Important Stuff

 

Only the spider paid no mind when the unicorn called softly to her through the open door.  Arachne was busy with a web which looked to her as through the Milky Way had begun to fall like snow.  The unicorn whispered, "Weaver, freedom is better, freedom is better", but the spider fled unhearing up and down her iron loom.

        

        ~ Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn 

You know… when one’s sitting in the powder room, staring mindlessly at that scummy bathtub just three feet away, it’s totally impossible for the eyes not to take a nosedive straight down the convergence of tub and wall to that boring area just inches above the floor, and discover an industrialist tiny black speck of a spider waiting in its web. 

After that discovery, the first line of inquiry on each powder room visit seemed to always be, eyeballing that tiny speck of terror; and if it had vanished, wondering if it was hidden under the jutting edge of the tub side for a nap, or if it had - horror of horrors – moved to another room and out of one’s control.

After reading a little article on insects in one’s home, it’s fascinating that it suggested leaving spiders alone to feast on other littler insects in one’s collection of rooms.  If one has ever seen a spider egg sack hatch and watched a gazillion (just a tiny exaggeration) minute creepy crawlies scattering for independence, one gets the feeling that isn’t such a capital idea.

It was time to declare the home as one’s own, and not the property of spiderdom, after the web doubled in size as a week passed by.  A tongue depressor confiscated from the crafts room, and an old Regal Entertainment Group quart size Coco-Cola cup stored under the kitchen sink for decades… all one needed to whisk that little tyke to outdoor freedom and a world of predation.

Best of luck, little one!

Each year it’s a given something, or somethings will work on the chimney cap and/or metal chase cover to try to break in and discover greener pastures.  We’ve had many delusional starlings during past years, and the same this year, or so one thought.  The racket lasted for days, but each trek to the outer edges of the garden and looking up at the chimney revealed nothing, except on one such outing the noise was indeed heard but no critter sighted.  That tenacity was becoming quite annoying.

Sitting at the computer and working on photos, it was fortuitous I heard the moment victory was achieved, announced by a fleeting two seconds of claws scraping on metal as it descended like a flash into the bowels of hell, landing with a thud.  It fell somehow to the crawl space under the house.  Forthwith, the objective was a prison escape clawing one’s way through concrete walls and metal grating.

Now you and I both know only a skeleton will remain with that kind of absurd thinking, but this little tyke was not a builder of family homes for people, so what did it know.  The clawing was incessant with darkness calming it down.  It was feared Animal Pro wouldn’t make it here in time, as the scratching quit for a day, then reappeared more subtle.  The minute the crawl space door was opened, it was confirmed to be a grey squirrel staring back at the guy.

It would be a perfect world if animals knew an open door meant escape, but somehow it never registers as such.  Two traps set with sunflower seeds and peanuts, and snap… got you!  The company relocates creatures to a farm they rent for the services, but relocations never works when the animal is unfamiliar with its surroundings and has no food storage for winter.  I felt somewhat sad about this ending... that is, until a chew hole where chimney meets roof was discovered, and part of the siding on the chimney corner was pulled loose.

There’s nothing like a Hornet flying amongst the pots of shrubs and herbs on the patio to make one take notice.  I have a healthy fear of them.  Looking up online just confused the matter, as I didn’t know we have a Ground Hornet called ‘The Cicada Killer’.  Ominous name isn’t it… especially for any Cicada nearby.  Now I have no idea which type of hornet I dodged.

The Honeybees are making themselves too much at home with the birdbaths.  I read their preference is dirty water, the filthier the better.  The ones here prefer whatever is available, bird poop dirty or water hose fresh.  They display no pickiness as to a preference.  Walking past the birdbath to turn towards the bird feeder, I usually touch the side to steady myself.  This stirs them up, and six or more disturbed bees make me a bit antsy.  I must admit, I feel safer among the gentle giant Carpenter Bees.

A few days ago, turning around from food preparation at the stove, a tiny black blur hung in front of my nose.  Oh great, yet another tiny spider caught in my hair while rummaging in the garden greenery earlier.  Pushing my glasses up revealed it to be the tiniest jumping spider I have ever met with tiny red whatever those little things are it uses to catch food.  It hung on a silk thread from the overhead light fixture, just dropping in for a meet and greet.  I broke its silk thread and placed it on a saucer for a ride out the front door and onto the porch railing.  It returned the favor with a frown.  I’m sure its plotting some kind of re-entry. 

You might have noticed; I live a very exciting life.  Eat your hearts out, blogging friends.

Just after my last blog post, I was stressing out thinking I was going to lose Lacey from starvation, as she was only drinking the broth from the Tiki Cat Chicken and Broth food… the dried-up chicken part always thrown out.  She only licked food, never chewed food.  The new medication takes weeks to work, so I was desperate to buy time with anything that she might eat by licking up, and that is when Gerber Turkey and Gravy baby food entered the scene and saved the day for now.

Although she lost another pound and feels like skin and bones, she looks better in the face and has started eating a bit of solid food, but as any cat person knows, just because she ate it today doesn't mean she'll eat it again tomorrow.  It’s been a steep learning curve pilling her by hand, as there is no option to say I can’t do it.  The only option is to figure out how I can do it.

I’m worn out and tired, tired, tired.  On the better hand, my neck pain has lessened, and I start back to physical therapy next week.  An epidural in my hip/spine area has lessened the pain in sitting.  Thanks for reading this far in my mini-book.  A few photographs here and there follow… I do enjoy my walk time along the garden paths before those pesky mosquitoes come in for a taste test.  

'Laura' Garden Phlox

Cicada Exoskeleton 

Cicada that died from old age.

It later became dog food when Dustin made his garden rounds.

'Jeana' Garden Phlox aging with unripe Beautyberries behind.

Callicarpa Americana var. lactea

American Beautyberry plant with white berries

Moss on moss

Green Metallic Sweat Bee on flowering wildflower 

(unknown weed, but I like it)

Butterflyweed seed pod

Turtlehead 'Hot Lips' Flowers

Large Flowered Bellwort with drought damage

This is how you know your bird feeder

 was visited by an Opossum during the night.

Twin Spot Skipper Butterfly, maybe.

I think this is a Potter Wasp nest

in our shade umbrella's crank arm.

Maybe a Small Carpenter Bee, of the genus Ceratina.

and not closely related to the more familiar Carpenter Bees.

They make nests in dead wood, stems, or pith, 

and are usually solitary, but some may be subsocial, .

Male Carpenter Bee

on Tall Blazing Star, Liatris aspera

Part of front yard island bed

This Post Is Linked To:

Saturday's Critters

My Corner Of The World

Wild Child

 

Male Carpenter Bee

Note the white patch on his face.

White patch, male - no white patch, female.

Bumblebee

This little guy was so active, I only got one photo.

Blue and Greenbottle Flies are as effective as bees at pollinating,

but they're usually thought of as feeding on filth, 

and sometimes passing on diseases.

They're quite pretty.  This one is feeding on nectar. 

Lovely Honey Bee

Last year... a few Honey Bees, this year... many Honey Bees.

I'm wondering where their hive is.

Visiting at the mud hole for minerals and salts.

Lovely iridescent Crane Fly feeds on nectar and aphid honeydew.

Larvae live in leaf litter, moist soil and rotting logs.

East side of rain garden

South side of rain garden

Further down south side

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) berries

Spicebushes in pots around deck

Hover Fly

Palpada furcata, a species of syrphid fly, 

resting and sunning on Spicebush leaf.

Hover Flies are almost as effective as ladybugs and lacewings 

at controlling aphids.

'Halcyon' Hosta (non-native)

Flowers hug the plant

Brown Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba)

Easily grows to five feet tall.

Moved into the garden on its own.

Clematis pitcheri

Fairly heat and drought tolerant

'Hello Yellow' Blackberry Lily (non-native and non-invasive in this yard)

Actually related to Iris, not Lilies.

Liatris aspera, Blazing Star

Growing in pots with Late Purple Aster, Symphyotrichum patens

At my age, changes may come in small differences in my life.  A small crossbody purse to replace an organizer purse twice its size, causing me to drastically downsize that which I feel is essential to carry around with me.  A nothing event to others, but a significant happening in finally admitting to myself that the organizer bag was beginning to feel like a fully packed suitcase hanging from my shoulder.

Ideally, my garden rooms weave a tapestry of adjectives and adverbs that are a self-portrait of me, but I've been slowing down as the years pass by, and the changes I make to my garden lately are a reflection of my health, not of my spirit.  As I walk my backyard pathways today, then sit on the front porch to look out over my front yard filled with trees, I question how these changes cause me to feel.  Like that little crossbody bag, I have exchanged more for less to keep my quality of life in a good place.  I'm a little bit sad about the loss.

I’m a wild person at heart, and that wildness is diminishing with age while my garden’s wildness has compounded as it matures.  My garden keeps reinventing itself, while I myself have run out of reinventing.  I think the only way my old garden will ever meet it's demise, is perhaps at the hands of a new owner.  Humans often have an irresistible desire to change that which they didn’t create to that which they will create.  Come to think of it, isn't that how I approached this yard in the beginning?

I believe my garden has left me in the dust as nature seems to be a powerful force in reclaiming her.  Sometimes I wish she would just vanish off the face of the earth, but then I am reminded I created her at her beginning, and she depends on me for care to keep her safe and healthy.  She’s like a child in the household, a very demanding one at that, but still a child that can please only as heaven can when she is happy.

While June and July were the months of dryness and unforgiving heat, August comes in with a heart of compassion.  The crackling of thunder can be heard almost every late morning as the heat brings in the thunderstorms.  Usually, a bit of fleeting coolness accompanies the storms as they pass over.  If one storm skirts us and we miss the rain, another is sure to follow with a downpour.  Hopefully the month will remain generous with rainfall.

Just a note about our calico, Lacey… besides her medication for hyperthyroidism, she is now on medication for Crohn’s Disease, plus temporarily, nausea medication.  She appears to be feeling better, and goes in for her two week check up on Friday.

(Well... I thought Lacey was getting better, but her check up showed she lost more weight, so her medication was changed.  It's a living hell trying to find something she will eat.)

If anyone has been following Charlotte’s saga of Lacey bullying her; after seven years, Charlotte has now left the confines of my studio, and is adjusting to her freedom to go wherever she chooses in the house.  It’s been a tiring experience working with Lacey, teaching her tolerance.  Sometimes miracles do happen.

Native Bush Honeysuckle, Diervilla lonicera

Ours grows in clay soil, and is not as aggressive as ones grown in amended soil.

Leaf-footed Bug Nymph, Acanthocephala

The adult will have wings and a slightly different shaped body.

Both eat plants.  I leave them alone.

Difficult taking photos of this little guy whose body (without the legs) 

is about one inch long.

Wherever I moved it would start walking fast towards me.

It followed me to the eagle, climbed the eagle when I moved away, 

then jumped from the top to the ground to follow me again.

It climbed the eagle a second time when I moved away, 

then on into the shrub beyond.

Hairy Wild Petunia, Ruellia humilis 

Tiny Green Crab Spider, Misumessus oblongus

on Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'

This spider is capable of moving sideways or backwards without turning around.

On the pathway, it looked like a small green dot in the center of the flower.

Raised vegetable beds removed.

I'm not sure what to do with this area after we moved the stray potted plants in.

The saga of the missing stone cast squirrel

Disappeared some twenty years ago.

Itea virginica 'Saturnalia' shrub

spreads by runners and swallowed him up whole.

Last summer the Itea shrub was pruned back to make it easier to take care of the area surrounding the White Ash Tree. 

This summer, the green side was above ground... the rest buried.

I thought it was a curious rock. 

Brushing the dirt away with my fingers, I realized it wasn't.  

A spade was needed to loosen the death grip of feeder roots around him.

He's a lot worse for wear.

He has stress cracks from freezing and thawing for twenty some years.

He'll have a nice home until he begins to crumble.

Lucky guy - poor guy... depends on how you look at it.

Maybe...  Dun Skipper Butterfly, Euphyes vestris

on Joe Pye Weed, Eutrochium maculatum 

1/4th inch long Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca) with its huge compound eyes,

waiting on grass flower stem for lunch to fly by.

It's capable of catching insects in mid air.

It's considered beneficial, although it may dine indiscriminately

on other beneficial insects.

It kept moving to the other side of stem as I photographed. 

Female Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae

on Hairy Sunflower, Helianthus hirsutus

Oenothera gaura, or Biennial Beeblossom

These appeared in the garden on their own, perhaps five years ago.

They grow up to six feet tall.  We use plant supports to keep them more upright,

although they do fine sprawled out in wilder areas.

They have an airy, ethereal appearance in the landscape.

Here they mingle with the tall blossoms of 

'Challenger' and 'Autumn Minaret' Daylilies.

Augochlora pura, little pure gold-green solitary sweat bee

with ants on Butterfly Weed.

Regular milkweed has toxins to deter ants,

but Butterfly Weed's toxins are weaker

and apparently do not repel ants.

Dolichopodidae, a family of Long-Legged Flies (True Flies)

Their beauty is missed until viewed close up.

“However many years she lived, 

Mary always felt that 'she should never forget that first morning 

when her garden began to grow'.”

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

This Post is Linked To:

Saturday's Critters

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

My Corner of the World