Opportunistic Animals

That is the term hubby used; my view leans more toward freeloaders on most days.  A few years back a drought out west caused a bunch of pelicans to fly east to find water; now they won't go back to their former habitat.  They like it here, hanging around below the dams just waiting for stunned fish to drop into their hungry mouths.  Some fishermen are of the opinion that the decline in the perch population is partly the fault of the pelicans.

Sometimes the freeloaders are very naughty,

eating things they shouldn't, like this rabbit.

The live trap at dad's garden has probably caught the same squirrel TWICE. (There's no way to know for sure without hair dye.  What color would go best on a squirrel, magenta, chartreuse, neon green?)  Oh well, so far the rabbits haven't been caught and taken to a very large park over which eagles love to soar.

Other times, wildlife can be quite helpful.

This year there has been an abundance of frogs hopping around my yard and garden.  I am rather glad of this, because grasshoppers have also been spotted.  So at first I thought the greater number of frogs was due to that.

But the real reason they're in my yard revealed itself when I walked the dog last night.  I had turned the bug zapper on earlier in the evening, and after the walk I checked the ground under it to confirm a suspicion.  There were three frogs sitting under the bug zapper waiting.  If they could talk, their order might sound like "We'd like a bunch of mosquitoes, moths, and flies - extra crispy please - hold the June bugs".
Freeloading Frogs!

A Bacon,

Spinach, and Tomato sandwich is a tasty treat.

But under no circumstances abbreviate the name!

Farewell Rascal

June 2013- July 2018

Always full of surprises.

Here one day and gone 3 days later. 

Life is short, especially for rascally rabbits.

Your legacy lives on in the garden, thanks to your lifelong contributions to the compost pile.

You were a super duper pooper.

Growing Garden

Well, it is summer, so the garden had better be growing.  Plantings this year went in rather piecemeal because after years of being in damage control mode with mom's situation a lot of catching up has been required in the landscaping department this year.

So first thing, the compost pile was moved to where the winesap apple tree used to be.  The compost pile lattice is hiding behind some seriously happy tomato plants.  If they get any happier, they will have to be tied up higher or just be allowed to spill back down toward the ground.  Hopefully, piling layer after layer of compostable material on top of the stump will smother any suckers that it tries to produce.

Then the planting bed frame behind the garage needed replacing.
The new one is 4'x12'.  As usual, the plants are already trying to climb out of bed and run away.  The former location of the compost pile is happily volunteering pumpkins, sunflowers, morning  glories, and tomato plants.  I wasn't really planning on growing pumpkins this year, but they had another idea.  I guess we'll find out what kind they are later this summer.

No worries about the remaining cortland apple tree getting pollinated this year.  It appears that the bees and the crab apple trees in the neighborhood did their part.  The tree is loaded; and yes I know I should have pruned it back a bit more this spring, but I barely had time to get the suckers cut off before it budded.  March it will get a serious haircut.  We replaced the bug zapper this year; hopefully that will reduce the coddling moth issues.  I don't like using pesticides, because with such a small yard, the overspray would land on things that have to be picked on a regular basis.

An extension was fitted to the front porch downspout.

When we finally did get rain, it did a good job of watering the tomatoes in the front garden patch.  Although, it was necessary to pile some rocks under the end of the downspout to keep the water from digging a great big hole in the ground.

For the first time in about 2 weeks, we got rain yesterday and the day before.  After finding that dish soap now is too biodegradable to break the surface tension of water for more than a day or so, I had to put some goldfish in the rain barrels to eat the mosquito larvae.  They have done such a good job, that now I have to feed them to keep them from starving.

Well, now that the rain appears to be done for a while, it is time to put Rascal the lounge bunny back in her grazing cage.

And things need picking.

Black Raspberries

And Currants

Unfortunately, gardens aren't like movies;

there is no pause button.

They just keep growing, and growing, and growing....