visiting the feeder and another, larger female who seems to watch over her from the trees. Occasionally, they will fly together, squeaking and chirping. in addition to eating at the feeder, I have seen the hummingbirds visit the bee balm and the Russian sage often.
Hmmm...what else? Oh, yes! Chris counted AT LEAST 18 fish in the pond yesterday. I swear we are going to have to feed those fish birth control pills! I keep telling everyone that "Fertile Myrtle" lives in our pond and just keeps having babies! And there have been no sightings of Fredrick Von Hoppenstance since before we went to the beach on July 19th. My brother and a friend of mine both think Fredrick fell victim to a raccoon. I suppose it's possible. I prefer to think he found "greener pastures" at the neighbor's pond. Either that or...hmmm...the neighbor kids did feed our pond fish while we were gone on vacation. What if Fredrick didn't FIND his way over to there pond but rather was taken to their pond? What if Fredrick was frognapped?!?
Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
More Carnage in the Pond Pump
Just a quick update this morning...Chris had to unclog the pond pump again this morning and this time it was a dead bird that had been sucked in! Yikes!!! He said it was bald and I asked if he thought it was a baby bird or just had been stripped of feathers either by the pump or by decomposition (no telling how long it was in the pond before it got swept into the pump housing). He said it looked like a fully developed bird, but he could not tell what kind. Sad. :(
We have set a trap for our resident groundhog even though we have not seen him since before we left for our beach vacation back in mid-July. A kind gentleman here at work retrieved his trap from his farm for us, so we figured we'd give it a try. If we are successful in trapping the varmint, we are going to relocate him to some state game lands about 5 miles away. I don't want to risk him/her finding his/her way back! We're leaving it out during the day while we're at work up through dusk. Chris springs the trap each night when he takes Oscar out so we can avoid trapping a skunk. We saw one in the neighborhood about a week ago. That's the LAST thing we want to trap!!!
I blanched three gallon size bags worth of squash and zucchini Monday evening. I have more to steam blanch and now that my new 12-cup Kitchen Aid food processor is here, I will be able to make short work of the zucchini. Mike (a co-worker) gave me a recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies (and a delicious sample of his work!) so I will definitely have to try them! With the new food processor, I can also chop tomatoes for salsa in no time and also cucumbers for pickle relish. Do not be surprise if you live nearby, work with me, or are within a short driving distance, if I show up at your house with jars of pickle relish in the coming weeks!!!
Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...
We have set a trap for our resident groundhog even though we have not seen him since before we left for our beach vacation back in mid-July. A kind gentleman here at work retrieved his trap from his farm for us, so we figured we'd give it a try. If we are successful in trapping the varmint, we are going to relocate him to some state game lands about 5 miles away. I don't want to risk him/her finding his/her way back! We're leaving it out during the day while we're at work up through dusk. Chris springs the trap each night when he takes Oscar out so we can avoid trapping a skunk. We saw one in the neighborhood about a week ago. That's the LAST thing we want to trap!!!
I blanched three gallon size bags worth of squash and zucchini Monday evening. I have more to steam blanch and now that my new 12-cup Kitchen Aid food processor is here, I will be able to make short work of the zucchini. Mike (a co-worker) gave me a recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies (and a delicious sample of his work!) so I will definitely have to try them! With the new food processor, I can also chop tomatoes for salsa in no time and also cucumbers for pickle relish. Do not be surprise if you live nearby, work with me, or are within a short driving distance, if I show up at your house with jars of pickle relish in the coming weeks!!!
Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Random Updates from the Past Month
Shame on me! It has been one month to the day that I last updated my blog. Some blogger I am, eh? I did go on vacation toward the end of July, but that is really no excuse because that was only one week out of four. So, yes, I am a bit of a slacker!
Now on with the show...
Vegetables abound in our garden! We harvested the first ears of corn at the end of last week and it is delicious! You might swear we tilled sugar into the soil or watered with simple syrup...it is that sweet...how exciting! We have zucchini and cucumbers coming out of our ears and at some point soon I am going to have to start making pickle relish to use up all of the cucumbers. Just before logging on to write this entry, I was researching the blanching time for squash so I can freeze a big batch tomorrow night. I got a great idea from my research to steam blanch some shredded zucchini in 1 or 2-cup increments for backing zucchini bread in the fall/winter.
Today I blanched about two pounds of green beans...they are doing really well. The peas did not do so well. I managed to harvest enough to make one serving of peas before the plants started dying off. I'm not sure what caused the die-off. Peas seemed like a pain in the rear anyway, so I am not too torn up over the loss of the plants. Peppers are going like gangbusters - just this weekend I used the dehydrator to dry anaheim and super chile peppers. The gypsy peppers have been very tasty in our lunches everyday.
Another thing we have been taking in our lunches each day is a serving of grape tomatoes. Those are growing quite well (and wild), too! In fact, our grape tomatoes seem like they are on steroids...they are gigantic! All of the tomatoes are growing really well, but our staking did not work very well. We put so much money into the garden this year that we opted to stake the tomatoes rather that invest in cages...probably not the best idea, but we'll make do this year and buy cages next year. It's just that the tomatoes are growing wild and flatter than expected. But boy are they still growing!!!
We have ten cantaloupes on the vines and they are looking really, really nice. I hope I can harvest one or two before this coming weekend (my graduation party) so I can serve some fresh fruit in addition to my sheet cake. In fact, for the party this weekend, I anticipate quite a bit will come from the garden - sliced tomatoes for hamburgers, raw vegetables for dipping, tomatoes for fresh salsa, cantaloupe for dessert, peppers to serve with the grilled bratwursts - it is all going to be very delicious and very fresh!
Goldfinches continue to visit the thistle feeder and other random birds visit the "regular" seed feeder. The hummingbird makes regular visits to his feeder and is once again fending off other males and even the female. When he isn't looking, the female sneaks in for a quite snack. Last week, I saw both the male and the female sitting on the shepherd's hook where the feeder hangs (on separate occasions) and watched as they yawned and stuck out their tongues. It was really cool!
A house wren (Troglodytes aedon) has nested, layed five eggs, and had them hatch in the bird box at the far end of the yard. The eggs hatched Wednesday. In fact, when I did my evening check on the box, three had hatched, one was in the process of hatching, and one egg remained. When we checked the box Thursday evening, all five bald babies looked healthy - tiny, but healthy. Momma House Wren made her presence known while we were near the box and immediately returned to the box as soon as we were about 20 feet away.
Neither Chris nor I have seen Fredrick since we left for vacation on July 18th. We heard him the night we returned from vacation (July 26th), but have not seen him. I am concerned! We had a clog in the pump in the pond on Friday and it was a dead frog! Luckily it wasn't Fredrick, but what if it was his new mate?!? I've often wondered how Fredrick tolerates his swingin' single lifestyle at our pond...I mean, it is a nice bachelor (lily) pad, but still...he has to get lonely. What if that frog was his chance at love, happiness, and frog procreation?!?
Speaking of procreation, our pond fish keep multiplying. In addition to the nearly dozen grown and colorful (white and orange, mostly) goldfish we can see, there are about a dozen small (1-2" long) black babies swimming around. Two of them have started to turn orange already and they are easier to spot. It is really cool when we feed the fish because all of the sudden we will see ripples and movement at the surface of the water, but we can't see any fish because of shadows, reflections, or lighting...but then they will swim to a spot where we can see and there are 5-6 at any give time swimming around together.
The butterfly and hummingbird garden is officially official for both butterflies and hummingbirds now. Butterflies have been seen flying around the yard quite regularly now and on at least three different occasions, I have seen butterflies in the garden on the butterfly bush and the bee balm. Speaking of the plants in that garden, in addition to feeding at the nectar feeder, the female hummingbird has visited the bee balm, the red dahlia, and the Russian sage. I bought a magazine about gardening for butterflies and hummingbirds and plan to read up on ideas and things I might add now and next spring.
Out front, the few perennials that I added continue to do well. The mums from last fall are already up and the red one has already started to bloom. I hope it blooms through the fall. I put in four mums last fall - one red, one orange, one yellow, and one purple (if my memory serves me correctly). I just love mums in the fall!
Oh! One last thing - I bought a hibiscus plant while I was on vacation at the beach. I asked the seller if it would survive up here in zone 5 and he said yes. He told me how to take care of it and convinced me it would do OK, so on the last day of vacation, we walked across the street to the farmer's market and I bought a red one to bring home. It is still in the pot right now, but I am going to plant it one night this week next to the deck. It will get plenty of sun and will be very near the butterfly and hummingbird garden, so maybe the hummingbirds will visit it (since they favor red flowers).
I cannot think of anything else that is worth mentioning/updating right now but I am sure something else will occur to me as soon as I post this.
OH! Chris bought me VERY NICE Audubon binoculars for my birthday. These things are amazing! From our kitchen, I can look out to the garden 300+ feet away and see if we have red tomatoes ready for picking! And the clarity when I look at the goldfinches on the feeder is phenomenal. I cannot wait to get out into the woods and do some bird watching (other than the ones I watch in our very own patch of woods).
Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...
Now on with the show...
Vegetables abound in our garden! We harvested the first ears of corn at the end of last week and it is delicious! You might swear we tilled sugar into the soil or watered with simple syrup...it is that sweet...how exciting! We have zucchini and cucumbers coming out of our ears and at some point soon I am going to have to start making pickle relish to use up all of the cucumbers. Just before logging on to write this entry, I was researching the blanching time for squash so I can freeze a big batch tomorrow night. I got a great idea from my research to steam blanch some shredded zucchini in 1 or 2-cup increments for backing zucchini bread in the fall/winter.
Today I blanched about two pounds of green beans...they are doing really well. The peas did not do so well. I managed to harvest enough to make one serving of peas before the plants started dying off. I'm not sure what caused the die-off. Peas seemed like a pain in the rear anyway, so I am not too torn up over the loss of the plants. Peppers are going like gangbusters - just this weekend I used the dehydrator to dry anaheim and super chile peppers. The gypsy peppers have been very tasty in our lunches everyday.
Another thing we have been taking in our lunches each day is a serving of grape tomatoes. Those are growing quite well (and wild), too! In fact, our grape tomatoes seem like they are on steroids...they are gigantic! All of the tomatoes are growing really well, but our staking did not work very well. We put so much money into the garden this year that we opted to stake the tomatoes rather that invest in cages...probably not the best idea, but we'll make do this year and buy cages next year. It's just that the tomatoes are growing wild and flatter than expected. But boy are they still growing!!!
We have ten cantaloupes on the vines and they are looking really, really nice. I hope I can harvest one or two before this coming weekend (my graduation party) so I can serve some fresh fruit in addition to my sheet cake. In fact, for the party this weekend, I anticipate quite a bit will come from the garden - sliced tomatoes for hamburgers, raw vegetables for dipping, tomatoes for fresh salsa, cantaloupe for dessert, peppers to serve with the grilled bratwursts - it is all going to be very delicious and very fresh!
Goldfinches continue to visit the thistle feeder and other random birds visit the "regular" seed feeder. The hummingbird makes regular visits to his feeder and is once again fending off other males and even the female. When he isn't looking, the female sneaks in for a quite snack. Last week, I saw both the male and the female sitting on the shepherd's hook where the feeder hangs (on separate occasions) and watched as they yawned and stuck out their tongues. It was really cool!
A house wren (Troglodytes aedon) has nested, layed five eggs, and had them hatch in the bird box at the far end of the yard. The eggs hatched Wednesday. In fact, when I did my evening check on the box, three had hatched, one was in the process of hatching, and one egg remained. When we checked the box Thursday evening, all five bald babies looked healthy - tiny, but healthy. Momma House Wren made her presence known while we were near the box and immediately returned to the box as soon as we were about 20 feet away.
Neither Chris nor I have seen Fredrick since we left for vacation on July 18th. We heard him the night we returned from vacation (July 26th), but have not seen him. I am concerned! We had a clog in the pump in the pond on Friday and it was a dead frog! Luckily it wasn't Fredrick, but what if it was his new mate?!? I've often wondered how Fredrick tolerates his swingin' single lifestyle at our pond...I mean, it is a nice bachelor (lily) pad, but still...he has to get lonely. What if that frog was his chance at love, happiness, and frog procreation?!?
Speaking of procreation, our pond fish keep multiplying. In addition to the nearly dozen grown and colorful (white and orange, mostly) goldfish we can see, there are about a dozen small (1-2" long) black babies swimming around. Two of them have started to turn orange already and they are easier to spot. It is really cool when we feed the fish because all of the sudden we will see ripples and movement at the surface of the water, but we can't see any fish because of shadows, reflections, or lighting...but then they will swim to a spot where we can see and there are 5-6 at any give time swimming around together.
The butterfly and hummingbird garden is officially official for both butterflies and hummingbirds now. Butterflies have been seen flying around the yard quite regularly now and on at least three different occasions, I have seen butterflies in the garden on the butterfly bush and the bee balm. Speaking of the plants in that garden, in addition to feeding at the nectar feeder, the female hummingbird has visited the bee balm, the red dahlia, and the Russian sage. I bought a magazine about gardening for butterflies and hummingbirds and plan to read up on ideas and things I might add now and next spring.
Out front, the few perennials that I added continue to do well. The mums from last fall are already up and the red one has already started to bloom. I hope it blooms through the fall. I put in four mums last fall - one red, one orange, one yellow, and one purple (if my memory serves me correctly). I just love mums in the fall!
Oh! One last thing - I bought a hibiscus plant while I was on vacation at the beach. I asked the seller if it would survive up here in zone 5 and he said yes. He told me how to take care of it and convinced me it would do OK, so on the last day of vacation, we walked across the street to the farmer's market and I bought a red one to bring home. It is still in the pot right now, but I am going to plant it one night this week next to the deck. It will get plenty of sun and will be very near the butterfly and hummingbird garden, so maybe the hummingbirds will visit it (since they favor red flowers).
I cannot think of anything else that is worth mentioning/updating right now but I am sure something else will occur to me as soon as I post this.
OH! Chris bought me VERY NICE Audubon binoculars for my birthday. These things are amazing! From our kitchen, I can look out to the garden 300+ feet away and see if we have red tomatoes ready for picking! And the clarity when I look at the goldfinches on the feeder is phenomenal. I cannot wait to get out into the woods and do some bird watching (other than the ones I watch in our very own patch of woods).
Until next time, keep your eyes open for wild wonders...
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