I should not have been happy to see this critter on the corn. But he just seemed too pretty to do anything but get his picture. He matched the color of the leaves perfectly.
Garden Expansion Plan
While there were plans on paper, it sometimes turns out that the real situation does not work out as well as paper. So here stakes and flags are being used to test out the plan. The stakes at the bottom of the hill are the proposed fence line, small wood stakes at the top are additional raised bed locations and the flags represent trees or groups of trees.
From Garden to Table
For dinner tonight we had our first green beans from the garden. Instead of the classic Kentucky Wonder or Blue Lake snap beans, I planted a filet variety, Maxibel. I am not sure if the taste was as great as they said. However, since these beans are a lot thinner than the other kinds, I suspect that the timing given for steaming them was too much and they were overcooked as a result. If I had paid attention to all the details in the seed catalog description I should not have been surprised at how big the bean plants got — the description does say the plants are tall.
Peter Rabbit
For the past week or so, Peter Rabbit has been visiting our garden. I have tried hunting him with the camera, but he is very shy and uncooperative. The color of his fur seems a perfect match for the dry ground, so when he is still, he disappears into the background unless his white tail is visible. The fence around the garden is supposed to be rabbit and deer fencing. It has very small spacing at the bottom to keep the little critters out. However, I found a few places where the ground did not meet the bottom of the fence and have since filled in those spots. Of course the gate presents easy access to the cottontail bunnies we have here. There is more than enough room for them to get under. In fact, a few nights ago as we finished dinner, we looked out and saw the rabbit was between the garden and the house. Before I could grab the camera to get a picture, the rabbit dashed under the gate and ran into the garden — and apparently escaped through one of those low spots on the other side. So far, I don’t think Peter has really done more than munched on a couple low hanging strawberries as they ripened. I suspect we will be playing hide and seek in the garden for weeks to come.
Nice Kitty
Yesterday morning as I cleared my breakfast dishes from the table, I noticed a cat approaching along the back of the house. A very pretty cat that was not a stray or a neighbor’s pet. It had short tail and pointed ears along with spotted markings on its fur. As I reached for the camera which fortunately was there on the desk, the bobcat came right up to the kitchen door and looked in. I had to take the photos through the door. I tried to follow outside as it moved on to get a few other pictures, but the photo op did not last and the cat disappeared into the morning fog.
