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.

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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.”)

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Here’s some of what is blooming today in my garden .. including Del, who was pretending to be a flower .. looks like one to me!

(Click on the picture to get a larger view of each picture, or the link to see a bigger slide show.)

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Yes, I know .. what about the garden. Well, it’s raining!

And Junior has been providing antics for us. We have set up his cage in our garage, the car being banished for the time being, and have allowed him to “escape” into the garage as his first step back to the wild.

He spent the whole first day in the eves, hanging over the rafters looking down on us. It took him awhile to figure out how to get back down, and me .. nervous mom.. was thinking he wasn’t getting enough to eat.

But, of course he is fine. Today he is back up in the rafters. The fun part is he comes out when we call, and lets us know where he is. If we tempt him with food he gets all excited and runs back and forth on the rafters.

Not just any food of course .. watermelon. And not just show it to him, but smack our lips together and make the noise he makes when eating. Smack Smack.

Want to learn how to make that noise? Here is a little video of Junior and his wonderful watermelon, I suggest you don’t eat watermelon like this yourself!

Yes, at the end he is wondering if he is going to get anymore…and yes he did get more, who could resist?.

PS:
A few weeks later, and Junior is happy outside. But he still comes to my door looking for his cashews and watermellon!

Yes, he walked in ..first he looks inside to see if I am working at my computer ..

He is really wondering if this will be enough!

Junior's first day with us, sniffing a stuffed squirrel.

May I talk about our squirrel, Junior, – for just for a minute?

I first saw him almost a month ago drinking water from a dip in our garage floor. He was so scrawny at first I though he was a mouse. I sat beside him for awhile watching, and then he slowly walked away.

Later that day Del came into my office holding him in his hands. It turns out that as Del was rolling a wheelbarrow down the garden path, Junior came running straight at him making a funny noise.

Del knelt down and Junior ran into his hands. It was a wise move on his part, which makes him a very special squirrel. Of course Del made the joke, that he knew two nuts when he saw them. True enough!

We have so loved having him in our care. But, he will be leaving soon because we can see that his strength has returned and he is acting just like a squirrel should act.

I have never had a squirrel to care for before, so perhaps they are all alike, but, like human children, I bet they are not.

Ten days later, Junior sleeping in the sunflower seed dish.

When we lived in Sandpoint, Idaho I had a squirrel buddy we named Billy-Bob, who would come to the sliding glass door everyday, put his paws on the door until I opened it, and saunter in looking for his daily peanut handout.

Billy-Bob training me to open the door.

When he was done, he would wait for me to open the door so he could leave.

I have tried to feed peanuts to our squirrels here in Ohio, but they shun them.  So it wasn’t surprising to me that Junior didn’t like them either. However, he does like cashews!

These squirrels are picky about the nuts they like!

A week later and Junior is happy in his new cage ...

For the past 10 days or so, Junior has been living in a big cage that Del built for him out of old lumber and screening.  Cleaning it is a two man operation.  Del lifts it up and pulls out the “old stuff,” and adds the new food and water, while I hold Junior.

He was recovering from what we believe was mange, so I have been putting some antibiotic ointment on him and rubbing his fir with “sweet oil” which is really just olive oil.

At first this was an easy task. However, in last week he is anxious to be up and away from me holding him.

However, in the beginning he would make a noise like purring while this was happening.

There is only one thing that brings out that noise now.

I have a favorite food, watermelon. I just love it.  So, when I got some of course I tried to see if Junior would like it too.

Like it?  Seriously, he literally grabbed it out of my hand and gobbled it down “purring” the whole time. Now, how would a squirrel develop a taste for watermelon?

He still loves it. If he hears me coming and I ask him if he wants watermelon he gets excited. Today he was half asleep when I was having my watermelon snack, but how could I deprive him of his treat, so I just gently put it in front of him.

Immediately he snapped awake.  His paw reached out and grabbed it. When I came out later with another piece he ran to the top of the log, knowing I would take the lid off his cage and hand it him.

Junior, a month after he adopted us .. looking good!

I am hoping when he is released he will come to visit often. I will know it is him because when he hears me ask, “do you want watermelon,” he will come rushing to get a piece, and of course a side dish of cashews.

Summer, it’s beginning. The warm days with all it’s sights and sounds, the slow motion feel of each day. It’s hard to keep working behind the computer when I hear a hummer on the feeder, or the just the idea of reading on the deck as the wind gently blows.

This Peonie was transplanted from the back yard to the front to increase our view. I think it likes it!

When Del and I first moved into this house a few years ago there were a few plants here, but not many. Each summer we dig another bed, or add to an existing one. Not thinking anyone noticed but us, it felt good to hear the mail woman tell us we had a beautiful garden!

Blooming Chives always remind me of my dad, not matter how many times I see it. Planted in full sun, these come back every year.

At first Del though she was joking because we just had tons ( literally ) of fill dirt dropped into our front yard in preparation for leveling the ground so that we don’t acquire a lake in each big rain, or fall into potholes when mowing the ever diminishing yard (it’s a good thing because it is turning into a garden) but no, she really meant the part of the garden that actually looks like a garden…

This Honeysuckle is attracting hummingbirds, as intented. Planted beside a deck with a feeder hanging nearby, I can hear the Hummers as I work in my office.

There is always work to be done in a garden, but as always, the results are worth it. I am sharing just a few of the plants that have opened their buds this week.

I bought two knock out roses last year from our town. They use it for a fund raiser, and it doesn't hurt that it makes the town more beautiful too!

Speaking of roses, this is a rose my daughter Lara got us last year. She is the queen of roses..

Zephirine Drouhin, so beautiful!

When I planted the Bleeding Heart in beside the Zephirine Drouhin, I didn't know they would be the same color! Sometimes, ok, often, it is intuition that guides the hand ..

Finally an update on the squirrel that adopted us! He is now living in a BIG cage that Del built him. He was outgrowing the little “box” we kept him in. We’ll keep him until he is ready to run free..

You can almost hear him asking .. "can I go out and play"?

One of the gray squirrels that lives in our tiny woods behind our house.

Always alert .. and always "figuring out a way"!

Plus, I saw my first red squirrel. I thought it was a chipmunk at first ..

Check out that eye "make-up"!

After applying 8 cubic yards of mulch (4 more to go) Del and I took a walk around the garden to see what was blooming.

Important to do, don’t you think, to remember what all that “work” is about. Though I would share some of those blooms with you!

Bleeding Heart

Columbine

Foxglove

This Iris was here when we move in.. was under where a deck is now.

Another Iris that I found and moved from under another deck ..

Petunia thriving in a pot

Wisteria

Masses of peonies are blooming too… watch for their pictures ..

We have two of these Hummzinger feeders.

I love them and so do the hummingbirds!

Happy at the feeder ..

You would think, given how long it is since I have posted, that I have not been gardening at all. Not true! Although I was temporarily diverted because we were preparing and guiding a retreat, which in a way is still gardening, on the very first sunny day back I was out gardening.

I had masses of seedlings to plant that I had started in my little greenhouse purchased from Lowes back in March.

I had wonderful plants to find homes for given to me by may family for birthday and mother’s day. Two full days from early morning to nighttime found my husband and me in the garden.

Some of the seedlings I planted were zinnas, sunflower seeds, and violas. The bigger plants were corylus avellana contorta, clematis, and lilium.

While I was planting Del was installing landscape timbers to border our parking “lot” (we have lots of family that comes to visit.. lucky us!) and I was replacing little patches of lawn with plants. I confess though, that I was unable to dig the holes that these plants needed, and Del dug them for me in just a few minutes time.

Someday, after much care and attention perhaps all of our garden will have soil that is easily dug into. For now I am grateful for his prowess with a shovel.

This Broom just keeps on blooming!

Of course no garden update is complete without a few pictures of what is blooming! The first is the wisteria that Lara gave us this spring. It is in a pot for awaiting an arbor of some sort to climb on. Years and years ago I owned a home for a brief time. I planted wisteria but never got to see it bloom. I know this is a reminder to all of us, that good things are never lost to us.

The moss and the columbine are from Michael and Mesa last year. I came home from a trip and found them sitting there waiting for me. A lovely welcome home.

There are teeny tiny flowers in this moss ..

I love that many of my plants are gifts. As I check on them and admire their growth they always remind me of the person who gave it to us. A gift that truly keeps on giving!

Just in case these aren’t enough pictures for you to see, there is a slide show of more flowers in my other blog.

Columbine with Iris and Peonies getting ready to bloom in the background