Milkweed 2020

 We've been in this house now for over nine years and for eight of those years I've tried different ways to grow milkweed behind my back fence.  I've planted and and lately I've just scattered them.  Working from home and with COVID, I just don't find myself out where I see pods to grab.  My neighbors who have milkweed have stripped the pods and so that source is not there.  I was resigned to having a fall without trying.

Then this week out of the blue, Cindy's brother-in-law Brad mails me what you see below.  It sure mean a lot that he thought of me.  He and I walked in the woods last time he was here and I must have made it sound pretty important that I get some growing...

Thank you Brad...these are all the way from Wyoming.  Who knows, could be a different type of milkweed.  I'll be putting these out some time next month...usually around Thanksgiving.

Fall 2020 Decorating

 Adding photos for our future reference...

Happy Flag Day!

Phase 1 of freshening up the outside of our house

The eventual plan is to paint the wood on our front porch gray and do something different with our front door. And possibly paint the garage doors  But for now, it's new mulch for the first time since 2015 and Cindy's touch on the front porch.  Amy and Steve got Cindy a new bench for Mother's Day and Cindy has added a cushion, some pillows and a new table/chair.

We added three calibrochoas...two hanging.

(These posts are partly for us to refer back to so pardon the detail.)

 

Here is the mulch....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tidied up St. Francis and my brick and rocks from childhood home

 

 

Here is the porch...

 

 

Pre-middle pillows

 

 

Amy potted two of our planters as well...

 

 

 

A few long views...

 



I dusted off the trail camera

It had been awhile and left out for a few days.  Got a cat and a raccoon and this deer pruning my oak tree.  You would think there is enough on the ground but I've seen this before...

 

And here we are in Ky's first time "behind the fence"...

Barbara - 2nd year

This lilac bush was a gift to Cindy to honor Ruth.  We call her "Barbara".  Here she is year two..

 

Better Bunting

Another Indigo Bunting today and finally had some sun shining so these pics a little better and very close to the house...

Wood Thrush (or some type of Thrush and a Brown Thrasher

This may be a Wood Thrush or some other type of Thrush.

 

 

This a photo from 2013 I took that looked like what I saw above...

 

 

Then a day or two later I saw this bird and to me the tail was longer and it seemed bigger and I have my first Brown Thrasher in nine years here.

 

The case for dandelions (it's not about bees)

We don't treat our yard for dandelions.  We would rather not expose our dog to chemicals and I've learned that dandelions are important early in the year for honey bees.  And over the years, I've noticed that finches and Chipping Sparrows like to eat the tops off the ones that have gone to seed.

This year has been no different and we've had the addition of American Goldfinch in my back yard...

 

 

 

The excitement this past week though was having Indigo Buntings in my backyard eating the seeds while sharing space with our state bird the American Goldfinch.  Below is a snippet from my blog listing photos I wanted to take and you'll see Indigo Buntings closer was a goal.  The pictures aren't the best but I didn't have to leave my house so I consider myself lucky.  I've even included a short video clip:

 

 

Two for the price of one...

 

And a video clip just because...

 

 

 

 

The one that got away

I was looking out our back window last evening and saw a flash and realized it was a Red-tailed Hawk.  I grabbed my camera to see what was going on and realized it was after this fox squirrel.

It flew to different trees several times coming back to this one.  The squirrel managed to survive and I saw the hawk fly off in search of something it could catch.

I thought to myself the outcome may have been different if it were a Cooper's Hawk.  They are much more nimble in the woods and brush.

I find it interesting that these two hawks species hunt the same area.  When I was taking Ky for her walk later, I saw the hawk flying trying to get a meal before the sun went down.