busy

I've gotta get some new pics up here.  I have some, quite a few actually, but it's too much fun to be outside doing stuff.  I don't want to take the time to fuss around with this.  I'll try in the next couple of days.  I've got work to do out in the yard, though.  If I don't hop to it, you won't be able to get in and out of the house, the front walk is getting so overgrown.  I'm going to take some of the daylilies and move them out to the area by the road.  Clears the walk, fills an awkward gap that is a pain to mow - win-win, I say. 
I'm also trying to grow some more vegetables this summer.  The swingset has come down, in preparation for a new shed.  I've already got some tomatoes and peppers in pots growing out there.  We'll see how it works.  My long-term plan is to set up some raised beds, but I want to see if there is enough sun for veggies.  If not, I'll go for shade loving perennials.  That's the cool thing about gardening - if one thing doesn't work, something else will.
And I've got a new rain-collecting barrel.  We've had one for a while, in the back of the house, where it catches runoff from a crease in the roof.  The new one is connected to a downspout, and is in front of the house, where most of the plants that need to be watered are.  It's in the herb garden, under an overhang in the roof where no plants would grow.
I used to do a lot of vegetable gardening.  One year I made a lot of pesto - so much that it lasted until basil came into season again the next summer!  Here, my yard is fairly shady, so we'll see how things go.  I've done tomatoes and such in tubs on the front deck with some success, but I'm feeling more ambitious this year.  Wish me luck.

hungry

Those winter moth caterpillars I wrote about the other day have pretty much finished off the leaves on my witch hazel.  I hope it will come back - the leaves, not the munchers!  Interestingly, they've eaten the spring blooming shrub, but not the fall blooming one.  Coincidence?  Location?  I cheer every time I see a bird eating one of those worms.

supper

We've been inundated with winter moth caterpillars here lately.  They are little inchworm type critters, about 1/2 an inch long, and they are decimating the leaves on many trees.  The big, healthy trees will survive, at least this summer, but the weaker ones will be culled, and so goes the circle of life.
On the other hand, somebody's got to eat some of those caterpillars.  And I just saw a cardinal that was doing his darndest to get as many caterpillars as he could.  His mouth was just stuffed full, and he kept trying to grab more.  I suppose he's got a clutch of babies somewhere to feed.  Maybe I'll poke around and see if I can find the nest.  The birds can take as many of those caterpillars as they want - I like green leaves.