I love mowing days in June. Everything is so green it hurts your eyes and it’s not hot enough to fry an egg on the driveway. Although 84° certainly was hot enough for me, thank you. I still mow with my big golf umbrella. People have worried I might tip over and impale myself, but our land is nearly flat as a pancake and in the three or so places it isn’t, I set the umbrella aside so…not to worry. The world looks a whole lot better from the seat of a tractor.
Mr. FixIt told me yesterday evening that he found a dead rabbit in the front yard. He said it wasn’t torn up nor did it have any visible wounds. There was scat out there but he ran over it with the mower before I had a chance to look at it. He said it was big like the bear scat I showed him. I can’t imagine a bear catching a rabbit, but I suppose stranger things have happened. We didn’t hear anything out there. It could have been poisoned, too.
We didn’t get more than a handful of blueberries last year…now look!
There are fledgling Eastern Phoebes just about ready to leave the nest over the cellar stairs. I do hope they leave soon. The nesting material is getting loose and I’m afraid they’ll fall out. Mama and daddy are still feeding them so they’ll be on their way soon, I’m sure. I did get to see the bird nesting in the empty mailbox next to ours yesterday. I’m pretty sure by the nesting materials and the quick glimpse I got of her, it’s a Carolina Wren…what my grandma called a Jenny Wren.
We had the weirdest thing happen Sunday afternoon. I was looking for my hiking boots to take to the grandkids’ farm. I headed to the front closet and something on the carpet caught my eye. It looked like a stick. But it was sticking up out of the carpet. I reached down to pick it up and the end snapped off. It was hollow and crumbled into dust between my fingers. I’d never seen anything like it before but I know enough about nature to know it was created by an insect of some sort.
I took a snapshot of it and used Google Lens and lo and behold…termites! It was a mud tube made by a subterranean termite. I didn’t waste any time. I have Dodson Pest Control on my speed dial ever since the Great Flea Fiasco of 2016! I called my friend Chris there and told him what we had. “Yep…termites!” He sent someone out yesterday afternoon and $1700+ later, we have treatment scheduled for the first part of August. We have to peel back the carpet to expose the concrete slab underneath. The inspector surmised there is a crack underneath that’s allowing them in. Mr. FixIt took him out front and sure enough, there is a crack that goes right where the mud tube was.
We drove into town last night to get an ice cream. On the way back, I asked Mr. FixIt if he wanted to go out to Riverbend Farm to see how Melissa’s tomatoes are doing in the greenhouses. Oh, my! She says they are full size and that means thirty days to picking season. She has a couple of good rows of half-runner beans. I told her I wanted a bushel and she laughed. “You and everyone else!” Maybe I’ll get lucky and get some of hers! I love going places now and running into people I know in this little town. I’ve been here for five years this fall.
It’s supposed to be rainy the next few days so I’m looking forward to getting some work done in the house. I still have to put all that camping gear away. I called yesterday to put a bug in their ear at the dealership and remind them I’ll be picking the camper up next Tuesday…ready or not. Hopefully it’ll be finished! We’ve made reservations to camp at Historic Williamsburg in July. We’ll be picking Little up for a couple weeks of fun at Nana’s house! I can’t wait!!!
Starting and ending my days out on the deck is heavenly. I’m making a concerted effort to sit outside as much as possible this summer because it will be all too soon when we’re stuck inside again!
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“Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have…”
Hebrews 13:5 NLT