It's that time of year. Every time I turn around outside, something has changed. New things are blooming and the grass is growing fast enough that we're going to have to get hay cutting equipment soon if we don't catch up on the mowing. We've had a lot of rain this past week and the humidity and temperatures are rising. In fact, the last couple of days, we've had temperatures in the high eighties.
Also, I saw a fox in the yard recently. This is an unusual occurrence since they are usually out at night when I'm not. In addition, the ground hog holes finally look active with fresh digging around both the front and back entrances. And speaking of seeing new things, I put up a hummingbird feeder and have seen two of them feeding from it. We often get hummingbirds later when the tiger lilies are blooming, but I wanted to see if I could attract them sooner. We'll see if they continue to come. But the best things I saw this week are the chickadee chicks. Baby birds definitely fit the "so ugly, they're cute" idea.
Here are some things I saw this week during
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| The azalea continue to bloom. |
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| The first of the Siberian iris have started to bloom. |
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| I was excited when I found this Jack-in-the Pulpit wildflower. |
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| Another wildflower, the buttercup, is giving a nice show in the fields now. |
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| This is the fox I saw trotting across the yard in the middle of the day. |
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| The lily-of-the-valley are blooming. |
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| Five of the six chickadee eggs hatched. I don't know exactly how old these chicks are but I guess a week or less. |
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| Meanwhile, the bluebird continues to sit on her eggs. |
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| Across the yard, the sparrows are building a nest. Once again, I have not shooed them away as recommended. Maybe they'll leave the other nests alone if they have a good place for their own. |
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Yesterday, this was a tight little bud. Today the rhododendron had buds opening all over it.
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