Hi everyone. Sophie is taking a break today in preparation for her trip to the beauty parlor tomorrow. Besides, this is MY blog not hers, regardless of what she thinks.
Now, before I go much further, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODD, you old toot–I mean coot.
Now that’s out of the way, today’s message is just a few notes and loose ends.
It’s difficult to get any rest around here. What with all the things that need watering, trimming, brushing and petting, we’re lucky to get done what we do. Poor Harry. He works like mad all during the week. All he wants to do is sit down and read on a weekend night. Here’s what it typically looks like. Miss P, Sophie and Harry want some peace and quiet. Sarah mixes things up.
I heard back from the president of the Maryland Bluebird Society. He was extremely helpful and encouraging. In fact, he directed me to all the right information and forms to report my bluebird monitoring. Now, I’m fully registered with the CORNELL UNIVERSITY Bluebird House Project. That’s right. I’m a bluebird house marshal. I should get my badge sometime this week. Don’t mess with me.
I am supposed to monitor the arrivals, nest building, egg laying, hatching, fledging and such along with a host of other information in these extremely complicated forms that get submitted to Cornell. The idea is that with the input of me and bunches of other bluebird lovers like me (okay, no one’s REALLY like me), they can figure out a whole bunch of things about the health and welfare of the hopefully rebounding bluebird population.
I feel so honored. I’m also stressed that I have this whole new job.
In other news, the garden is humming along. Harry is happy as a lark that he can traipse out in the evenings to pick lettuce, spinach, basil and oregano for his daily salad fix. I am happy that things are growing–especially all those teeny tiny little plants I started from seed and worried wouldn’t ever amount to much. I’m sure it sounds naive, but I’m still amazed that when I plunk something into the ground that it grows.
In addition to the aforementioned lettuce, spinach and herbs, we also have several varieties of tomatoes, bush beans, pole beans, squash, zucchini, musk melons, chard, peppers, cucumbers and probably some other stuff that I forgot.
The flowers include peonies, foxglove, beebalm (very invasive!), daylilies, roses, clematis, wisteria, climbing hydrangeas, cone flowers, marigolds, bachelor’s buttons, columbine, hollyhocks, lavender and some other stuff. I can’t wait until everything is blooming!
I’ll go ahead and sound naive again.
I’m always disappointed that when I order something from an online nursery. At least at first. For example, I ordered these two fabulous looking plants called “SKY PENCIL.” They are really, really tall–up to 6 – 8 feet tall–skinny bushes that serve as a dramatic focal point in a landscape. Perfect for what Harry calls my “estate-look-lust.”
Well, my two SKY PENCILS arrived today and they are THREE INCHES TALL!!!! It’ll be a while before this place is very estate-like.
Ah, well. Gardening does teach us patience.
A couple of short housekeeping notes.
1) I have added a new bird book to the book reviews section. I’ll be reorganizing the books soon with more categories since it seems to be getting a bit jumbled. (I believe Sophie already told you how much I like to organize things, yes?)
2) My trip to Chicago was postponed and probably moved to Minneapolis. If anyone knows anything useful about garden spots in Minneapolis, let me know.
In the meantime, I remain…
Robin
Today was Skip Day at our house. That means that everyone skipped what they were supposed to do.
Dad said the Pope gave him and Ben an “air show pass” so they could skip church today. Now, I know I’m “just a dog,” but I’m pretty sure the Pope has never, ever, thought of such a thing as an air show pass. And I’m also pretty sure that if he heard Dad say the Pope gave him one he would be in some pretty big trouble for lying on top of things.
As for Mom, she skipped her Iyengar yoga class today to catch up on some garden work. At least SHE didn’t say something silly like B.K.S. Iyengar gave her a garden pass.
So anyway, as you have no doubt deduced, Dad and Ben went off to the airshow and, you guessed it, left Mom here to work in the garden. Sarah and I, of course, stayed here to help Mom out since no one invited US to the air show.
Mom started the day with doing a lot of what she calls “puttering.” From what I can tell, puttering involves moving this stuff over there and that stuff over here. She also made an ENORMOUS dirty mess in the kitchen when she potted a bunch of orchids and other house plants because she doesn’t yet have a proper potting shed. Then, of course, she had to scrub down and disinfect the kitchen, which made everything smell like medicine.
By the way, about those orchid things. You know how she gets all excited about new projects and such. Orchids are her new project. She’s been reading all kinds of books, like Orchids for Dummies and Orchids for Whimps and bought some orchids from Logee’s Greenhouses. They arrived on Friday and I thought she was going to do a little jig she was so happy unwrapping them.
It’s really kinda sad that her she gets all on fire about these little projects instead of having something important to do. Perfect example: SHE TOOK PHOTOS OF HER NEW GARDEN CART! She was all proud that she had stocked it with all her favorite tools. She even hung a laminated copy of Mac’s “Good Bugs. Bad Bugs” to the handle for handy reference. I mean, really.
As you can tell, organizing appears to be a favorite hobby of hers. Some people ski. Others bowl. Some people collect stamps. Mom organizes things.
The other day her friend Angela came to visit and remarked that she was surprised that given Mom’s love for organizing things that Mom hadn’t invested in one of those fancy garage organizing systems.
Oooooh. You should have seen Mom. I thought the top of her head would come off. I’m not sure what was going on inside her head, but I’m sure that she was saying some of those words she’s not supposed to be saying any more.
As for Dad and Ben, they arrived home tan and happy. Ben apparently knows a whole lot about airplane stuff and Dad said he was impressed. Mom rolled her eyes and made some snide remark about how she’d be more impressed if he knew how to conjugate some French verbs. As for me, I would be more impressed if he would feed me something other than the big food Mom gives me.
Before I go, I want to address an issue that has come up around here. Several people have called and written to ask why I am a guest blogger here on Bumblebee and Sarah is not. In fact, several loyal readers have suggested that they like my observations better than Mom’s.
That has not set well with Mom and I think she might be a wee bit jealous.
As for Sarah, I know that people say she’s sweet. Everyone talks about how pretty she is. As for me, I say she’s just this side of teachable.
Now Mom’s all mad at me for being mean to Sarah when her Bumblebee policy is to be positive whenever possible. But you get the point. Don’t be expecting Sarah to write anything because SHE CAN’T WRITE.
Until next time,
Sophie
Robin
Okay, this time I have to admit that I felt horrid peaking into the bluebird house because Mom did not look happy.
I have written to the president of the Maryland Bluebird Society asking if they collect the bluebird information and whether I should continue to bother the bluebirds. I don’t want them to get up and move away because they have peeping Toms for neighbors!
There are four eggs. According to the bluebird people the bluebirds usually lay four to five eggs. They incubate for 12 to 14 days and then stay in the nest for 16 to 21 days before they fledge. Even after they fledge, they depend on their parents for food for a couple of weeks.
The bluebird people say that after the babies have fledged I’m supposed to remove the nest. Doesn’t that sound harsh? Where do they sleep if I tear up their house?
Oh, the burden of it all…
Robin
