Confessions of a Grandma

This is a community near where we live.  It is a gated golf community that covers acres and acres of land. I am not a golfer, but there are some in my family who would consider this paradise--to walk out he back door and be on the links. I noticed some signs as I took my walk today part way around the perimeter of that place. Yep, plenty of those around. And, yes, some sand hill cranes nearby. The wild life was not interested in crossing the road today.  An egret and a heron were having a fine feast in the creeks that had filled up in yesterday's rain.  They were not planning to move away any time soon.     And of course, these guys were just feeling too lazy, hanging out in the sun, to bother with crossing the road.      While I was walking, I did see one man playing a golf ball off the sidewalk.  Better that then hitting into one of the water traps.

We took a ride to the North Jetty near Nokomis Beach to watch the dophins feeding and the sunset--always a relaxing way to end the day. The last time we went to the North Jetty was with Jean and Shawn after a lunch at Pop's Sunset Grille.  We saw a number of dolphin that time, but the spectacular event was that we saw a manatee.  A big ol' manatee floating its bog ol' self down the channel of the Intracoastal Waterway.  We followed it the length of the jetty, watching it as a huge dark blob that would surface just its nose for a sniff of air and then slap its flat tail very quietly and continue on.  That was quite exciting.  I'd never seen one close up before. Very cool. This is not my picture, but the one that we saw was scarred like this.  They are not so smart about staying away from boat propellers as the dolphin seem to be.

There was an article in the local newspaper about the latest fad of people in city neighborhoods setting up small chicken coops in their backyards. I wonder if they realize before hand just how much a rooster crows during the day. I used to think they just sounded off at sunrise to wake up the farm and then just weren't heard from for the rest of the day. When I moved to the country seventeen years ago, I found out that is not the case. One of my neighbors told me that ammonia poured around the garden perimeter will repel woodchucks as well as coyote urine--at considerably less cost. I heard a gun shot the other evening so I'm wondering if Little Chuckie had moved on to another neighbor's garden. Most of the gardeners around here would not have a qualm about shooting a woodchuck. Years ago it was not at all uncommon to see dead woodchucks draped over fence posts--I guess as a warning to others. I haven't seen that for some time and I certainly don't miss the ...

A cute little baby woodchuck made his way into my garden and thought that it was just a real nifty all-you-can-eat buffet. The lettuce--gone. The rudbeckia and about half of the liatrus--gone. The one little pepper already in progress--bitten into and spit out. How rude. Mike put an empty coffee can in the garden and shot at it with a B-B gun in an effort to scare the critter away but that had only limited effect. I went to the garden center and bought a spray that is supposed to taste nasty. It cost around twelve dollars and the ingredients list included herbs, spices, and oils. I suppose I could have made it myself. Mike said it sounded like something I would eat for supper (not being receptive to my vegetarian efforts). I also bought some coyote urine. Would you believe that cost nearly $18? If I actually harvest a tomato out of that garden it will have cost me about a hundred bucks. I'm thinking the farmers' market is the way to go in the future.

I, on purpose, had very few plans for today. I usually like to make a real breakfast on Sunday mornings, read the paper, clean up the dishes and go for a walk. I figured I would spend the rest of the day just relaxing--alternating between the book I'm reading at the moment ( The Monster of Templeton ) and my latest knitting project, maybe sitting out on the deck if it warmed up enough. Well, I was just getting back from my walk when I heard my neighbor across the street calling my name. She was working in her amazing flower gardens and had just dug up some perennials that she wanted to give to me--some verbascum and some borage plants. I took the plants home and took a tour around the yard to decide where I would plant them. I noticed that the flower beds needed edging quite badly. So I spent several hours digging and weeding and then planting my new plants. It was too cool to sit and read on the deck anyway, but it was perfect for working in the yard. Maybe I'll relax tomorro...

We haven't had any visitors from the north this year. Health and money issues have plagued our families this year, and this has been kind of sad. But yesterday we got a call from Mike's daughter. Our oldest grand child, in her first year of college, is flying down from South Carolina to visit for a few days. Venice is hardly a spring break destination, but at least she can say she went to Florida, and it will be amusing for us to spend some time with a young adult. Wish us luck! The big news here today was about a man in his nineties out for his morning walk. He was attacked by an otter, of all things. He ended up in the hospital and the otter ended up dead. It has since been determined that the otter was rabid. A sobering reminder as the beach we go to south of here is rural and is home to a selection of Florida's wildlife. It is such a treat to see animals in the wild, but I guess it is really best to remember it is their territory.

Mike and I have the habit of sitting down to read for an hour or so in the afternoons. Mike has been finding a sheltered but sunny spot on the patio. I've been curling up on the love seat that sits in a sunny window. Because he is outside, Mike has been able to watch a large hawk flying into one of the lob lolly pines in the neighborhood. Later, he realized it was two large hawks always carrying some food in their mouths. Out came the binoculars, but he couldn't see a nest. Here's the thing about Mike. He only has vision in one eye, but the vision he does have is that of a hawk. He is always picking out wild life along the roadside--turkey, deer, a woodchuck way off in the corner of a field, an eagle soaring way up in the sky. I miss all that stuff because my vision is not that acute or well trained and, besides, someone has to WATCH THE ROAD. That said, I was driving us home from the beach on Tuesday and I was just pulling to a stop at the corner of our street when I looke...

Time for all the work of setting up a new vegetable garden to pay off. There are loads of tomatoes on the vines so maybe I'll get a few. Apparently the conditions are just right for late blight that has wiped out large tomato crops so I hope I get a few from my own garden because they are bound to be way expensive this year. I had a couple meals from the green beans and I froze some, but then something literally ate the bean plants right down to the skeleton. I pulled up the plants and got rid of them. Maybe it was some kind of flea from what I can find online. I planted one Italian sweet pepper and now have more peppers than I know what to do with. I put some in Buffalo shrimp the other night and that was pretty good. I throw them in salads. I'll have to consult the Martha Stewart web site for some creative ideas I guess. I think it was in her magazine (that I check out from the library) that I saw a recipe for Italian peppers stuffed with a sherry-shrimp salad. It has...

I took some pictures some of my garden areas today. My small vegetable patch is on the left. Clematis are going strong. Ferns, hosta, astible. Rudbeckia and achillea have yet to bloom. A skunk dug a big hole and is most likely living under the shed. But better a skunk to eat the grub than a garden chomping woodchuck that was nosing about earlier in the season. Achillea, liatrus, shasta daisies, and coreopsis stretch along the garage. In early spring the jonquils and tulips brighten up this spot.

Five years ago the neighbors' cat killed a female blue bird under the lilac bush. Mike ran to get the bird away and started blowing on it (bird CPR?), but it was really mortally wounded and died within the hour. It was crushingly sad. The male hung around for several weeks but it was forlornly mateless. We didn't have another pair of blue birds nesting in the yard again until this year. They're back! We have been watching a pair that appears to be nesting over by the shed. They seem to like the deck and make a trip there in the evening as we are cleaning up the supper dishes and in the morning as we are having coffee. from the kitchen sink and from the dining table, we have a great vantage on their deck time activities. They like to plop a fat worm or a bug on the railing and have a bit of a picnic. They are very keen on perching on the metal hanger for the hummingbird feeder and take turns doing that--sitting there surveying the yard. The hummingbirds do not like this deve...

A woman in New Jersey is being prosecuted for animal cruelty. She is the owner of a business called Critter Ridder , hired to get rid of a pesky squirrel. Oddly enough, the squirrel died in a trap on the roof of a building. She was charged with animal cruelty, including failure to provide adequate food. Nothing against squirrels--they're fun to watch--but if I had one living in or around my attic, I would try to get rid of it I guess. I've heard they can become quite pest like . On the other hand, I would hope this could be dispatched humanely, maybe through a relocation program. Although if you really stop to think about it, sending your average city dwelling squirrel out to fend for itself in the woods amidst the owls and foxes that might want to eat it has its cruel side as well. Still, who knew you had to offer that last meal. At the same time, officials in Alaska plan to prosecute a man for actually feeding bears. Apparently he is quite friendly with the neighborhood bear ...