the little wild kingdom

[frustratedearthmother]

That's a lot!

 

[flowerbug]

That's a lot!

i woke up early again and i'm tired already. lol

 

[flowerbug]

funny we're talking about Mom dumping out her boots today to make sure there aren't any spiders in there and she said there was one big spider but not sure of what kind and also some other bug which she wasn't sure what it was and then asks me if spiders have blood. well they do, but not perhaps what you'd expect as it might be blue and not red. so i'm not sure if that was a tick in her boot or not.

i go outside a few minutes ago to make the rounds and there is a large jumping spider which we have a lot of around here, black with some white markings (i think) and a few cm long when fully grown, which they are by now. as i am walking out the garage door there is one of these jumping spiders trying/or succeeding i'm not sure in eating one of the many stinkbugs that have shown up in recent years. i came in and Mom joked that perhaps it was desperate and tired of the smell of feet, so there ya go. it was still trying when i came in the door but the stinkbug had moved so i'm not sure how this is going to work out - a mystery for another day because i'm tired and don't want to bend over one more time today if i can help it.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I need to go find some of those spiders because they'd eat well around here!

 

[flowerbug]

I need to go find some of those spiders because they'd eat well around here!

i was thinking of you when i saw that. if those spiders can handle those bugs then they could also handle Japanese Beetles. some time i'll have to try to get a picture of one. they're spiders with a lot of character. if i find any inside the house i put them outside.

 

[flowerbug]

should be able to get some strawberries picked soon (hoping Saturday but might be tomorrow). the chipmunks and other creatures are finding them too so i'm sharing with the wild-animals. no time for hunting and i'm not going to put traps out in the rains. so far i've caught two mice in the rat traps and no chipmunks so the chipmunks are ignoring peanut butter. i think if i put part of a strawberry in the trap they'll ignore that too. i'll be out in that garden area most of today anyways so that will deter a lot of daytime adventures by the chipmunks but they do sometimes come along. if i take the air rifle out with me it isn't too likely i'd be able to hunt because the angles and direction are all wrong (facing towards the house or the neighbors) so they'd get a free pass anyways other than me tossing some rocks at them. they do always make me laugh though because as they are just standing there looking at me or the garden they're still moving as they shiver in place - just wired creatures on the go. i'm more like a turtle.

 

[flowerbug]

klutzy day today. i'd finished planting a bean garden and was stepping on some rocks to go from mud shoes to clean shoes and there was an oddly shaped rock that flipped up the other end right when my foot was rapidly being put from one shoe towards the other. very unhappy toes and foot for sure. i'm swearing and laughing and telling Mom to hang on a second because she's wondering what i've done and i'm hopping around in the gravel with one shoe on and other other off. when i finally tell her what i've done she says she won't kiss it to make it feel better or give me mouth to mouth. it's good to know where we stand with such things...

 

[flowerbug]

it really helped to take some ibuprofen in the evening and right before bed. this morning i can hardly tell i did anything to my foot other than the fact that i have three purple toes. one reason why i don't take pain meds all the time for little things is that when i really do need it i want it to work. seems to have.

i'll be out in the gardens today and hope i can get the North Garden planted with beans.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

it really helped to take some ibuprofen in the evening and right before bed. this morning i can hardly tell i did anything to my foot other than the fact that i have three purple toes.

Ow! I didn't realize it was that bad! Glad the ibuprofen helped!

 

[flowerbug]

Ow! I didn't realize it was that bad! Glad the ibuprofen helped!

there's a bruise about the last third of the foot. it is funny that two the three toes on the sides look worse than the one in the middle but the one in the middle must have been the one mainly jammed into my foot because most of the bruising is around that one. all the pretty colors! at least i can walk and it doesn't throb so i can ignore it as long as i don't hit it on anything.

i did get 2/3rds of the North Garden planted and then watered it in but that was enough for today. i had to get a shower and run an errand for Mom.

the thyme is looking pretty nice out there all around, we'll see if i can get a picture sometime in the next week when perhaps it will hit peak color for the season. i really do need to thin out some of the daffodils because there are too many of the same kind around the edge and it does detract from the effect i'm after, but that's ok for now this garden is a work in progress for sure.

picked some strawberries. not many berries this season. chipmunks, raccoons and at least one groundhog all are raiding. such is life. i don't expect much out of this garden in it's third season but it would have been nice to get enough to freeze some but that doesn't look like it will happen. we'll probably just eat and enjoy what i picked today and maybe i get another few quarts this season.

right now i'm hoping for some rain this evening to get the beans all watered in again. i have bean sprouts from the gardens i planted earlier in the week so that is good to see. bean sprouts always make me happy.