HAPPY NEW WEEK! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I’m taking a short break from work to say hello to you all and tell you about my new friend.
Every summer, I seem to have one animal who chooses to stay close to my house and keep me company. Last year, it was the little yearling white-tailed deer. This year, it’s an enormous groundhog! He’s made a burrow underneath the fallen apple tree next to my bedroom window, and he’s been spending his days puttering around my front porch, eating the weeds that I’ve allowed to grow.
He’s a formidable critter. A couple of decades ago, we had a huge groundhog on this land. My Mom named him “Bear,” because he was nearly as large as a bear cub. The current resident groundhog must be Bear’s descendent, because he’s a big fella! He has immense teeth (I think he’s fairly old) and long, thick claws. Despite his scary appearance, he’s been friendly to me. Groundhogs generally avoid people and can be hostile to humans if they feel crowded or cornered, but Bear II makes no effort to leave when I go outdoors. When I talk to him, he tilts his head like a dog and stares at me with interest. LOL He makes me laugh, waddling around the yard.
I didn’t try to photograph him, because I read that mobile phones and other devices emit electromagnetic fields that some animals, including groundhogs, can hear (or feel?). He looks like the one in this photo, though.
Groundhog, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia NPS photo labeled “Public domain” (copyright free)
Hello all- I hope that DIANE and BJANE ( and DIANES house) have been OK in the forecasted terrible weather. LYNETTE As a non driver, I have to sometimes use taxis.All our local taxis use meters and the amount charged varies considerably depending on the traffic on the road at the time, the tariff in operation ( cost is more evenings and weekends). LINDY- house prices sound awful! I guess that it is difficult for youngsters to get on the housing ladder, where you live! I remember when lots of folk cashed in and came to the Highlands where they could buy cheaply. Things may be a little different now. Another reason was when university became free for residents in Scotland. Plus free prescriptions for all and free eye tests, also a proportion of personal care paid for. Again, my info may be out of date. I think we pay a little more income tax here.
Yesterday after all the rain, I looked around the corner at my poppies, and found that several new buds had opened:
This is a group of five, all huddling together underneath my bird bath, as although we had tied string around the plants, they had continued to grow upwards and then fallen over on their long stems. Since the photo I have tied them up again! You can also see part of my finger as I was struggling to take a pic with this tablet!
There is a new poppy out underneath some of my aliums, a very pretty pink which this pic does not do justice to:
- - - You get to see even more of me in that one!
Lindybird: If you click on the picture, it opens it in its own window and you get a better view of the pink one. (But you also lose anything you've typed). Love the finger! Peonies are in our local shops - $14.99 for half a dozen at Gelson's (gasp) and "only" $7.99 for the same at Trader Joe's. I do believe they're from Washington State.
Forestboar: A happy resolution to your questions. :-)
OG: That's a pretty drastic remedy for avoiding tidying up a playroom! :-) I tend to do the same thing with clothes - if it fits, buy it in white and any other color that doesn't make me look like a bowl of porridge. Had to smile at vision of you, EE and J your traffic pattern.
Have to go - watching Bob Mueller speak on the Russia investigation - for the first time!