flyfisher51's Blog

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Labor Day. I also hope our freinds in the path of Gustav are safe from harm. In the last twenty years we have seen such an explosion of media outlets on TV as well as the Internet that it is hard to avoid watching catastrophes unfold and in groups like this it is hard not to know someone who will be affected. We can only hope that it will not be bad.

This week I have had to rethink my gardening plans. It is obvious at this point that the apple tree must go. Even if my neighbor were to cut down his thirty cedars, I live in an area where they grow wild. To get rid of Cedar-Apple Rust one has to eliminate all cedars within at least a mile. The tree is to big to spray every few days to keep the disease at bay so I am going to have it taken down. While we are at it we are going to remove the Oak tree from the mound as well as a few wild bushes. This will leave the mound with a Scotch Pine, Juniper Bush, and Wild Rasberries. It will no longer be as wild as it is and we can start planting flowers on it again.

I don't know if I will put the vegetable garden in next year. Because of the trees it only receives about 4 to 5 good hours of sun a day. The trees were smaller when I started the garden and that didn't matter, but they are growing up. I will most likely grow my veggies in containers next year, and with an abundance of farm stands in the area, we will not lack in fresh produce. I will grow something easier in the vegetable garden plot next year

The flower gardens look great. The Morning Glories are almost in full bloom.

This is the first year we have fed the birds through the summer so this is the first year I have seen all the baby birds. The one boy Cardinal looks like a buzzard. His head is bald and and he has a collar of loose feathers. I can't identify some of the young as I don't have a book showing various stages of development, but they are still fun to watch. I glued perches to the Hummingbird feeder and yesterday was the first time since last week I saw it. It used the perch and stayed longer than normal. It also avoided flying under the awning. The honeybees are also using the feeder and I am not going to discourage them as I throw away most of the nector every couple days when I change it. I watched one of the Chipmunks leave the yard after filling his mouth with seeds. He ran to the front of the house, up the drive, across the street, up the neighbors drive, around his house, and was speeding toward a clump of bushes in the back of their yard. In a few moments he was retrcing his steps back to my back yard. He travels about 100 yards to get seeds in my yard, racing the whole time.

Thats it for now. I hope everyone has a good week and I pray those in Gustavs path are safe.