What do I know...

All week that Cedar Waxwing has been sitting in the top of a tree calling and calling.  I told my husband on Wednesday there was no way that Waxwing was going to find another Waxwing just sitting in the same tree calling every day.  An hour later, I noticed there seemed to be more calls than normal.  I grabbed the binoculars and what do I know.  There sat two Waxwings calling to the world.  I guess it is true there is somebody out there for everyone if you wait long enough.  

We had a wonderful day on Sunday.  We did some prairie dog hunting and then went fishing.  I caught a bass and my husband caught some perfectly sized catfish.  Then I went and picked some wild grapes.  We came home and fried up some delicious catfish for lunch.  Life is good.

I've been busy in the garden.  The strawberry spinach is producing berries like crazy.  I am not sure what I am going to do with all the berries.  I just keep putting them in the freezer.  I've also been picking and freezing the borage flowers.  I am going to try making a wine out of them.  I have to be careful picking them.  Sooner or later I'm going to grab one that has a bee on it.  

My peaches and cream hollyhocks are blooming like crazy.  I love watching the bees wander in and out of the blooms.  I would guess it is like a flowery maze to them.  I would love to be covered in a blanket of hollyhock petals.

It has been a fabulous week.  We are hunkered down trying to pretend the Sturgis Rally isn't happening.  Unfortunately, you can hear the roar of motorcycles even up here.  I went to the grocery store and every local had a mask on.  Not one biker wore a mask.  I will admit I am hoping for rain every night.  Maybe even a little hail.  Sorry, but it is true.  

Is there some local event that puts you up a wall?  Have you ever tried strawberry spinach?  Here is a long shot.  Has anyone ever had borage wine?  If so could you send me a recipe.  Here is hoping you have a wonderful week (without motorcycles). 

Bees, greenhouses, romantic drives, and tracks...

 It has been a busy week.  We worked on our new greenhouse, went on a romantic drive, and of course enjoyed the flowers.  The flowers are blooming like crazy.  This makes it hard for me to focus.  My husband will look up and I'm wandering around the yard taking photos.  Chasing down some bug, butterfly, or in this case a monstrous bumblebee.  It has been a wonderful summer.  We were getting pretty dry, but tonight we got an inch of rain. 

 We have been super busy on the weekends building a new greenhouse.  Since my sweet husband is now retired, he has also spent most of his weekdays putting together the greenhouse. The old one was a trooper, until the big hail storm two years ago did enough damage to begin it's demise.  I got a little misty eyed taking it down, but the new one is much bigger and taller.  It took two weekends to get it put together.   My husband did most of the work.  We got the roof on this afternoon.  Just in time for a big storm.  The roof didn't blow off and it didn't leak.  I was happy to transplant my tomatoes and cucumbers into the ground.  Hopefully it isn't too late.  The tomatoes were pretty good sized.   We still need to put on the door and set up the fan.

 My husband took me on a romantic drive Friday night.  We took our little Roxar and drove way up behind Deadwood.  In the photo to the left you can see the Lead Homestake mine tower at the top and Deadwood at the bottom.  The photo below looks back at the road we took to the top.  It was amazing how well sound travels.  You could actually hear people talking down on Main Street.  It was a great adventure and nice to get out.  I have lived here twenty 28 years and always wanted to go up to White Rocks.  I am so happy to mark that off my bucket list.  

We've heard a female mountain lion calling at night.  Today when I took Ella for her Sunday walk I saw it's tracks in a mud hole.  You can tell they are lion tracks because there are no claw marks.  Only cats can retract their claws.  It isn't a very large cat.  On a less serious note, because we have been working on the greenhouse in the garage we haven't been able to shut the garage door.  In the dust a few mornings ago I saw the cutest set of tracks.  Our pine martin is still around, because he took a tour of our Jeeps.  He was in and out of everything.  I'm glad he is around, because our squirrel population has been diminished.  

That was our week in as much of a nutshell as I could put it in.  It is good to keep busy, but not so busy that you don't enjoy the beauty around you.  The fireflies were out last night.  They are not out for very long here.  I hope your week has been as productive.  Did you make anything?  Did you go anywhere?  Have a great week.

Un bee-leavable

 For as much as we did last weekend, I wasn't as productive this weekend.  The weather was just too beautiful.  I thinned some daylilies, made cucumber jelly, and picked tons of slugs out of the flower beds.  I also spent a lot of time taking photos.  I think the bees feel fall is on the way, because they have put pollen collecting into overdrive.

 I don't know where this guy came from.  I'd say his clock needs reset.  My turnips are looking good.  Have have two nice little pumpkins.  My corn looks great, but needs to get moving.  I don't think there is a lot of summer left.

 This is a prennial spinach called strawberry spinach.  A friend told me about it and I am sold.   It doesn't really bolt.  In late summer it gets these little berries and they taste good.  My greenhouse is chaos, but things are growing.  The outside garden isn't doing too bad, but a mouse nibbled on all of my zucchini.  I have plenty of chamomile for tea and spa treatments.

I love this time of year.  The cool nights, harvesting from the garden, everything seems to slow down.  I hope you are enjoying your August.  What are you doing with you garden harvest?

Successes and failure...

I have no photos of my success, because it is kind of gross.  It all started last year when a friend told me her mother would always bury a fish under her fruit trees for fertilizer.  As always, I mulled this information over for awhile then tried it.  It was unsuccessful, because a fox or something came and dug the fish up.  I continued to think about it and read several articles on the internet.  This weekend I successfully made fish fertilizer.  After my fishing trip with the nieces a month ago, I cleaned the fish put them in a five gallon bucket and threw in a carp for good measure.  Most of the articles I read advised to pour some molasses in the bucket and let things stew for awhile.  I also added two gallons of water.  I put a lid on it and stored the stinky mess in a corner of the orchard.  Four weeks later I steeled myself and prepared for a smelly mess.  I was surprised it was actually a nice liquid fertilizer.  It turned out much better than I anticipated.   I was able to fertilize 10 trees, of course I will never be able to use the bucket for anything but fish fertilizer.  

 My other success is the butterfly and bee garden.  I have several grasses and added a bee and butterfly flower mix.  It isn't a lush garden, but it is a very good start.  The bees and butterflies are using it. The concrete rhubarb leaf is filled with sand and makes a wonderful lounge area for the butterflies.  

 My sweetcorn is rocking.  It has never been this tall.  Hopefully it will be ready in a few weeks.  My bees are doing great.  They should produce a lot of honey this year.  

 This is the only planter that has survived.  The deer have munched everything.  Usually the smelly spray works, but this year it rained so much that I couldn't keep up spraying it.  This planter is on the deck.  It was the one place they couldn't reach.  I love the red geraniums and the bright yellow sunflower.  Below is my soon to be giant pumpkin.  It is growing pretty fast.  

My poor peaches and cream hollyhock.  If you look closely you can see the deer stripped every leaf and only left the one blossom  It is doing it's best.  Not only have I had a problem with deer, but the chipmunk population went from 4 to too many to count.  They are everywhere.  So far, they haven't done any damage.  I have noticed the hawk and the neighbor's cat have taken a sudden interest in my yard.   I don't think they have been successful, because I am not seeing a dent in chipmunk numbers.  

 I call the little guy above Rip, because his ear is a bit tattered.

 Perhaps you are wondering about my failure.  Well, here it is.  I spent half an hour trying to get a photo of this zippy little bird.  Finally, I got a photo, but now I cannot identify him.  Any ideas?  I have ruined my bird book pouring through it trying to identify the little bugger.  If you have any ideas could you please let me know.  It is driving me nuts. (Addendum: I believe Charade is correct.  After further research it my be a female redstart.  Now if I could just see a male redstart.)

 That is it successful fish fertilizer and a beautiful bee and butterfly garden, happy bees, a beautiful crop of sweetcorn and a big pumpkin.  To finish it off an unsuccessful attempt at bird identification.  I hope your weekend was also full of successes that outnumbered failures.

July...

I'm enjoying this July.  Time on the porch is well spent observing what is happening in the world around us.   I noticed this moth the other day.  It sat under this leaf for about an hour before it got sick of my attention and flew off.  

 This is my favorite book.  I have had to replace it twice.  I loan it out and it never comes back.  If you ever get a chance to read it, I highly recommend it.  Daniel Blajan does an excellent job of capturing how I feel about gardening.   The peas are going crazy.   My husband and I shuck them and Ella begs for the pods.  She thinks they are delicious.

My flowers are doing pretty good, all things considered.  The bees and butterflies are plentiful.  We are slowly recovering from hailstorm.  We have had 2 and a half inches of rain this July.  That is unheard of.  Usually we don't get any rain in July.  Everything is very green.  

I found a great deal on some metal chairs.  They are the perfect addition to the rose garden.  My greenhouse is flourishing.  The pumpkins are climbing out the top.   My sweet corn is much taller than knee high. The deer ate my lettuce and the leaves of my beans.  The beans seem to be recovering.  My peppers are doing wonderful.  I am very happy with the strawberry spinach.  It hasn't bolted and tastes delicious.  

 My hummingbird is back.  I am not certain if it is the same one from last fall.  It could be, as it is roosting in the same same tree as the one that stayed until late October.  I wish there was some way to know for sure.  

Today was foggy and cool.  While sitting on the porch a doe wandered by.  Can you see her in back?  July is moving along.  I wish it would slow down.  Next weekend I have the nieces.  I am excited about our upcoming adventures.   What are you looking forward to in July?