USAhockeyGirl's Blog

I have so many flower / plants that I grow for the purpose of attracting butterflies. With as much time as I spend outside, you would think I would see more than the sulfurs I have been seeing. I was a little worried that they may be afraid of the birds that come and go from the yard.  Then I started thinking, I don't even have that many birds this year either. My finch feeder and socks are virtually full day after day. I hear them and see them flying by, but I don't see feeding at the feeders. I certainly see the sparrows but still not as many as last year. It's disappointing not to enjoy them daily. 

So, I was pleasantly surprised to catch these on camera the other day.

Pretty Swallowtail.   There was a monarch around this swallowtail but it was too afraid of me and kept flying away.

Certainly not as grand as Bett's but I still love the white. I definitely need to acquire some different colors for next year :)

First bloom. It smells so lovely, day or night.

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From my garden this year.

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I am enjoying the gorgeous different types of Zinnia I planted. Along with the Zinna, very tall Cosmos, poppies, gazania (not quite blooming yet due to the poppies falling and shading them), and burgundy sunflowers that are not blooming yet. I am going to try to fence up the poppies today so that the gazania can start blooming. 

Before I planted the mint in this garden (see past blogs), the garden was filled to the hills with moss roses. This was a good 7 years ago. Low and behold they were waiting patiently to make a reappearance. I have gorgeous mixed moss roses in bloom sporadically thoughtout this garden. What a nice surprise :) 

The garden is much bigger than the pictures appear. And I am standing below the garden on my hilly driveway. The morning sun is not very forgiving. It's going to be a very hot one today so I wanted to get out early.

 
My favorite colored zinnia in this bunch 

Poppies and Moss Roses. You can't really see the Gazania. Just the leaves.

 Waiting for the Sunflower to bloom :) There are about 6-8

I've been irritated with the chipmunks in the yard. If they aren't running out from under a bush or plant and scaring the be-jeezus out of me, they are digging in my planters and growing their own millet gardens.

 Last night was the topper. I was just about to go out and water my plants when I decided a bathroom break was much needed beforehand. So, the troop (my 4 dogs) and I headed into the bathroom. They tend to follow me like a parade on main street. So, minding my own "business", I hear a squeal coming from sort of next to me. I look around and nothing. Thinking it was just something the dogs moved and made squeak, I continued to go back to my own thoughts. One of the dogs turned quickly and just as I was about to look up from the floor, low and behold a little creature - Chipmunk - goes booking across the floor an inch from my feet! I jumped up, still in my "business suit", and grabbed one of the dogs collars who I thought had the best chance at getting bit and wrangled the rest out of the bathroom...still in my "business suit". I slammed the door closed, put my attire back together and went to grab for the phone.....SHOOT, it's sitting on the hamper in the bathroom. Heart racing, I opened the door and moved extremely slow and grabbed the phone and got back out without incident.

I called my step dad and we brainstormed how to capture this darn chipmunk. Remember....I have 4 dogs..duh.  He came over and spent about 45 mins tearing apart the bathroom without finding it. He gave up and left. 

After thanking him for his efforts, I went back in the bathroom to put things back in order, convinced it was not in the bathroom and had escaped past me.

The dogs were now out and about. I have 4 dogs. 3 cocker spaniels and 1 mix - Pitbull, Rottweiler and German Shepherd. One of my cockers was actually bred to hunt. Not the brightest dog though...Well, he and the others were very interested in the bathroom. They weren't in the way so I let them be.  Boom, my mix was so focused on the radiator. He was diggin and scratching and trying to get his 100 lbs body in between the slots. Just as I walked past the radiator, I see whiskers and a leg! Goofball knew it was there the whole time. Why didn't I just let him in there in the first place? He's always batted 100% when it comes to household / yard critters. I don't know what other genes this dog has but he sure is a darn good hunting dog. My cockers are only good if they can see it right in front of them.

After 3 hours and 3 flushes (not the toilet...hahaha) he managed to get the chipmunk in the dog kennel and my son was able to slam the door closed on the crate.  Whoo Hoo!

We decided to walk it down a few blocks to the cemetery to be released. Half way to the cemetery, the darn thing shot out like a bullet and ran up at tree. The booger somehow found a hole big enough and escaped!

Today, another darn chipmunk ran across the front porch in front of me.....GRRRRRRRR

How to get rid of Chipmunks? I really need to know the answer. Anyone have any good ideas? I live on a busy street so I can't let the dogs run rampant. They have their own fenced in area for that.  

Boom, all pooped out.

I so enjoy everyone's posts and blogs on their beautiful colorful blooms. I am like most others and really enjoy all the colors and shapes of the different blooms. 

Last year, I had no blooms on my hens and chicks. This is o.k. because I know they die after they flower.  I have a small garden of many rose colored hens and chicks, I enjoy. Last summer, I fertilized them a little too much and they turned green throughout the summer. This was kind of neat. This year I have 4 in bloom. I really enjoy the 3D pop out feature they give, as I dont' have any other plants that flower like this. Even though they only offer pale blooms, they are beautiful and unique in their own way and I just love them.

Farewell pale beauties....

Thanks for the babies :) 

Last night was fantastic! I surprised my younger son with tickets to Jason Aldean. He was playing at Summerfest in Milwaukee. What a great concert! The openers were Thompson Square and Chris Stone. This was his first concert seeing a current popular band. I planned on taking some pictures with my phone (good camera on it) but just as the concert started, my phone broke! What a disappointment. We were up close to the stage too. Regardless, if you get a chance to see this concert, GO! It was a really great time :)  

We got home really late...still sitting in my jammies at 8 in the morning! LOL  

At the end of the month, we are going to see Dirks Bentley at our County Fair! Whoo hoo!  

Tonight it's World of Outlaws, Sprint Series and Sunday I get to watch my younger son play with the big boys for high school hockey tryouts.

What a great weekend planned!!! 

I just love watching these little guys. I never even knew they existed until a few years ago. You know them right away when you see them :)

My goal was to see what would grow well together. I've had terrible luck with containers over the years. I did a lot of research over the winter and came up with a few combos and then I winged it on some.

Here's a walk-through of some of my containers :)

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I love that commercial....cracks me up everytime I see it. 

I said this when I went out to the veggie garden yesterday to show my mom.

These are the 12" pots of my cherry tomato's. I figured 2 pots would be plenty for my family. I was wrong!  I would have never imagined that this small of a pot would produce so many. I get to share with friends and family now :)