Birds, Bees, Butterflies And Gardens

Just a quick update since Del had his camera when Junior came to visit me today.

When we first released him he would come to get his snack three times a day. Then I went away for a week.

It took him a few days after I returned before he came back to my door, but now he does stop in about once a day.

[View with PicLens]

The most fun is when I call him, and he comes.  If he is not hungry he ignores me complete – sound familiar Moms? – if he is hungry he makes his way as quickly as possible over to me.

Usually, he chooses the time and place and usually I am working in my office when we arrives. He makes a little noise at the screen, and I let him in.

Here he is, all grown up, but still coming by for a treat.

Note: Kids … don’t eat this way!

In these pictures you can clearly see that one of his ears is “squared” off. When he first came to us that ear was torn at the edges. Perhaps something bit it and perhaps that is why he came running to Del saying “help, help!”

PS
Like squirrels too? Here’s a great article (Thanks Corinne for sending it)

This view is just too wonderful to not share:

Yesterday Del and I took one more step in the many step process of grading our front yard, and adding a circle driveway to the side of the house.

The step we took yesterday was adding the top soil into the center of the driveway that will be next year’s garden.

I forgot to take pictures .. so here’s the visual. We had 20 TONS of dirt dumped into the middle of the open space. What does that look like? Well, imagine 5 big piles of dirt about 5 feet high.

We decided it all had to be done yesterday, in the middle of our heat wave (105) because today it was supposed to rain. (It did) Having 20 yards of dirt melt into mud didn’t sound promising so at 5:00am we were out shoveling.

We got done in the morning around 11:00 and waited to 5:00pm to seed and straw the area. Next year – this will be mostly a big vegetable garden, or at least that’s the plan. At the moment it is seeded with winter rye which we will till back in next spring, and the work will have been well worth it.

You can see it in the background through the picture of the flower pots.

In the mean time, the current garden continues to offer stunning beauty. The Echinacea Flame Thrower (from Wayside Gardens) that Lara gave us and the lily mixture that Dianne and Cougar gave us (from White Flower Farms) are beautiful together. Imagine what they will look like next year!

Here’s a mix of pictures from our wet morning around the garden ..

(And here’s the thought that came to me as I stared into these flowers: “Look into this flower, and tell me there is not a God, the infinite intelligent, loving, existence of everything. If God can design and provide for the life of this flower, It is certainly designing and providing this kind of a beauty for me and you.”)

[View with PicLens]