Garden Time!

So...all of my perennials from last year survived!  They were pretty scrawny for a while...then NY weather brought in the rain, and everything leapt right up again!  The exception is my various artemesias...urgh.  I think I may need to fertilize them a bit.

 

Wildflowers carpet a good part of our wooded turnabout, which B is more than happy not to mow.  We both love the touch of wilderness that it lends the wooded side of our driveway! 

I've discovered that the yellow flowers that are everywhere are an invasive species from Europe called Chelidonium majus forma, Greater Celandine.  The sap is bright yellow and will stain your hands if you're not wearing gloves...It breaks so easily, but it pulls up with relative ease.

Dead Nettle is also everywhere, but it's so cute!  B and I thought it was some sort of mint, but it has no minty smell, though it IS in the mint family!

 

Our front steps are now adorned with beautiful tree stump-like pots, which I planted with Pansies, wild Violets, Lemon Verbena, and Creeping Jenny. 

I love the scent of Lemon Verbena...it smells like moist towelettes you use to wipe your fingers after eating BBQ or shellfish!

 B and I picked out two gorgeous hanging baskets this year for the beginning of our walkway from the south driveway.  Purple and pink Fuchsia and adorable Chenille Cattails are enchanting!  The cattails look and feel like caterpillars!!  They're so soft....There was a little boy at Grossman's who was staring at them forever.  I finally told him it was okay to pet them, and showed him that he could touch them if he liked.  He finally did and we giggled and pet the cattails for several minutes, then he trotted off bubbling joyously to his mother about how soft and fun they were to pet. 

As you can see, my Red Columbine and Dark Blue Tower Columbine are bursting with life!  Hopefully my Artemesia will catch up and spill over the rocks again like they did so splendidly last year.  I forget what the pink plant is mixed in with the Columbine... 

We've had random tulips pop up all over the place, thanks to the squirrels, no doubt.  We even had daffodils pop up in the wooded area compost pile!

 Both my species of Astilbe (above and below) are back and faring well!  I had to pull them up and relocate them so I could plant my herb garden this year, but they went easily without a fuss and settled right in again.

 All three of my Coppertina Ninebarks -- Thalia, Aglaia, and Euphosyne -- are doing great!  Their colours vary so drastically, I'm not sure why -- maybe it's the amount of sunlight they get?  I finally planted the one below beside Kenna (my Crimson Queene Japanese maple) beside front of the north-facing garage door.

 My Full Moon Japanese Maple, Sachi, is also back!!  I was so happy to see that she wasn't dead after I failed to put her into shade last year (and she burned), that I cried.  I watered her plentifully and moved her into a shady spot near the kitchen birdfeeder area and I'm going to plant her this week in front of the house!  Sachi is absolutely glorious....

 

 Guess what massive plant this is (above)!  If you guessed, "Catnip", you're right!!!  No, I kid you not, that's my Catnip!!  The leaves are 3-4 inches long, longer than my middle finger!  I've pinched the buds to help it bush out and expand this year so we'll have lots of happy cats.  It's really strong, too, all of the cats reared away from the buds as I crushed them and took off running with their lips peeled back from their teeth!  They came back to roll around eventually, then much mischief ensued!

My three little dwarf Golden Princess Spirea are doing great, too!  I was so happy to see that they were back after the winter!  I call them my Yoshi Bushes.  Yoshi, the green dinosaur from Mario, that is.  Mikari, my Magnolia tree, is doing fantastic, as well!  The blasted rain took out all my beautiful blossoms, but not before I was able to give Peaches one for her birthday in a bouquet I made for her!

My Peonies have yet to bloom, but they're almost there!

What I've designated as my Wildflower Zone is currently filled with Rocket, Dandelions, Johnny Jump Ups, wild Violets, and who knows what else!  This is going to be my work in progress...We were going to smash the barbeque up, but we kept it, because it's kind of like a throne on the other side...

We just got back from Grossman's today and brought home an entire trunkload of beautiful, wonderful plants!!  I had snuck off to Agway earlier this week and brought home my own carload of greenage, too...

 The coppery black Vertigo grass (above) is going to be gorgeous against the house by the birdfeeder!  Escargot Begonias (below) will be going into Gnome Woods.  The spiraling pattern of their leaves is absolutely enchanting!!

Blue and Black Salvia will look stunning.....uhm, where ever I wind up putting them...I have no idea where some of these plants will go, but I'll figure something out!  They may go into my Wildflower Zone!

Celosia was a pick for B, because he always remarks on how cute they look, so I finally caved in and brought a flat of mixed colours home with us.

Forget-Me-Nots!!!!  These are really cute, because occasionally, there are weird little lavender guys in with the blues!  These are definitely going into my Wildflower Zone!

The Magic Carpet Spirea is new to my garden from Agway, and it will likely be going into my Wildflower Zone, too!  I plan on planting it across from the Coppertina on the north-facing garage door side so it gets enough sun.

I laughed when I saw this marked as "Lil Kim Lilac" (above), then came home and looked it up, only to find it's called "MISS Kim Lilac".  Maybe I should call the nursery and let them know...The scent is incredible!!  It's a dwarf species, so it will only grow 4-6 feet tall.  I can also keep it trimmed shorter, if need be, I imagine.  Our lilac bushes around the property are blooming right now, also, and the scent is heavenly.

Miss Kim Lilac (background), Sand Cherry, and Magic Carpet Spirea awaiting planting!  The Sand Cherry is cool!  It'll grow to be 7-10 feet tall, so it's very manageable.  I plan on planting her opposite of Kenna beside the bay window.  Aside from having beautiful purple-red foliage, it will also produce black berries to feed the birds!

Shoshoni Doublefile Viburnum, who I've named Aiyana, is going to go just beneath the cover of the maple trees along the wooded area between our house and F & M's house.  It'll be covered in berries for the birds to eat after it's done flowering!  I can't wait to get it established, it'll be wonderful to have more foodsources for the birds!!

Spitfire Coleus is another incredible addition to my garden this year!  I'm not sure where I'll put it yet, but B thinks it looks like it's dead.... T_T  I'm starting to think I want a Fall Garden year round... B said he thinks we should have bright spring flowers for spring and summer, because everything will go red in fall.  Sigh.

Well, that's it for my garden until I hit up more garden shops -- and only after I get all of these guys planted!!  I'm pretty sure I'm gardening outside, because I'm trying to avoid cleaning the inside of my house.  Argh.... Alright, it's midnight, time for bed!

Warm, soggy moment with Kai. (Bathtime)

I had an incredibly cute, warm, soggy (fuzzy) moment today in the shower with Kai today in the shower.  Some people may ask, "Why was Kai in the shower??"  Well, whenever I take showers, I take Kai with me so we can shower together.  He gets showers in the shower, but also over the kitchen sink while sitting on the faucet with the hand sprayer.  I give him a bath that soaks him completely three days a week, and he gets light spritzes in between.  It keeps him happy and softens up any pinfeathers that he may have so he can work them free easier, especially during his molt.

I was rinsing my face off with my back towards Kai, and I hear him try to fly from his perch onto my head.  My shoulders are too small, and he doesn't like to slap me in the face, because I squeaked the first time he tried.  He doesn't like to hurt me on accident.  Kai landed on the bottom of the tub, instead, and when I turned around to make sure he was okay, he waddled right over and perched on my toe, looking up at me.  Some of the water from the showerhead sprinkled down on him, and he spread his wings and tail out and started to bathe right there on my foot!  It was so adorable, I sang to him and he continued to bathe until he gave me his, "I'm done!" honk, then I picked him up and finished showering. 

It was a super adorable moment...Afterwards, we ate a bit of lunch together, and now he's here with me in the computer room.  I close both my doors up so it stays warmer and he can dry off faster.  Brrrrr......it's 43F here right now.  Go figure that NY still thinks it's winter well into spring....

My Bird Feeder List (2009-2011) -IN PROGRESS-

Please be patient while I go through 3 gigs of birding photographs to find all my resident and visiting birdies!

This will be our third summer living in our house, so I thought I would list all the birds that I've seen at our feeders!  I have  platform feeders for the "boisterous" birds, and hanging feeders for our "polite" birds, as well as suet baskets and peanutbutter+seeds smeared onto tree bark.  Notable birds include:

Skeeter, a disheveled looking mourning dove who will let you walk within two feet of him without becoming alarmed.

Soldat, a blue jay whom all other jays respect and let eat first, whom has a drooping wing due to an old healed injury.

 Baldy, a male cardinal whose head is completely bald.

Pair indicates there are clear mated pairs, single means I've seen them singly, or I can't tell if it's the same bird or a different one!

Boisterous birds:

Blue Jay pairs

Common Grackle pairs

Crow two pairs

Northern Flicker single

Pileated Woodpecker (new sighting for 2011 Holy pteradactyl, batman!!) single

Red Bellied Woodpecker pair

Red Headed Woodpecker pair

Red Wing Blackbird (new for 2011) one pair, three males

Ruby Throated Hummingbird (if you don't believe they're boisterous, you've never been dive bombed by a pissed off hummingbird before!) singles?

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker single

Polite birds:

 *Kissu!*

American Goldfinch three pairs

Black Capped Chickadee three pairs

Cardinal three pairs

Chipping Sparrow pairs

Common Redpoll pairs

Downy Woodpecker pairs
European House Sparrow pairs

House Finch pairs

Indigo Bunting (new for 2011) pair

Northern Mockingbird

Red Breasted Nuthatch pairs

Rose Breasted Grosbeak pair

Pine Siskin single (new for 2011)

Titmouse pairs
White Breasted Nuthatch pairs

Yellow Rumped Warbler (new for 2011) single

Yellow Warbler (new for 2011) pair

Ground birds:

American Robin dozen

Dark Eyed Junco (new for 2011) dozens!!

 

Fox Sparrow (new for 2011) single

Kildeer single

Mourning Dove expanding family, three pairs

White Crowned Sparrow pair

White Throated Sparrow pair

Unseen, but heard:
Eastern Screech Owl pair
Great Horned Owl

Resident Raptors:
Bald Eagle juvenile (spotted by Casey flying over our house!)

Sharp Shinned Hawk female

Red Tailed Hawk female

Turkey Vultures families

Fuzzies:

Chipmunk!

 Grey Squirrel family

Ground Hog pair
Rabbit family (absent 2011)
Red Fox (resident, across the street)

Red Squirrel pair, mommy is preggers!

Skunk family

White Tailed Deer family

Springtime with Kai

I've been away for a while due to being so busy, but I'm still here, if not as active!

We are now well into spring and I'm happy to report that Kai's aggression issues are very mild. He seems to be more clingy and needy than usual, because he is generally more aloof and content to be independent while doing his own thing. He hasn't begun to molt yet, but I expect he'll be more tetchy and mouthy when that time comes. The only thing that he's taken to doing, which isn't favourable, is emitting an ear piercing chirp if I stow him away in his house and he isn't pleased, or when we come home and don't go in to see him immediately. I haven't been reinforcing him and wait until he's quiet again for a few minutes to go in and see him. If we're separated and he's just making his normal, "Where are you?" call, I gladly respond back to him. It reminds me of how my mom, sister, and I call to each other in stores so we can find one another with soft clicks. I'm hoping that the ear piercing calls will expire with the passing of spring. He has been more vocal and grumbly in general.

Kai's aggression towards my husband has lessened. Despite it being mating season, he's been more tetchy and mouthy, but relatively mild (compared to other stories I've read!). At the beginning, he would lunge at my husband and try to take souveniers home, but his aggression towards him has dissolved. I think it may have to do with the fact that I now have my husband open his house when it's dinner time. If the stove is on, Kai is kept safely in his house, so he's only allowed to prep food (and sample bits of what's to come!) with me before I stow him away. When everything is done and we're ready to eat, I have my husband open his door and tell him, "Go perch, time to eat dindin!" So I'm happy to say that Kai no longer wants to torment my husband as much since I figured out this nice, new way to get them to interact positively and indirectly without physical contact.

Another odd thing I've noticed is that he now enjoys strawberries. He didn't like strawberries last year, but this year, he's decided that he likes them quite a bit! I wonder if he'll take to other red berries now? He generally doesn't like red things, unless it's bell peppers. This year, I'm growing many of his favourite things to eat, so we'll have lots of delicious, organic fruits and vegetables to feast upon over the summer and into fall. I'm anxious for the black raspberries and red raspberries to be ready to eat, they were so delicious last year!

His harness training has been progressing, but he still dislikes wearing it for the first couple minutes until he gets distracted by different surroundings. I only keep the harness on him for five to ten minutes at a time before removing it so he doesn't become too uncomfortable. I find that handling his wings during baths has helped him to become more accustomed to getting the harness on and off. He won't mouth or bite me if I handle him during baths, which has been very good! Eventually, I'll teach him that he can still fly with his harness in while indoors. I'm still leery of taking him out in a harness in stores, so he just rides around in his carrier if we go out. It would be all too tragic if he was startled by a dog, flew to the end of the leash, then got killed by the dog in pursuit. I have nightmares about that sort of thing! I would really love to take him with me to art shows, but one of our crafting friends has a phobia of birds, so I wouldn't want to subject her to terror like that.

I won't be taking Kai outside into the grass this year, because it looks like it's going to be a particularly bad year for ticks. I've already found one crawling on me after walking under a pine tree. *shudder*... The mites have been bad on raptors that we've banded this year, also. Last year, the chiggers were awful and I kept myself slathered with olive oil in an attempt to keep them at bay. I hope it's not as bad this year, I hate chiggers...! Other than that, I've been trying to teach Kai the names of various birds that come to our feeders. We've had a tizzy of newcomers, including Yellow Warblers, Yellow Rumped Warblers, and a enormous Fox Sparrow. Kai enjoys trying to talk to them through the window. He doesn't appear to like the Grackles, however, or the Crows, but that's understandable, they do look rather menacing. I plan on buying a bird song CD so we can both learn various bird calls.

In other news, during our stay in Britain, I'll be (dragging my husband along) going to Cornwall to visit the home of the World Parrot Trust, Paradise Park. Don't worry, I'll take tons of photographs!

More posting later, I need to get back outside and get my echinecea planted!

Spring Has Sprung!!

SPRING IS HERE!

I happened to be looking out the window as I prepared dinner last week and was greeted by a magnificent sight!!  A little Redwing Blackbird was sitting on my feeder!  I scared R, because I squealed so loud and went running for my camera.  When I got back, there were THREE!  And when I tiptoed up to see where all the doves had gone, I realized THERE WERE EVEN MORE ON THE GROUND!!

I couldn't get pictures of them, because I'm too short, but I didn't want to startle them off by getting onto a chair, either.  All the migratory birds are coming up again, so it's a sure sign that spring is finally here!!  The weather has been warming up really nicely -- then it plummets violently back down.  It might look crystal clear and fantastically sunny outside, then I step outside in a t-shirt, all excited about it being warm -- only to dart back inside again for a coat!  The sunshine is so deceptive!!  BRRRRR........

I'm so anxious to get my vegetable garden up and running again, but we're still not clear of cold snaps, and the garden stores are waiting for frost dangers to be over, also.  I didn't start my garden early this year, I figured that I would just buy the much bigger, sturdier plants from the garden stores instead.  The exception will be the snap peas, which I absolutely loved, and will replant this year.  They grew SO incredibly fast, I don't think I'll miss out on much if I start them from seed right into the soil.  I'll be picking the zucchini much sooner this year, too, rather than letting them grow into massive 4 lb monstrosities...They just turn so hard and gourd-like when they get big.  Bleahhh...

R and I also taped off the ocean room again (and ran out of tape partway through) and repainted it delphinium blue.  I'm going to be sponging the darker inlet blue over it to see if I can get the right effect that I'm looking for.  I've decided that I'm going to have it done by the summer so my little sister, mom and dad can have their own rooms when they come to visit in September.  I love the delphinium blue so much, I think I'd like to have it in the bedroom, too, instead of the darker blue I'd planned on.  I like the green in my craft room, but it just doesn't suit our bedroom.  I fished out the cool blue paper star that I bought from Pottery People two years ago and put it up.  It looks SO beautiful, and it's much brighter than the dark blue paper lantern the original owners had up.

I'm working on the house a little more each day when the pain and dizziness are bearable, but it's still slow going.  I hope to have the whole house cleaned up and looking nice before we go on our trip to Europe.  I'm still fretting over that, too, because I'm inevitably going to be worrying myself to death over our animals.  I got the okay to bring Kai's big house, so at least he won't be stuck in his little travel house, which is great, but he won't get nearly as much time to come out of his house to play at the shop.  What if he hates me when I come back?  What if he thinks I don't love him anymore?  T_T  

The same thing goes for Sacha...he was abandoned at the shelter and he's terrified of being abandoned, which he exhibits whenever we go to the vet's and he gets put into an exam room.  I'm worried that he's going to eat his tail off out of stress and worry...I'm hoping that he'll just play all day with the other dogs until he's too exhausted to even think about chewing out of nervousness, though.  Twitch and Ash are going to be watching the kitties, since keeping them at the kitty kennel last time cost over $500 for ONE WEEK...Yeah, we can't aford a whole month like that.  I'm already cringing to think of what Sacha's boarding will be like. 

R told me a cute story about Mia from last night when Twitch came over!  I had gone to bed a little early, cuz I get really tired early this time of the month.  For some reason or another, Mia and Murdock are terrified of new people.  Mia will actually hear the doorbell and make a mad dash for the laundry room, where she'll scramble over the shelving and voluntarily wedge herself behind the washer.  Getting her out requires a lot of smashing one's face against the wall while trying to reach her with an outstretched arms and very strong fingers. 

Well, since Twitch has been coming around more often, I think they're getting more used to him!  Murdock no longer runs in terror if we're standing in the kitchen talking :)  So yeah, the cute story!!  (Sorry, it's late and my brain is sleepy and rambly...) Twitch was sitting in my spot on the couch and Mia hopped right up, walked all over him, and even lay down on him for pettings!  Only, the second he spoke, she'd be making a mad dash for cover again!!  So as long as he didn't talk, she was perfectly happy to sit with him...  Kitties are so weird...!!  It also made for a very silent night, since Twitch really loves our kitties.  It gives me a lot of hope that they'll be just fine when they come over to care for them during the summer.

March kicked off the official Hawk Watch season, though I haven't gotten out to Braddock Bay yet.  It's just way too cold for me, still.  Once it starts warming up and my arthritis/fibro isn't killing me, I should be good to start visiting again.  I really want to get out to Owl Woods to see if I can photograph some owlies!!  I went to the volunteer meeting with Peaches last week (or was it the week before?) when she gave a presentation on owlies.  She did such an awesome job, and she and Daena both taught the class so much about owls!  I'm dead set on putting up my owl box and my other bird boxes this year.  We just have to borrow the 20 foot ladder back from M & B's house now that they're done with it for the winter.

I'm working with Kai on wearing his flight harness, also.  I finally put it over his head today after gradually introducing him to it.  Well, understandably, he didn't like that.  I got beaked quite a bit, and he did bite me once hard enough to draw blood as I took it off of him.  On a good note, he's gotten so good about letting me flip him over onto his back, though!  He'll let me play with his wings and feet, too.  When I kiss his head, I always keep my finger on his beak, just to know where it is in case he makes to bite me, which I know some birds can and will do during this hormonal/mating season.  Thankfully, he's not humping on anything, either... *knocks on wood!*

I thought I'd show a few pictures of how I made his house up this week :)  Every Sunday, I change his house around after I wash everything (house, perches, toys, bowls/dishes, etc), to make it different and exciting.  This week, it's Boing Week!  Boings are ropes with a metal coil inside to make them springy and somewhat rigid.  Birds generally absolutely love Boings.  Kai adores his boings and loves to swing from them upside down and play on them.  I add a lot of stuff for him to pick through and fling out of bowls, too, like popsicle sticks, jingle balls, toys, wooden beads, discs, etc.

I also ordered something special from The Parrot Lady!  It's called a Parrot Pocket (http://www.parrotpockets.com/), and it's made of untreated leather, so it's very resilient.  Kai didn't quite know what to make of it, but I stuffed it full of food and he's been figuring out how to properly use it.  It's a little tight and hard to get things into, but I imagine it'll loosen up over time.  You'll notice that I like to tie toys to his house...Kai also LOVES to play with things that swing, but it's also to keep him from flinging everything in the world off his house.  He likes picking them up again once he's swung them, too!

I also bought some colorful luffas for Kai to chew on!  I stuffed them with tasty treats to provide forage-ability, too!

Another super wonderful, cheap ($8 at Country Max) foraging toy is a woodpecker feeder!  It has four holes to insert the cylindrical woodpecker suet/seed bullets into, but I just put treats and food or popsicle sticks into the holes.  I wouldn't recommend it for birds whose heads are small enough where they might get stuck in the holes, though!!

I always hide treats in his toys, especially old toys that he might have beaten up a lot from the past.  I rotate his toys every week, also, so he never gets bored with them.

Okay, well it's definitely bedtime now.  Kai is whining at me to put him nighnight.... Good night, Moon!!

Naughty Kai is trying to get onto my desk to attack my mouse and keyboard, hee...