Nature At Our House

If you visit my blog for long you’ll discover that I love all things nature. And I want each of you to know that I am truly honored and awed that you would come here to read what I have to say and look at the photos I have to share.

So today I have more photos that I would like to share with you.
I was walking around my gardens yesterday pulling weeds here, checking for pest problems there when I came across this guy. Isn’t he amazing? About an hour later I took J out to see him and she asked, “Mama, how did you know he’d still be there?” Because dear, moths are mostly nocturnal and he’s resting up for tonight, he’s always trying really hard to look like a leaf so he doesn’t become lunch for a bird. I'm not sure what kind of moth he is but he's huge and he's beautiful.

I live for June because that’s when my lilies bloom. There is simply no other flower as easy to grow and yet as showy, as sweet smelling or as elegant as a lily. My preference is for orientals but asiatics and daylilies all share my garden as well, they each have their purpose.


Sorry I couldn’t get a better picture of the eggs in this nest but I have since learned something new about photography and manual vs. auto focus. The mom of these eggs built her next in a pot in my greenhouse. I almost destroyed it thinking it was just a wad of trash and then I recognized the swirl of the straw and oak blooms, the hallmark of a birds nest. I will go take another picture for you soon but for now I’m leaving her be because I don’t want to frighten her off permanently.

I also love these guys even though they eat my tomatoes, lilies and anything else they can get their bills on. These of course are ducks but we also have geese, I just don't have a pic of them just now. There’s something intriguing about the way the geese communicate in different seasons. During the summer it’s all about hooking up and making more baby geese, very loud and very unromantic. Makes me very glad I’m not a female goose. But during the fall when they start to migrate their call is both haunting and somehow very soothing.

But geese, nor deer and rabbits, nor the moles and voles, nor the rats or any other type of vermin bother my garden much these days since these two took up residence with us. They make certain that things stay tidy and well policed in the warm blooded pest control division. Here they are taking a well earned siesta in the middle of my bed. I only allow them to take naps with me, at night they each have their own appointed sleeping spot.

You've net Nigel, he's a bit hard to see because he blends in so well with the afghan but look closely and you'll see him. The big guy is Toby. He is our daughters dog but he took a dislike to her future M-I-L and so he lives with me now. Our whole family loves this dog, he's just a big teddy bear. He doesn't bark unless there's good cause, he gets along with the cats, and although he loves to chase the geese he never harms them, if one of the geese can't out run him he just goes right past them, he really only wants to play chase but the geese don't know that so they stay out of my veggie garden these days.