December 15, 2015 by Born To Organize

Squirrels Stop by For Lunch and That Strange Polldaddy Link

How’s that for a catchy title, eh?

Before I get to the cute squirrel photos, I wanted to thank Lisa and Kelly for pointing out the odd polldaddy url. It started showing up in front of posted comments. Weird.

Originally I ignored it. These things tend to pop up now and then, then disappear without notice. Who am I to question why. This odd feature however refused to budge.

I contacted the WordPress Help team, and here’s what they had to say:

We’re aware of this issue and our developers are working on a fix! The URL is related to the Ratings feature being enabled in comments. A recent update has broken this link. If you’d like to avoid seeing this, you can disable ratings. Otherwise, our developers are already on it!

If this shows up on your own blog comments, know that a fix is under way.

Now on to the cute squirrel shots.

I asked one of the boys to strategically locate three tiny pumpkins from my Halloween display to the top of my garden bench. I knew the squirrels would enjoy the treat. The top of the bench gave me a front row seat to their cuteness.

Back in October, three small pumpkins were part of a display

Yum!

I love the way she/he’s holding on to the curled stem.

Double Yum!

Plump and happy, a bit like me after spending six weeks on the couch while helping myself to Hershey’s Kisses.

Footnotes

I had my six-week follow-up with my doctor this week. She’s delighted with my progress! I am free of the cast at night, but will continue to wear the surgical boot/brace by day. I’ve also started to walk with crutches. She wants me to continue the exercises and to begin to put about 25% of my weight on the foot. It’s painful to walk, but necessary for healing, so I’m following orders and looking forward to continued healing. I’ll be on crutches for two to three weeks, and if all continues to go well, I’ll be back in real shoes by early next year.

June 11, 2014 by Born To Organize

Just a Day in the Garden

Things are humming along in the garden these days. Our tomatoes and raspberries are jockeying for position, and the basil is finally growing up. If you look carefully, you can see it in the lower, right corner of the box near the hose I was too lazy to put away. [ahem]

Tomatoes, Raspberries and Basil

The potatoes I didn’t plant, jumped the edge of the box, happy in the heat. The strawberries look nice, but for the first time in my gardening history, they’ve been over run by ants. Ack! I reached in for a juicy red berry and came out with a handful of swarming ants along with the fruit. When I did find an unencumbered strawberry, it looked great but tasted bland. I think this is the last season for them.

Compost potatoes spill from the box

My EarthBox pumpkins are growing well, but for some reason the water wicking system isn’t working. I’ve had to hand water three days in a row as they’re drooping by mid day. I may remove the compost covers tomorrow when it’s still cool and give them a long soak. I’ll let you know it that does the trick.

Ever-mischievous Mouse the cat cornered an iridescent lizard on the garden path. I put Mouse in a ‘time out’ for a spell, then encouraged the tiny lizard to make haste. He was happy to oblige.

Western Fence Lizard

Mouse looks innocent when he’s asleep

One of the squirrels dropped by and offered to sample the apricots and plums. Just a couple of bites out of each one should do it. Yep, yep…carry on, carry on. Nothing to worry about here.

Sampled Fruit

Taste testing the fruit: we passed!

I have a new theory about their bushy tails. I think that’s where they store their ego.

In better news, the fruit covered in netting remains untouched. Hurray for that.

Thanks for following along on my garden adventures. Your companionable comments are among the highlights of my day.

September 5, 2013 by Born To Organize

Frank and the Squirrels Who Loved Him

That sounds like a dime-store romance doesn’t it?

In this story we have no tragic heroine, just a sad pumpkin named Frank unable to live up to his potential after a careless gardener tossed him willy-nilly on to the walkway. Poor, poor, Frank.

There are no villains either, simply opportunistic squirrels passionate about (eating) pumpkins.

After Frank went splitsville, even a hardy set of staples couldn’t keep him together for long. The elements took their toll. Frank flat-lined. It was time to remove the staples.

Frank’s demise

After counting to three, I reached down and scooped up a mass of soggy pumpkin pulp and a handful of white seeds. The rest was up to the squirrels. They came and went for two days, but I never had my camera ready. The stars finally aligned and I took a handful of photos, below.