Was feeling a bit too much gut pain last night, so Joanne schlepped the cans to the curb for Tuesday morning pick up. When she came back in, she mentioned there was a rat tail (only) on the far end of the porch… maybe Mom-cat was leaving us a present (or asking us to clean up the place a bit – you make the call). Haven’t seen Mom-cat around (nor any other cats), but am happy for her efforts / rewards if she’s policing the grounds and grabbing a meal @ the same time. Go Mom-cat!
(Speaking of Mom-cat, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I’m visiting the kittens this week and will post fresh pics of them soon after our visit.)
We (and I mean that in the loosest sense of the word) picked the remaining cherries yesterday. OK, Joanne picked all but 3 cherries (it hurt too much for me to do it)and also harvested the apricots… birds’n’squirrels got 95% of the cherries and there really weren’t too many ‘cots this year.
The garden is flourishing and I hope to post some pics of that over the next few days. Joanne has just planted some, ahem, “late” carrots – they ought to be ready about Christmas – hey, just in time for Carrot Claus to come down the chimney, right? (It’s Monday – gimmeabreak.)
The latest Lil’ Bob (baby dove from the nest outside our bedroom doors) fledged over the weekend and we watched it being fed / moving about the yard, interacting with its parents. Lots of posturing and wing-flapping going on all weekend; Interestingly enough, Mom-Bob appears to have taken up residence in the nest (after re-stocking it with new materials) after doing the hey-baby dove dance of love on my fence.
(I MEAN IT – GET A ROOM, YOU TWO – SOME THINGS I DON’T NEED TO SEE AGAIN!)
Based on the finch nests with moms nesting, I’d say we’re down to our final two batches of eggs / chicks to hatch. This year we’ve had (as best we can tell) a total of 7 finch families return to the nests to lay eggs; as best we can tell, they haven’t lost any babies as we’ve seen fledgling’s from each family as they’ve taken flight. It’s been great watching / listening to them participate in flight school around the property. I’ve recorded ~3 hours of HD video and audio of all of this… someday it’ll make it to The Legend of the Two Big Cats. (some day….)
That’s it for now. Drop a note, give a call or stop by if / when you’re in the neighborhood.
hal