Wildlife

It's not often you have to watch for wildlife when mowing your yard.

I pushed our lawn mower along the side of our garage yesterday afternoon and a small critter stopped me in my tracks. I just thank God I was paying even half attention or I would have chugged along completely unaware.

This little guy was just hanging out along the wall. He didn't move when I got close to him, and he only tried to fly when I got a bucket and some gloves to move him to a safer location out of our tall grass.

Where did he come from? There are no trees in our yard, at least not large enough to support a bird nest. I thought perhaps he fell from a nest in the garage gutter, but I didn't see any twigs and the like.

Once I was finished mowing the yard I returned the baby back to the side of the garage and called Animal Control for help. They referred me to a woman who rehabilitates and releases wildlife, but she wasn't home.

I went for a run and when I got back the little guy was gone. Our neighbor's children were in their yard being dive-bombed by a mama-bird. They said the little guy made it to their bushes.

Good. Mama will take care of him. He's in better hands than my own.

Spring-ananza II

Now that's some nice looking grass! You may see red clay, but that little green fuzz is the beginning of something greener for our yard.

See my little sprouts?

Spring-ananza photos

I keep promising photos, so here they are:

I went to town on some shrubbery. The first photo is of a small cherry bush I planted on the corner of the garage. The flowers were so beautiful, but the photo made it look like it would be more of a bush than a tree.

Either way, it's on my side of the garage, so I see it every time I pull in. (Oh, I also put a few perennials in old pots - you can see one of them in the bottom of the photo).

Bumps recommended we get a Yoshino cherry tree for the south facing yard. I found one for a good price, so in the south yard it went! She said they make beautiful canopies. Let's hope ours produces some leaves and I'll be happy!

Then I attacked the utility boxes. They are hideous and stick out even more because they are at eye-level from the street. I got some edging strips that don't require digging, then filled it in with pine mulch.

The flowers are perennials (notice my theme - I'd rather they come back each year than have to get more annuals). The shrubs closest and farthest from the street are lilac bushes, and the middle is a forsythia bush.

Then we attacked the dangerous rock piles used for drainage in the back yard. I attempted to spread out the rocks last fall but stopped when I saw two Black Widow spiders lurking around.

With a borrowed shovel in hand and a helpful husband, we spread out the rocks to form an edge along our back slope. It still retains soil, but instead of two large piles it is now almost like a babbling brook.

The big black spot is where I had to fill in the hole left over from the pile. Once grass grows there it'll be a little extra piece of yard!