Autumn from the back window

The view out the back window into our yard.

A batty houseguest

I was shocked to discover yesterday that a little bat had wedged itself between the screen and upper storm window to spend the day.

He was gone by evening and didn't come back this morning, but Jeff is going to look into make a bat house to prevent such freeloading in the future.

Green bee

I had never before seen a green bee, but I recently saw one on a coneflower.

(You should really click on the picture and look at it as big as it gets. It's pretty cool.)

Apparently, it's from the genus Agapostemon, but other than that, it's too hard to tell what species it is. Cool-looking, though, huh?

A little visitor

I happened to check on the dogs when they were being suspiciously quiet outside this afternoon, and this is what was keeping them busy:

Yes, a baby raccoon in our lilac bush. Jeff and I finally managed to get it out and it's now under the neighbors' porch. Fun.

I severely trimmed the lilac so it won't be so attractive to wayward mammal babies. Cordy, however, is inconsolable that we scared away her new friend.

(Photo by Jeff while I was calling the wildlife center)

Compare & contrast

What I was looking at a little over a week ago:

What I'm looking at now:

Feel free to discuss.

There's a fungus among us

They appeared after the rains and hot weather we've been having. It's hard to tell from the photo, but they're five to eight inches high.

I don't know what they are, but I didn't want to risk the dogs nibbling, so I yanked 'em up.

Well, that was exciting

We had a tornado warning this afternoon.

Jeff's out of town, so when the sirens went off, and I confirmed it on the radar, I highed myself and the pets down into the basement. Spike had to be carried in his little travel cage, and Kaylee had to be carried because the stairs were scary. We sat away from the windows and watched the clock waiting for the storm to pass.

It did.

There was a possible touchdown less than a half a mile from us, but we got nothing more than rain. Still a little scary, though.

But we're fine. And I learned that we need to clean the basement. That will be Jeff's job when he gets back from his trip. :)

Garden update

It's been a while since I posted pictures of the garden, so I thought I would.

This little bed along the fence used to have our lettuce and spinach and kale in it. Once the weather got warm, however, it was given over to Swiss chard and some "leftover" pepper plants from a coworker. You can also see the nasturtiums that are keeping the fig tree company.

I need to harvest some of the Swiss chard before it starts to shade the peppers again. Good thing we like it, since it grows like crazy!

This is the first year that I'm growing eggplant, but I seem to be doing well. One of the plants has five eggplants on it. This one has two, but they're starting to turn purple.

In addition to the peppers my coworker gave me, I've got another container with ones that I raised from seed. These were a mix, so I've got some green bell peppers, as well as some purple and red ones, too.

My tomatoes are producing, but they look like crap. These are the Mr. Stripey heirlooms, which are doing OK.

I used to have tomatillos in the same bed as these tomatoes, but they were doing horribly, so I yanked them up. I'll probably plant a fall harvest of kale in their place in a month or two.

My tomatoes may not be look nice, but my basil looks fantastic.

I'll be making pesto this weekend.

Lions and tigers and bears

Oh my!

Jeff and I headed out to the Columbus Zoo this morning, where we bought a membership and proceeded to see as many animals in an hour and a half as we have in probably all the other times we've been there.

Here's the lion:

We were about four feet from him.

Here's the tiger:

And here's a sunbear:

We saw lots of other animals, too, and even got to pet some of them. Look for more pictures later this week. We've been having a busy few weeks, so this was a nice, fun zoo visit.

Herbs

"You say 'erbs', and we say 'herbs', because there's a fucking 'H' in it!"

Most of the herbs are out. The Italian parsley is waiting for me to decide where I want to plant it, and the basil is waiting for it to get a little warmer. But the fennel and chives (above) are quite happy.

I've got two types of cilantro this year, along with two types of mint. There is also dill and rosemary in the above photo, all doing quite well.

Thanks to everyone for their car suggestions. We probably won't be making a decision 'til next month (for several reasons), but we're leaning toward getting rid of The Folly and getting Jeff a beater car. We still haven't quite decided yet. We'll just have to see how things pan out. But I do appreciate the suggestions - they've helped a lot!

Gardening

Jeff and I spent several hours gardening this morning. I pulled up a whole bunch of wild onions, and there are still plenty more out there!

Our bleeding heart has really bounced back. This is what it looked like a couple weeks ago. Here's what it looks like today:

And our peonies are about to bloom. Normally, they don't bloom until the end of May/beginning of June, but these are going to be early. I always remember when they bloom, because our first year in the house, we were on our honeymoon and missed them.

The new job is going well. I like everyone I'm working with, and the work seems interesting.

Vulture!

Jeff donates this cellphone photo to my blog for your entertainment:

This turkey vulture was hanging out on his 26th-floor windowsill, apparently waiting for Jeff to fall ill and die. After a half hour of testing the window caulk for leaks, it gave up and left.

(That's the Scioto river in the background and the building in the lower right is Columbus City Hall, in case you care. :)