Saturday, July 12, 2014

Garden update, and crafty wildlife

Still life with sweet peas
It's really beautiful in this part of the world right now, if just a bit on the hot side (we made it all the way to 82F yesterday), about fifteen degrees above normal, with the first cool-down looking to come at the end of next week. Other than having to keep a close eye on my garden, with all this sunshine and lack of rain, I'm truly enjoying myself.

I was supposed to be skydiving today, but my friend Linny called and told me that she isn't doing very well at all and will try again next weekend. Plus two of my other skydiving friends aren't going to be out today or tomorrow, so I just decided to let it go. It's a long drive down south without my friends to play with. So instead I joined the Fairhaven walkers for my usual Saturday trek around town. We stopped frequently to hydrate and let the slower walkers catch up. We walked down by the bay, so the breeze off the water and the early hour made it especially enjoyable. Then I went out to get some pictures of my garden.
Happy bumblebee
My garden neighbor Nate has allowed his leeks to flower, and this bee is certainly happy to see this blossom. It was simply vibrating with delight, or at least that's what it seemed like to me. Everything is going pretty darn well in my neck of the woods. The garden has been giving us beets, sugar snap peas, broccoli, lettuce, and more zucchini than we can eat. I've been giving them away to the neighbors, since they are not taking them out of the community garden.
Mr. Big Crow
We have four crows who have discovered the cat food I've been leaving out during the daytime. After a few days of chasing them away, I decided to just let them be. They are a lot of fun to watch. Plus I got a larger container for water, since I realized that many birds are having a hard time finding fresh water as it gets drier around here. This is the biggest of the four, and although it's hard to judge how big he is, with nothing to measure him by, many ravens I've seen are about his size. They are very clever, and they have already figured out that I'm the feeder and watch me going about my business.

I also ran across an interesting YouTube video that was posted by a Facebook friend. I really enjoyed watching this a few times. Some information about the making of it is as follows: "This takes place in England - the owners of the yard added each piece of the Rube Goldberg contraption slowly so that when the squirrel learned one section and got the nuts, they then added the next section. Finally it ended with what you see on the clip! It took over 2 weeks to get to this point."
Enjoy!
:-)

23 comments:

  1. haha...omg...that squirrel video is awesome...i wonder how he trained him...i love squirrels....

    sorry you missed out on skydiving...but i hear you on wanting friends along...

    i have noticed the crows more and more...her as well

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  2. The squirrel video is amazing. Nearly as amazing as your garden. Love it.

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  3. i've seen that video - too cute! sorry no skydiving, but glad you're enjoying your abnormal weather pattern!

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  4. Squirrels are brilliant and great athletes. What is not to love? I miss watching them here, for some reason, they prefer my neighbor.
    Hope your friend feels better and you can get your knees in the breeze.
    Had to laugh at 82 being hot.

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  5. The critters are much smarter than we give them credit for.

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  6. Love the video....
    The music is perfect for it!
    I've been away in NC for a while, so I haven't been here to visit you. I've missed being here, and always so glad to return to a bit of your Washington paradise.
    Hugs,
    J.

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  7. We reached 90 today and that is hot. We have the grand kids today and by this afternoon we were all seeking refuge in the house. We actually turned on the air conditioning, the first time in three years!
    About 9:00 we'll go for our evening walk in the neighborhood and watch the moon come up.
    I saw that squirrel video too, and find it amazing! And fun.

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  8. Your Sweet Peas are awesome..deer like them you know...I think they can smell them:)

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  9. For sure. I've been trying to defeat their nefarious behavior for years.... and failed time and again to keep them out of my bird feeders. :)

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  10. The sweet peas look so pretty and haven,t you done well with the veggies! I watched the squirrel video and laughed. Such a clever and determined animal! Lovely pictures, all.

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  11. Your very nice garden is going to inspire me to write a blog post about my (much different) gardening life.

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  12. Beautiful garden to keep you busy.

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  13. What a great display of gardening and "livestock"! I hope things keep going well in those regards.

    Blessings and Bear hugs!

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  14. Every morning I take the leftover cat food out to our deck, put it on the railing, and call the crows. "Caw, caw!" I say. Within five minutes it's all gone.

    My husband calls the crows "The Boys". They've been our companions for years.

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  15. Your garden is looking good DJan, I love your Still Life w/Sweat Peas photo. I know 82 is hot for your area but you make we want to come over for the cool. We hit 107 today.

    I love that video. I have seen it before but I laugh every time I watch it.

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  16. Adorable video! I really didn't know what to expect when I clicked on it. Thanks so much!

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  17. We are far from dry. One of our nearby lakes has the largest recorded depth that has ever been recorded! And today is a record low of 67. But I know you'll be sweltering. I'd trade if I could.

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  18. I have seen this video before and just love it. We must never underestimate the intelligence of animals. Your watchful crows included. They're very bright birds. I hope you'll get out to dive before too long.

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  19. You're doing good deeds all over the place- feeding yourselves and the crows. The squirrel video made me laugh.

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  20. Love the squirrel video! I do love squirrels. But crows are awesome, too. I am so glad you are going to let the crows have some cat food, too. They are so intelligent and observant. I have always adored crows. Your garden sounds like it's going great guns! I know you'll be jumping out of the sky a few more times this summer, but the hiking crowd is fun, too. ;)

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  21. Oh, an acrobatic squirrel and a handsome crow. I like your sweet peas, they are a favorite flower of mine, pretty and sweet scented.

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