Sometimes despite our best intentions, thing go wrong. When I rescued this bunny I may have already sealed his fate. He was small enough to slip under our gate and get into the garden. Evidently when I was watering, he jumped out of the bushes and the cat (forever now known as "The Perp") saw him and caught him. She managed to break his neck by the time time I got the bunny out of her mouth. BUGGER!!!
THE PERP...whose butt got swated and who knows she is on the top rung of the "fecal ladder" at our house!
He will have a special place in the garden, darn it!
I was watering the big flowerbed next to our driveway when I saw a bush wiggle and a little baby "bunny" jumped out (actually a jackrabbit, classified as a hare). He didn't like all that water on him. He tried to get up the driveway toward the street but I was just able to catch him. These aren't my hands or the bunny I caught but he is the same coloring except mine was half this size!...way too little to be left on his own yet. He struggled a bit but I got him to calm down by petting him and rubbing his ears. I turned off the water and put him back down under the large juniper bush where his mom left him.
Here it is mid-August and we're still without ripe tomatoes. We've had onesies, twosies but...
To say it's been a weird weather/gardening year is an understatement. A heat wave in early June with triple digits, 2" of rain and cool temps in July, and an August where night time temps have been in the low 50's up here in the hills. I think the tomatoes are confused! But it looks like we'll finally get some hot weather for a a few days and maybe the yellow will turn to red or pink. Hope so. I have a feeling that we'll have a lot of ripe tomatoes all at once in September!
Got milkweed? I do! My neighbor in the yard next to me planted milkweed a few years ago in order to attract Monarch butterflies. Evidently it was "plant it and they will come." Then she moved out and left her husband AND the milkweed. For those who don't know (me included) the milkweed multiplies and is very invasive. So now I have milkweed invading my yard. I pull out most of it because it comes up everywhere. I have left a few plants by our common fence. What you are looking at is the seed pod formed from the flowerhead where the butterfly lays its eggs. They hatch inside and live on the stuff in the big fat 3-4" pods. Then they come out as a big fuzzy worm before they form a chrysalis and turn into a butterfly at some point.
These plants are over 6' and have several pods. So I'm hoping for a nice "crop" of butterflies , maybe in September. I suppose they will stick around for a short time and then head south to maybe Pacific Grove or Mexico.
Right on schedule, the summer doldrums have hit...they usually do in August...my absolutely least favorite month. I picked up a copy of Ladies' Home Journal...haven't read one in years...and discovered an article about Dorrie Jacobson, an 81 year old ex Playboy bunny with a style blog called seniorstylebible.com. It's full of good advice, starting with "Love yourself."
I figure if she can look hip at 81, I ought to be able to get it together at 72! Some other recommendations include putting on your makeup first thing in the morning and wearing something you feel good in. I've been trying that for some time except when I'm mowing lawns or doing dirty messing about in the garden. Otherwise, even if it's walking the dog or going to the grocery store or post office, I try to look put together.
So even if you aren't as far gone in the age department, do check out her blog.
