The quiet life

I'm still on family duty but I have the morning off. Really looking forward to getting a real break for a few days. One more early call to crawl through tomorrow, before I can get back to some serious blogging. Meanwhile it was nice to wake up and find Avedon Carol had linked to our harvest roundup. Thanks, as always, for the support Avedon.

I'm missing my friends from Noho a little more than usual after having seen them for such a short time last week. It occurred to me the best part was being with people who have known me long enough to understand my sense of humor. They always laugh at my lame jokes.

On the wildlife front it's been insects this time of year. I had this huge black dragonfly that was attacking my car a couple of days ago, or maybe it was wooing it - it was hard to tell but it was definitely trying to communicate something with its circling and divebombing. Maybe it was just the sun on the glass was annoying it. It was a rather impressive display in any event.

I have this one butterfly that's been "watching" me as well. I haven't been to identify it but it appears to be some kind of grass skipper. It's taken to landing on the brick and just sitting there when I'm on the porch. It let me get quite close to examine its markings but with the wings down it's difficult to imagine what it looks like while flying. It forms an almost a perfect triangle. There's also this enormous grasshopper of some sort that has been literally hanging around the house. Every day I find it in a new place, sometimes on the screen porch, sometimes on one of the windows. It just sits there for hours on end without moving. I can't imagine what it eats from there and I'm surprised the spiders don't try to get it.

Highlight sighting of the week however was the wild turkey. I was driving home from the family homestead and nearly ran into it when I turned the corner. It had to be at least 25 pounds. Absolutely gigantic and not at all afraid. I stopped the car of course and he took his time ambling into the woods, not minding at all that I was practically hanging out the window to watch where he was going. He seemed practically tame.

In fact it turns out he almost is. There was a woman standing just down the road watching him as well. I stopped and asked her about it and it turns out that she and her husband have been feeding them. They have lived in the neighborhood long enough to remember when the development the family lives in was still a farm and tells me there used to be flocks of them along with herds of deer.

And finally, for those of you who are wondering about the garden. Don't ask. It appears the only thing I will harvest from that puppy is the one tomato I picked last week. The deer have eaten it into oblivion otherwise. On a brighter note though, the morning glories have been growing like crazy but haven't put forth a single bloom. This morning I believe I've seen the first signs of actual flowers. I may see some heavenly blues before the summer is over.