Sitting in the garden today�

2007-04-27

We�re sitting on the patio this evening. For the first time this it�s shorts and shirtsleeves weather.

The bees are coming and going from the stump. There�s one tha�t stupid. It can�t find the opening. She tries over and over. The rest find it almost instantly.

Gnats are floating around in the late afternoon sun like motes of golden light. The windchimes and birdsong fill the afternoon with music. It doesn�t drown out the sounds of afternoon traffic, but if I focus on their songs, the traffic fades away.

The Wonderfuld Spouse helped me build a tortoise enclosure for Spud. It�s a trifle over engineered, but it will last Spud to adulthood. Then I can let him/her loose on the patio. I have long spoken of Spud as male, but I think him/her is female. The underside of the carapace of males is convex. Spud�s is not.

At any rate, today I filled the enclosure with dirt and grass seed. The seed is old, so I overseeded. And I�m going to plant lettuce and oat grass. Even reptilian cows need variety.

Over the last couple of weeks there�s been a hummingbird poking around the atrium. Now there�s a nest. I saw the hummingbird once today working on the nest and tried to take a picture. I�m afraid the whole picture taking bit scared the hummer way.

Since then I�ve closed the door to the atrium, but I�m still afraid that the little girl hummingbird won�t return. I can�t think of anywhere safer for her, so it makes me sad.

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