Tag: rabbits

Wildlife – 2016

Blackbirds eating the sun flower seeds
Robin nest, front porch. The Robin’s have been nesting in this same nest for 4 years now
Rabbits, eating the lawn. they actually eat the grass right down to the roots, and leave big holes in the lawn

 

Bull snake. (not venomous)

 

 

 

St. Anthony’s cross in the Roses

 

 

 

Birds at the south feeder

 

Yellow headed black bird

 

Black birds

 

 

South Willow Garden

February 10-12, 2015 Wednesday-Friday

The south willow garden is overgrown.  The willows keep spreading out taking over more and more of this space, yes I know – they ARE willows and that’s what willows do.  When we first moved into this house 11 years ago, the contractor scraped the lot and smoothed it all out – I guess they thought that would make it look pretty.  Actually it was a house sitting in the middle of a dirt field.  Not my idea of pretty.  We bought the house in December and started first thing in the spring purchasing the specimen trees that would eventually anchor the whole landscaping plan.    100_0875

Then all of a sudden things started to grow on the south side of the house.  Apparently there used to be an underground irrigation pipe that cut across my yard diagonally from the reservoir ponds to the north/west of the subdivision, across the street, and then across town to some farm at the east edge of Brighton.  Really.   And the willows put their roots down to tap that water source.  So first thing in the spring, after being scraped off level to the ground, they began to work their way back up.  I decided to honor their tenacity and let them stay.  (The orange paint on the ground is the outline of what will be the edge of the lawn.)100_1771

So now the willows get trimmed back to half their height about every 3 years and every year I dig out their shoots that keep spreading out and trying to take over the whole bed.  They’re worth it though, they provide good screening all year round and the birds use them for shelter as they visit the bird feeders.South willow garden in summer (2014)

EVERYTHING in this garden needs to be trimmed or cleaned up, the willows, the marshmallow, the day lilies, iris, elderberry, sand cherries, Russian sage and viburnums.  The rabbits have completely destroyed the quince.  (SAD FACE)  They must be particularly tasty because they ate them right down to the ground.  I really wanted their coral colored flowers to balance all the purple in the Russian sage.  I’ll try again next time they go on sale.

 

Holiday Lights

I’ve really been enjoying my free time! Getting lots of other things done around the house. This morning we had a very successful rehearsal for our upcoming Imbolc Ritual. We will be honoring the return of light, the growing and continually rising cycle of the Sun, we will ignite the spark of our creative passions as we look to the future with hope and joy. Sparks, ignition, time to think about projects to come.

snow drops

Time to get the lights off the trees and shrubs so I can start the winter pruning!  So I poked my head outside to see how cold it was. Not too bad, in the 40’s, a lot of the snow has melted and the pathways are passable. No excuses available. I’ll start with the south berm trees and shrubs first, because the south berm has the least amount of snow on it. Two tubs of lights, and one tub for the electrical cords and timers, done. All the tubs are numbered and labeled and they go into storage in the opposite order that they will come out next year when we repeat this holiday light ritual all over again. It’ll take me the rest of next week to get all the lights down.

Time to remove the holiday lights

The fresh crisp air really uplifts my spirits, and all that slogging around in the snow has me peeling layers in fifteen minutes. There’s one little daffodil top poking out, everyone else is still asleep. The birds have wiped out the seed in the feeder again and the bird bath fell over. I can see the rabbits have munched the grape hyacinth and early species tulip tops completely down to the ground again this year. Bastards!

But the Mother always works towards balance. On the way back to the garage with the first full tub of lights – – – bunny parts on the path. Yea! Poor little dead bunny foo foo. Bwhaaaaaahahahahaha.