O.K., So I Talk To Birds....

Our friend Colleen came over recently to see the vegetable garden, and as we were showing her around, I noticed a Wrentit land on the bird feeder.  Since these small songbirds have a very distinctive call but are shrubbery dwellers who are difficult to see, I started talking to it, welcoming it to our feeder.

Colleen asked Cindy, "Who's Kay talking to?" since she didn't see anybody else around.  "Oh, Kay talks to birds," was Cindy's reply.

Well, yes I do that.  A few days before I had been talking to this very handsome Toucan at the Living Coast Discovery Center.

And a couple of weeks before that we spent about twenty minutes apologizing to a Moray Eel at the Birch Aquarium.  We had just commented that the Moray Eel was one of the ugliest critters we had ever seen, when the fish, which already looked pretty depressed, began to look even more dejected.  Its head drooped down and it looked so sad we felt we had to apologize to it for insensitivity.

Many years ago I talked a peacock on Peacock Island in Berlin into opening his fan of tail feathers for us to admire.  That one took some doing; I had to tell him that I thought he was one of the handsomest peacocks on the island, but that another peacock close by was also very handsome, and eventually he opened up and strutted around to show off his fan of gorgeous tail feathers.  I guess peacocks are susceptible to flattery, too.

So, yes, I do talk to birds, and other critters, too.  I'm only going to worry if they start answering me back.

School Volunteer Appreciation

Cindy and her Master Gardener friend Lorraine recently helped some of the teachers from Franklin Elementary School prepare some miniature succulent gardens as appreciation for the folks who volunteer at the school, including those who help with the school garden.

Take Some Potting Soil...

We set up tables in our driveway, the teachers provided the dishes and the potting soil and Cindy and Lorraine provided clippings from various decorative succulent plants in their gardens and everybody got dirty preparing the mini-gardens.

Add Some Succulents..

Apparently rooting succulents is not very hard:  clip them off, stick them into soil, add some decorative pebbles, give them some moisture, and leave them alone.

Spritz Them...

And... "walla" as people in my home town used to say (mispronouncing "voilà), it's done.

And...Finished Product

Big Mama's Brood

Our neighbor sent me a text the other day to the effect that there was a rabbit in one of our vegetable beds.  Knowing the damage a rabbit could do to the growing tomato plants, I grabbed my camera and went quietly out to the garden to see if I could catch the varmint in the act in one of the protected raised beds.

When I got out there, all I saw was a California Towhee scratching away in the vacant soil in the long  raised bed, but no sign of a critter and no damage to the tomato plants (they can have the kale, as far as I'm concerned).  A short time later she sent another text saying it was a squirrel, not a rabbit.

Ahhhhh, mystery solved.  Big Mama, the matriarch of the resident California Ground Squirrel population, has produced her usual Spring brood of babies; we've only seen four this year, not up to her record of seven from three years ago.  See "Baby Boom".

Fur-Covered Vacuum Cleaners

As usual, she's taught the babies where the free bird seed buffet is located under the main bird feeder, although she herself prefers the tastier and more expensive Niger seed under the separate feeder we have for the Lesser Goldfinches.  That feeder is in one of the open beds, so that's probably what Kathleen saw.  The squirrels are welcome to clean up the loose seed; otherwise we'd probably have canyon rats after it.

Happy Mother's Day, Big Mama.  Enjoy the bird seed, and stay away from the tomatoes.

Not A Good Year For Peas

After going like gangbusters for the past few years, this year's crop of both Sugar Snap and Oregon Green Giant peas was much more of a bust than a gang.

Puny Looking Pea Plants

In fact, a few of the vines withered up and never even really made it onto the strings that Cindy had installed for them, and those that did attach didn't climb very far up the strings.  This is surprising since they have done so well in previous years.

We have no idea why they have been so lackluster this year; there could be some pest that has attacked the plants or something in the soil, but this is all just a guess.

One thing we did notice when we ate some of the Sugar Snaps was that the pods were much thicker and tougher this year than in previous years, although the peas within the pods were succulent and tasty.  Again, we're not sure why this happened, but one guess is that it might be due to the hotter weather we had earlier in the spring; it may be that the pods became tougher to protect the peas themselves.

One thing for sure is that this crop of peas won't take up much space in the freezer this year; that's a good thing because we're still working on the green beans from last year and two years ago.

Potatoes New Home

Cindy has been working very hard recently to complete the new raised bed out behind the fence, and now she has moved the potato grow bags into it.

New Raised Bed

Since the new bed is out behind the fence, it's even more important to protect the plants from the varmints in the area.  We saw a very healthy looking rabbit under the bird feeder on this side of the fence the other day, so we know they're not very far away.

Potatoes Are Blooming!

The potato plants were looking a bit wilted after their move, but Cindy hooked up the irrigation system yesterday, and today they seem to be reviving from their move.

I'm always in favor of more potatoes.

Franklin School Garden

Cindy has been working for a couple of years with teachers and volunteers from Franklin Elementary School, a few blocks from our house, on a school garden project as part of the Master Gardeners' school garden project.

Starting from pretty much nothing, the kids, teachers and volunteers have established a really nice garden, which was recently named for Winnie Hanford, a local resident who inspired this garden project.  Winnie and her family recently retired from running the Kensington Video store, a fixture in the neighborhood for over thirty years.

These garden beds have been such a hit with the lower grades that there are now plans to establish a garden for the upper grades, too, in some vacant space behind the school.

This space looks pretty dismal now; I think they have their work cut out for them to make it as nice as the lower grades' garden.

Baby Shower

Ummmm, not for us, for Project Wildlife, San Diego's wildlife conservation and rehabilitation facility which is now part of the San Diego Humane Society.  This time of year is baby season for all manner of wild creatures, and many of those babies end up at Project Wildlife for care and rehabilitation.  Project Wildlife cares for between 8,000 to 10,000 birds and other animals every year, in one of the most biologically diverse areas in the country.

This shower provides a way for people to donate items they need for care for these babies and other animals that come to the center, so here's a link to their wish list: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/266G9B2B7TO00/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_v? .

And here are some pictures we took of some of the animal ambassadors from Project Wildlife.  The ambassadors are critters that have been rehabilitated but are not able to be released back into the wild, so they help provide education for humans.

Bobber--American Kestrel

Luna--Western Screech Owl

Opossum