Category Archives: wildlife

Jul16

Yellow Gladiolus

Posted on by
Standard

Yellow Gladiolus, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Thought I’d share some gorgeous glads that are blooming. You are really suppose to dig them up each year, I didn’t because of the issues I has having last fall. I’m anxious to see if the burgundy color ones come up too. Some I planted new last year didn’t come up near the irises. You win some, you lose some.
I was thrilled to see a hummingbird darting around my zinnias late this afternoon. I inched closer to flowers as he was finished checking them out, darted next to me, then stopped as to say ‘hi’ and zoomed off. Needless to say, I was thrilled with this miniature ‘wink and nod’. : ) Also saw my bunny pal plus a few Leopard frogs in the pond.

Jul12

Photo Hunt-Support

Posted on by
Standard
PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

Teeny toad, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

There are a few obvious things that ladies wear, but I won’t get into that for the ‘support‘ theme.

We support wildlife-lots of critters! We see them everyday, from the chunky groundhog munching our sour apples to the delicate butterfly landing on the same named bush.

Barbara is right, this little toad was so cute and I enjoyed taking this photo. I hope he found a nice leaf to sleep under after Bri dropped him in the grass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way, got eye drops to put in 4 times a day called Zylet-some kind of antibiotic. The assistant gave me a sample bottle and I have a prescription. My eye is much clearer today.

Something made me immune to mosquito bites last night. I count 7 of them on one leg and I wasn’t even outside that long to water things! Better use Off next time.

The guys went to Atlantic City with Bri’s dad. They have to go all the over to his house (45 min) and then all the way to get the bus-(about 20 min). Sit on the bus for 2.5 hours or so and leave about 5-6 hours later. Too much traveling for me. Sean seems to like to do this at least once a year. Bri appears not to have left me his car keys and his car has air! My mom said she’s coming out here-no sign of her yet and it’s almost 1 pm. It’s too hot to do anything outside today.

Jul11

Lilies and a toad

Posted on by
Standard

Lilies and a toad, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Took these photos Thursday night after a long day of gardening. Bri found the little toad in the grass and he posed for us nicely. (That’s Bri’s hand) The only lilies that aren’t mine are the white ones on the bottom from my last visit to Longwood Gardens.

Update Fri.afternoon-I’m going to get my eyes checked out in an hour. Actually the right has been getting really red off and on for about 3 weeks. The only drops that help are Clear Eyes-which may be giving me rebound red. Seems it started when I put hydrocortisone too close to my eye for a rash on my nose. Who knows?

I think my gums at least look better. See what middle age has in store for you!

I did finally figure out a virus software issue. We have one that not a lot of people have (Panda), it was recommended by a friend whose husband works with computers. It was giving me an error message in the virus protection area. I scanned the computer umpteen times and it was ok. Finally got it in my head to go to client downloads and there was a newer version and it worked. The dang thing needs to be renewed in a month anyway. I just love dilemmas like this-oy!

Jul8

Photo cards

Posted on by
Standard

Last night I ordered a bunch of blank cards to put my photos on. I tried Cafepress.com, but only sold a few things to friends. I figure etsy is a better audience. I may manipulate the photos a bit, adding poetry verses (maybe my own?), we’ll see. I still would like to ‘make’ items for etsy too. I hope you go see Barbara’s Quaker birds there (Mainly Stitching). She really came up with a new original idea. As soon as the blanks come in, I’ll print out some photos and post a few on etsy.

Remember the mystery bird from a few posts ago? Looking through my bird book, it sure looks like a Phoebe to me. I thought it could have been a Pewee, but they have definite white on their wings and not as much of a contrast on their noggins.

Not too much new. I had to take a rare nap today (for like 10 minutes as the phone woke me up) as I had a caffeine induced wakeful night. Darn that Coke!

I’m trying to finish up a stitching project, but my eyes have been really bothering me lately. I think it’s the catkins from the Chestnut trees. I have to use drops to clear them up. I also need to visit the dentist as my gums around a few teeth look like they have craters in them. I have a lot of dental work near the gumline (fillings) and using an electric toothbrush seems to have eroded that area. I hope it’s a quick fix. Bri said he had to get skin grafts on his gums one time. No thank you. I have to go out in the hot, hot weather tomorrow and my van’s air needs recharging-ugh.

Jul6

Trio of hibiscus

Posted on by
Standard

Here’s my gift from Sean for Mother’s Day in May. I ended up with 3 different kinds of hibiscus as you can see. Two were in one pot. I decided to put all three in one pot and have been greatly rewarded with color. I love when all three bloom as once like yesterday.


We all went to Wally World as I needed some more potting soil. I had gone to this upscale nursery in Delaware to purchase one water hyacinth ($3.99-geez) to see if it helps with the algae problem. The man who got it out of the pool for me said I should have an entire pond of them in 3 weeks. I’ve had them before and the goldfish that I use to have didn’t like them much. So at the nursery I bought two more beautiful coleus. This one was huge and needs to be repotted.
Also at Wally World I bought three plants for a new hanging basket for out front. They really haven’t reduced anything there, but I love this one plant that looks like little orchids (I have some in the ground). Bri made me get an eggplant and he bought yet another hot pepper plant. I think he has at least 9 plants! I guess that’s his hobby. : )
Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

We thought it was a wren, but their tails stick straight up. The closest we figured was some kind of warbler. They have their nest over our bay window in the family room.
Brother #2 is over mom’s cleaning out a spare room. He just found a bunch of cross stitch leaflets! When I would buy from this lady at the flea market, mom would buy too (only 25¢ each), so she said I could go through them. I just took a huge bag of them to the Goodwill, nothing great and they were taking up space. As I said in an earlier post, I am selling off a bunch in lots on eBay over at the link on the top, ‘Moonlitstitcher’s eBay page’. Many of these I paid full price for.
Have a great Sunday!!

Jun22

Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies

Posted on by
Standard

Rust affecting the Shasta Daisies, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Here’s what I was talking about in my previous post. See the spots? I did take many of them off by hand. Not sure if that will help or not.

My 50 gallon in ground pond was in ‘distress’. I have never seen it so full of algae, mud, you name it. It reminded me of my cousin’s big pond behind their farmhouse that we use to swim in. Icky mucky! I have no trouble sticking my hand in algae-it’s like long green threads. I use to make a mean mud pie as a kid. : ) So I decided to bail it out. Bri came out and did a few, but my back is going to feel it tomorrow. I even pulled out the two meshed encased waterlilies and peeled the algae off of them. I was fascinated that one was the home to earthworms as I didn’t know they lived under water. I’ll see how it looks tomorrow and if more bailing needs to be done.

The guys went over to the patriarch’s again as tomorrow he turns 85. I helped Bri pick out a food basket and a cake. I also suggested they take over a gourmet pizza from our new favorite pizza joint. Sean almost begged to go out to eat, even to Friendly’s but pop declined. He does get out of the house to ride the bus to Atlantic City though. I feel when he knows I am coming, he needs to clean, etc. Plus I can’t eat their usual choice of take-out. I use to take food over there all the time. It was so much work. And he use to take us out to restaurants too. We would have paid today. The people he wants are there IMHO.

The weatherman got it wrong about thunderstorms, so I was watering things yesterday and today. Bri trimmed our front hedges that run along the house and didn’t cover my impatiens on one side, etc so that was a mess to clean up. And I am so discouraged as deer have eaten all my sunflowers, leaves on my Hollyhock, leaves on my Dinner Plate Hibiscus and about a dozen buds off of one of my roses. I am happy that my tomato tepees are holding up so far. Those plastic clips that Martha Stewart suggested are great. Instead of using string or panty hose, these little circular clip with a latch do the trick.

Stay cool!

Apr23

Get out the weed whacker!

Posted on by
Standard

It’s time for me to do a little trimming-actually a lot of trimming. I might as well get the hoe out too! The weather is fab, I’m feeling better good (except for an on and off itchy throat and post nasal), but it’s the spring and everything is blooming and leafing like crazy.This makes me think of Sean. Many of you know Sean is a Geography major with a climatology influence and he’s finishing up a 15 research paper on climate changes in the Northeast. I proof his papers and I learn a lot too. Actually what I proofed last night had to do with how early warming is causing problems with animals and their food chain. The example was saying that chickadee babies eat moths that need to hatch when oaks are blooming which are maturing before they hatch and destroying them and affecting the birds. (I thought it was effect and Sean’s prof says affect). Interesting stuff. He is going to be doing an internship nearby in Delaware at Ashland Nature Center where he volunteered in high school. It’s really pretty there. He tried to get in Longwood Gardens, but they didn’t need anymore interns.

I did make the pasta, arugula and cannellini beans for dinner. It really fills you up, but I was hungry at 6:30 this morning! I had to get a Special K bar then. I have to recommend this yummy peanut butter mix called Better n’ Peanut butter that I purchased at Trader Joe’s the other day. It’s not all peanut butter, but it’s only 2 grams of fat and tastes like roasted peanuts! I had some on whole grain bread this morning. I have to recommend their chocolate meringue drops again-if you love chocolate, these are a good fix!

Here’s a photo of our dinner from last night (with a topping of toasted walnuts):


It needs Parmesan to boost the flavor! Also, don’t overwilt the arugula as it gets stringy. The actual recipe looks like it uses more than I did.

Sep2

Nibble, nibble

Posted on by
Standard

Sometime between Friday and today, some critters, probably deer, had a grand feast. No use showing you the headless flower stalks, as it’s a sad sight. I was admiring the lovely yellow rose that was presenting me with it’s final bow of the summer season. The lavender roses were just as pretty. I do have a photo of one of the now gone buds.

Now gone rosebud

And you know how much I loved my dinner plate hibiscus-many of them are gone too.

I did have fun making a few videos, even a live one of Cosmo the kitty. I was trying to video tape him and play with him at the same time! The first part, well he has playing with the jalapeños, batting them around and wouldn’t do it when I wanted him to do it. My voice is high and I sound a bit tongue tied.

Here’s a collage page I really like. I call it ‘Dance with Me’

Dance with me

Enjoy tomorrow if you can!

 

Aug23

Amphibian adieu

Posted on by
Standard

We’re all set. Bri finished up the lawn and found this little guy to show me. I got some cute photo ops as he sat on the edge of my waterlily garden.

Toadie pal
I have seen a ton of frogs and toads all over the yard. I hope they are helping with the bug population. I also saw a new colony of caterpillars on the milkweed today. Awesome.
My pond garden pump was a major pain today. It wouldn’t stay on when I immersed it in the water. I took it out of the water and let it run without water going through it for a while and that seemed to do the trick. We do have to unplug it tomorrow-rats!
I’m taking the camera, so be prepared to see some lovely PA countryside.