ken zirkel

Our garden has had its ups and downs. Most notably, a hailstorm in late June devastated several plants, tearing leaves and stripping branches off of the green peppers and several other plants.
But when we got back from vacation, we were greeted with our first big harvest. We had several cherry tomatoes, large tomatoes, chard, and […]

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I’m quite excited by the presence of hummingbirds at our feeder. There are at least two individuals, both females. I saw two of them feeding at the same time this evening.

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The wife put up a hummingbird feeder. I was sure that we would not get any hummingbirds where we live. I was wrong.

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Last autumn we had a small deck added behind the house. It’s a wonderful luxury for us now to be able to eat dinner outside, then sit together in the evening breeze afterwards.

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I’ve spent practically the entire weekend gardening (well, all except for a gorgeous bike ride around the neighborhood with the kids on Saturday evening). I’ve basically doubled our garden bed space, so that now we have two 12×3-foot beds, and one 8×2.5-foot bed. The new beds are more sunny than the old 12×3 bed, and […]

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I offered Son one cent for each rock that he pulled out of the garden bed that I’m preparing. He gave up after 65 rocks, and started playing in the dirt. Which I suppose was just fine by me.

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Tufted titmouse at our backyard feeder.

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I’ve seen moles in my yard before … but this is the first time I’ve seen one wandering around inside my house:

Edit: I captured the mole alive and set it free at the local nature sanctuary.

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This morning, the baby Grey Catbirds are looking more lively. One has not hatched, though.

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… baby birds, that is. Two eggs have hatched, and two are still intact. I got a good look at the mother today, and she is definitely a catbird.

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