As Our Life Goes On

I love the imperfections in nature. Which flower do you study the most. Once you gaze upon an almost perfect flower you can lose your interest. A flower with odd proportions or missing petals is so much more interesting,  People can be similar to flowers. If you choose only friends who look pretty, handsome or perfect you may be ignoring the most interesting persons that you could ever interact with. 

Our house has been heated with oil ever since we moved here over 40 years ago. The price of using oil for heat is at least 6 times what it was when we moved into the old 1952 house. The gas company finally ran a line in front of our house a couple of years ago and we have been thinking about installing a new gas furnace with whole house air conditioning since the time the gas became available. The window air conditioners were not efficient enough to keep the house cool during really hot weather. Today the new system is being installed and it takes up a lot less space. The gas company will run the gas line to the meter that they will install on the house for free. The old larger oil furnace and large oil tank will be removed leaving a lot more room in the basement. 

The brick path in the garden is framed by flowers and ferns. My presence in the area disturbed the ribbon snake that lives under the big rock. It slithered away to a safe place as I approached. The hot and very humid wet weather has caused a bumper crop of mosquitoes to hatch and invade the area. The wetlands, woods and meadow areas in the yard are filled with these insects. Their bites cause me to itch all over. I am becoming reluctant to walk through the yard as it just stirs up mosquitoes and other small insects. Some of the tiny insects that live out there favor crawling into the ear canal.  The baby robins that were in the Japanese red maple tree have left the nest. They also left massive amounts of white poop on the driveway just under the nest. The wrens have a house full of baby wrens and are very busy flying in and out of the house to feed their brood. Hopefully they are feeding some  mosquitoes to their babies. 

A Flower in My Garden There is a lot of clover in our yard this year. I took a tour of the spots where there were large areas of the white flowers blooming and did not see even one honeybee. Childhood memories of walking barefoot through clover only to be stung by one of these important insects came to mind as I searched the yard.  The yards in the allotment across the street are sprayed with toxic chemicals that not only kill bees but many other insects that are needed for pollination. They value a very green weedless yard over their health. Our yard is ecofriendly to all wildlife and it is generally safe for humans. 

This little oddly constructed shed was custom made by a homeowner in our town. We had it hauled across town and placed on our property as a portable shed. None of our little sheds are mounted on permanent bases. They can be moved by a tractor and a little work. The blocks holding this shed had settled too deep into the soil so some holes were cut so that jacks could be placed under the base to raise it high enough so that the treated wood bases were not against the ground. Russ is busy making some shims so that the height will be just right. This shed is not as old as our other vintage little sheds. It has very little character at all. It is very well built with heavy materials however. 

I was quite sure that I saw a fox lope by as I was looking out the window that faces the back yard a couple of days ago. This morning that was validated. Russ called me to the living room in front of the house. A fox had just stopped to urinate on a bare spot in the front yard. We watched it walk quickly from there to the shelter of the large pines on the West side of the house and then over the hill toward the wetlands. We are so glad to have this animal in our neighborhood. Maybe the mice will be less of a problem with this critter policing our yard. 

This unfortunate dragonfly was found in the driveway. Not sure how it died but it will be food for other wildlife. The wings are so lacy and intricate. Adult dragonflies live about two months so maybe this one died of old age. 

Window sill sitting  Just waiting and being green Please don't disturb me -Caroline

We took a 150 mile round trip on I80 over the weekend. The road is a free interstate highway. We refer to this trip as traveling on the highway from hell with killer trucks. The road is rough and always under repair. Driving on the road is free but the traffic takes an extraordinary toll on wildlife. We saw at least two dozen dead deer, one dead bird that may have been a hawk, one coyote, and dozens of small furry animals. There were woodchucks, skunks, squirrels and lots of furry flat things that were difficult to identify while riding at 70 miles an hour. One very long black colored snake lay partially eaten and covered with flies. We really need the natural predators that were among this list of unfortunate creatures that just tried to cross the road.  The road is heavily traveled by many large trucks including double trailers. Just surviving the intimidating tailgating by these big rigs takes a toll on the nerves. It is good to be home safe.