Who's That Knocking at Our Door?

Oh, it's Big Bird (not the yellow dude, though!)

This guy has been hangin' around our back stoop a lot (as you can see in the picture, he is standing on the step) nabbing little skinks and gobbling them down his long throat right before our very eyes.   It's pretty amazing how fast he moves.  Makes me glad I'm not a skink.

Luckily, we get to watch from the safety of our Dining Room, only around a foot or two away from this preying giant.

 

This giant flower belongs to my Dad and happend to be blooming while we were there for Father's Day.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

That blooming head is roughly the size of my head. 

Seriously.

I forget what it is called, but it's stunning!

Update: It's called a Blood Lily (Scadoxus multiflorus) - Thanks Scott! :)

 

This is Jason making cookies. 

We all worked together the other day to make Oatmeal M&M cookies and it was the highlight of the week (in a week with a lot of highlights!)

Leif won't stop talking about it, so we'll be making some more cookies together at the end of this week.

Mr. Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum).

We've seen this bird (and friends) a lot around our house lately, and couldn't figure out what he was.

He was the same size and shape as a mockingbird, but was Brown.

Turns out, he is a Brown Thrasher, in the same family as Mockingbirds, hence the resemblance.

Brown Thrashers don't Mock like Mockingbirds do, though.  They have their own song.

I think he's very handsome, especically with that spotting on his underside.

Garden Update:  The garden is continuing to grow nicely.  I've planted more squash, cukes, & beans - and some of them are actually sprouting.  On some plants, this will be the third succession of plants coming up, which pleases me greatly.  By this time most years, my garden is spent and wasting away.  But this year, I have new plants cropping up, while the old ones are still producing (for the most part).

The yella squash, after being pelted by hail and attacked by powdery mildew, are now being attacked by squash beetles.  They still have little fruits on them, but I don't think they'll make it through to full size.  The leaves are yellow and sometimes fully-wilted-brown.   The zukes, right next to the squash, are still producing, and the leaves are lively and green, with many new leaves still young and growing.

The long beans are producing wonderfully, and I found a great recipe for them.  3 of the long beans are enough to serve as a side for our little family :)

The cukes are producing well, too.  I've only made cucumber salad with them, though - I can't seem to get enough of that stuff!

I've been wondering about my gourds:  they produce loads of little fruits (I posted a picture of them a few weeks ago) but none have ever grown into a full sized gourd.  In fact, they all disappear when they are very small - just gone off the vine. (I've been having a lot of garden mysteries this season, eh?)

It didn't occur to me until yesterday that the birds may be feasting on them while I'm not looking. 

Most gourds are edible when young -

only when they're mature do they lose their squashy innards and dry out (and become inedible).

When they're young, they're like summer squash.

Anyway,

There are no little gourds on the ground, only the new ones on the vine.

In fact, those little gourds I posted a picture of a while back, well...they were gone the very next day.

I reckon I should put some netting around it to prevent the birds from getting the gourds, but I'm not sure I'll have time, or if it is too late in the season for a gourd to grow full size.

We've got a very busy few weeks ahead of us - lots and lots to do.

Oh, and a Cancer Update!

The skin graft fell off my ear the other night.

That's not good - it wasn't supposed to fall off.

So I went in to the Dr. (where Leif wooed the nurse with, "My, it sure is a lovely day today!")

and basically, the hole will continue to fill in on its own, and they will not re-do the skin graft.

I'm actually pretty happy with how it is healing.

It isn't such a pain (literally and figuratively) with the graft gone, so my life is a little easier.

I will have a notch in my ear for the forseeable future, but I don't care about that.

I can't see it unless I'm using two mirrors, so it doesn't bother me.

(Outta sight, outta mind!)

And I'm not the sort to care if other people think it hideous.  Oh well! ;)

My next appointment will be for a full body scan (every three months I'll have to have one!) to make sure the cancer isn't coming back in any way, shape or form.

Fun, fun.

It's been raining up a storm here lately.

We'd only had two rains (or so) so far this season up until the other day.

It has rained every day since, and both the garden and I are loving it.

The garden is lush and green from the water.

And I don't have to pay for the water.

Win-win.

Until the rain came, I had to water every day, or else the plants slumped and cried.

That's a lot of water.

Keep it up, stormy skies! :)

I'm planning my Winter Garden now...

and I'm taking suggestions.

What do you think I should have in my Winter Garden?

Any favorites?

Thoughts?

What say ye?

Leave a comment and let me know! :)