High-Fiber Diet

When I got this willow fencing to screen the chain-link, I knew it might take a beating from the elements. Rust, rot, breakage, yes. However, I didn't expect it to be EATEN away by my nemeses from last year. As it turns out, these slow-but-persistent critters don't just eat tender young green things, no, they're thrilled with this brown-bark smorgasbord, and when I open the door in the early morning fog, there they are, lined up high and low like notes on a staff, "nom"-ing away like slimy LOLcats. Fortunately, rising early and picking them off into oblivion is not difficult, and beats wasting good beer on them.

Hmm. Any French restaurants in the area interested in a supply of fresh-picked, willow-fed escargot???

Cue The Lovin' Spoonful!

As in: "Darlin' Be Home Soon" 'cause my cup has been (more than) half empty since Thursday

(and the fridge, even more so.)

Don't come home hungry.

Max Wonders...

...how long will this new baby be here, getting all the attention that rightfully belongs to ME??

OK, Last One, I Promise...

...this is not becoming the Dead Insect Blog or anything, but look at what happens to a ladybug when it passes away on a windowsill in the sunshine...it gets all transparent and iridescent.....

Better Luck Next Time

There was nobirdy on the nest this morning, and just this on the ground below. It'd be nice to think I just missed a rapid fledging, and a single offspring took wing, but....more likely, some jaybird has egg on its face. I'll leave the empty nest where it is, as it may be used again. At least I can finally do the spring clean-up under that tree.

More Mysteries of Nature

So what's up here? Is this guy passed out, or has he passed on? Why is he planted face-down in the gravel? I found a big bumble like him last summer on one of the butterfly bushes, nose stuck deep in the florets, looking fast asleep. It stayed like that for a day and a night, while I read all kinds of anecdotal nonsense online about sleeping bees. The next day, it was on the ground below the bush, as dead as a fuzzy striped doornail. This one above, he was gone the next day, probably having provided something a tasty morsel. Sad. But easier to photograph than a live one. Still, it's so early in the season, could he haved died from natural causes already? It's too nice out today to go looking stuff up right now....

Correction!

This is probably Dad on the nest. From what I've read, doves, unlike other birds, incubate their eggs continually for the two weeks or so it takes them to hatch, with the male generally taking the day shift and the female the night. The squabs will be fed by mom and dad with "crop milk" (produced by glands in the parents' throats) and regurgitated seed for another two weeks before they leave the nest. (Bleah!) This relatively short 28-day nesting cycle allows them to attempt multiple broods in a season, which works to the species' advantage, as their lifespan is only about a year and a half.

Hey! It's almost two weeks since the nest was built; soon there will be young'uns!