For me???

I decided to go for the easy shot today - Scoobie, the garden chipmunk.  As you can see, I lured him with a pile of sunflower seeds, which he handily dispatched in under 10 minutes.  Honestly, I bet he has at least 10 pounds of seeds stashed in his burrow, that little rascal.  And as long as I put them out, he'll stuff his cheeks and carry as many seeds as possible into his larder.  No danger of starvation for our little Scoobie this winter.  

I did some work outside today.  Hubs and I agreed on a patch of "wild" on our property as a sight for some milkweed and other wild flowers next summer.  It is going to be a stinker of a job clearing it, but it should be a perfect spot for a second pollinator garden.  I want to get it cleared and put in some soil as soon as possible so I can plant the seeds that need cold stratification (which is pretty much all of the native wild flowers).  So I weed-whacked and then hand pulled some stuff until my back started screaming at me.  More tomorrow.  

Two hummers in the yard today.  And one male rose-breasted grosbeak.  The grosbeak was an immature male and I've put his photo in Extra if you'd like to see him.  He'll be a stunner by next spring, but even now, he is a bit of a looker.  And one utterly adorable young chipping sparrow, on Flickr

I brought my butterfly nursery in last night because it was going to be windy, rainy and cool overnight.  And by the time I came downstairs this morning, #70 was already sitting quietly in the enclosure, looking perfect.  I kept her in until around noon when the sun was finally out and temps had warmed up to around 65 F.  I opened the enclosure and she flew right out!  Only two more to go now and I think it will be a couple of days before they are ready, as they were my last two to pupate.  What this means is that you'll probably get one more monarch blip from me before I close the nursery for the year...

Hubs is having a good visit in Alabama.  He'll start the drive home tomorrow, arriving here either very late tomorrow or sometime on Monday.  

Ci vediamo, people.

Debbi