My path

I didn't exactly create this path in my backyard but in a way I did. A stone path has been there for about 20 years, maybe a little less. But over time the stones sank, or they were overgrown, and were sometimes hidden under grass or weeds. So I dug them up, one by one, filled in soil or rocks underneath each one, added a bunch from elsewhere in my yard, and raised them up. I also changed the path's direction in places to avoid shrubs that had grown over the path. I wish I'd taken a before picture.

There are dozens and dozens of such tasks I can do in our backyard, side yard, or front yard. See all that ivy way in the upper left corner surrounding the white door? I should pull all of that down. Spending so much time at home since March I've had lots of time to survey my various overgrown yards and make decisions about what should be done. Mostly cutting back vines. I'm not at all good about follow-through. So doing this path repair was quite fulfilling. I'm now working on thinning out a large patch of forsythia, a shrub I heartily dislike but tolerate. 

Very nervous about the election today. Here's my guess/prediction as of 4:30 pm. Biden can win with either AZ or PA. Trump has to get PA to win.

Animals. And sugar.

This Christmas card from a dear friend shows most* of the critters that roam through our property. From left: tufted titmouse (I think), cardinal, chipmunk, fawn (deer), squirrel, blue jay, raccoon, snail, fox, and another cardinal.

Speaking of deer, the Park Service is holding another hunt, or managed kill, in the park next door. The hunt happened last year too and we saw a difference -- the number of deer that sleep, roam, and give birth in our neighborhood went way down. They're still around but not nearly as many of them. Which makes you wonder why they're having the hunt again. Maybe on the theory that they must stay one step ahead of the deer because they are nearly impossible to control around here.

The article under the card about sugar was good too.

*To be complete the picture would need a groundhog, a rabbit, a cat, and a opossum. We got 'em all in our deep suburban abode.

Four o'clocks at my front door.

I didn't plan to have only these creamy white blooms by my front steps but that's how it turned out. A couple of years ago I planted about two dozen 4 o'clock seeds under the window at the left. Now they are spreading everywhere but I'm OK with that. The vines crawling up the railing are red cardinal climbers that will soon produce tons of little red flowers for the hummingbirds to feed on. I'll never be a garden planner. I prefer random acts of planting.

Summer storms.

Last Thursday afternoon. Back yard looks pretty calm and serene.

Oh wait. What's going on here, on the right?

Ack!

At about 4:30 PM on Thursday the winds howled, the rain came sideways, maybe thunder and lightning -- I don't remember because it happened so fast and the windows in my living room were emitting a high-pitched wail that made the cats flee. I don't think the storm lasted more than 15-20 minutes, but when it ended the neighborhood was a mess.

Our damage was similar to that of neighbors behind us, but at least our trees didn't hit houses or cars (or people!). Just fences and benches. Sometime during the first night after the storm, at least one deer found her way into what had been a hosta-filled, deer-proofed garden. She nibbled off just the hosta flowers and ignored the foliage (oh, she'll be back for those leaves soon). There are too many holes in the elaborate fencing to fix before a contractor can get into this mess and remove the stump and the massive trunk attached to it.

It's now Tuesday morning and the chain saws, cranes, and heavy moving equipment have been working almost non-stop since Thursday. Not in my yard, but in yards where the damage was much worse. They even worked throughout the night the first day or two--so many cables and overhead wires came down that the utility companies swooped in to help clean up. (This is why you'll never hear me complain about Pepco, our local electricity carrier. Those people work hard and fast and I'm so grateful to them all.) Today we hope to see work starting on our big mess.

This summer Doug will devote much time to rebuilding his lovely bamboo structures, recreating a nice curve to the bedding area, and replanting bedding plants. I'll help but mostly I'll focus on getting the deer fencing back in shape. The neighborhood is thick with hungry fawns.

Here's an old picture of his bamboo project. See that nice redbud on the right? Gone with the wind.

Wildlife in my yard.

 

A cute little chipmunk was hanging out today under my front porch bird feeder. Clarence enjoyed watching him root around.

 

This notice was just posted near our driveway. It's not a surprise; we learned months ago that it was going to happen. Soon, in theory, there could be people shooting at deer just yards away from my house, from 6 PM until 6 AM, Monday through Friday. Unless the deer figure it out and stay in my yard, where they spend much of their day anyway.

 

The green shows the protected parkland where they thrive and where the hunt will take place. Our house is on one of the white roads directly bordering the park. The deer like to linger and graze and sleep and give birth on the fringes of the park, which is precisely where our house is. It will be strange during the hunt. I'll be listening. I'm in favor of the hunt, for many reasons. But I'll be glad when it's over.

My lone bedraggled sunflower survived the deadly storm that blew through town yesterday, but the next door neighbors' picnic table did not.

We were very very lucky, and lost power for just about 15 hours. But there are more storms heading our way.

The bamboo curtain, phase 1. I'm very happy with it. And happy Doug did all the work.

See the tree stump in the lower left? The tree-removal man said he'd "be back" to do a better job on that stump. Yeah, well, that was a few months ago, and you know how it goes sometimes. So Doug's thinking of building something that will hide the stump. If left up to me, I would leave it alone and just let ground vines cover it up. But then I'm lazy and he's not.

A new addition to the back yard. In need of a noun.

Doug built this bamboo screen in the area we've been fretting over for years, even before we lost one huge tree to the right of the red maple. The design ideas were done by both of us (in my opinion) but he ordered everything, and he definitely did 99.9% of the work. We had been considering bamboo for months (years?) but after we saw the bamboo exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum when we were there in September, we knew we could do it. We were mostly convinced by seeing how strong lashings can be; we are pretty certain that no wind will knock these things down. The bamboo will rot over time and we'll have to replace each piece probably. Another help in getting the project launched was hiring someone to buy some big 4 x 4s, bring them to our house, dig big (3 ft deep) holes, insert the 4 x 4s into the holes along with concrete, and stake them up until the concrete was set. We hired a young kid to do all that, and then Doug did all the other work of constructing the structure. It's a screen, really. Now, when we sit on our deck we won't have to look at all the miscellaneous yard stuff our neighbor keeps behind his house. [Which is his right, don't get me wrong.] Doug added a third panel on the left, just to the right of the red maple, and I have a feeling he's now addicted to making these things so there may be others here and there in the years to come. Our county only allows fences to be 6.5 feet tall (maybe only 6 feet actually). So these structures are definitely NOT fences. They're way taller than 6 feet. So far, I don't call them screens. I call them the bamboo things. I'm searching for a better noun.

Found in my yard: Fennel seeds, drone, and mica.

Yesterday I found this guy on the front porch of the beehive. The workers (girls) toss out the drones (boys) because they're just a drain on the hive over the winter (since they have no jobs, no skills, no responsibilities--other than the admittedly enormous job of passing along their Precious Bodily Fluids to any passing Queen). There will be plenty of drones available in the spring to mate with the Queens.


I also found a bit of mica. I save it (it's a slow process) but one day I hope to have enough to make something with it.

I'll crush the fennel seeds and toss them on a salad.

Maybe not.

I boasted a few weeks ago that I would cover these deck supports with smashed aluminum cans like the crackpot who lives nearby. Change of plans. As I pounded in the two nails holding up these two cans I thought: now what happens to this 4 x 4 after I've finished inserting hundreds of nails on all four sides. Hmmmm. Let me think this through a little more.

See these cans? See those ugly 4 x 4s holding up my deck? Remember the Alum Can House? Yes I Can!