Carolina Wren family update

Our family of Carolina Wren's, we call all of them "Nancy," have found the bucket of meal worms we bought for the Blue Birds. The Nancy's are constantly in the bucket getting worms. I have to monitor them and keep them covered sometime to avoid her decimating the 5000 worms I just received last week.

Two of the baby "Nancy's" had been spending the night in a artificial plant that we have hanging under the roof on the front porch. We thought they had found a new place to sleep when we didn't see them come to bed 2 nights in a row. Last night around 5pm we walked by their basket on the porch, and scared 2 birds away. It appears they are going to bed earlier and are still using the baskets. I think the cooler weather is bringing them to bed earlier. It was good to see they are still using baskets. It had been a ritual every night we would have "happy hour" on the porch and wait for the "Nancy's" to go to bed. It started out being around 8pm but as the days get shorted, they are now going to bed around 5pm.

This is our first fall in Cairo. The fall color is starting to get nice but is by no means at peak. Last year, we got here after Thanksgiving and the colors were beautiful. The colors may not be like they are up in the north Georgia mountains, but for a couple from Florida, we were impressed! We have had 3 heavy frosts so far. Our average first fall frost date in Tallahassee is November 17th, so we are right on schedule.

Gardening
I have planted lettuce plants and lettuce seeds. I planted some seeds for Merlot Lettuce. It is a beautiful burgundy leaf lettuce. I had a few plants last year and they lasted well into the warm weather. I always had some lettuce for sandwiches or salads and they tasted good and were extremely beautiful. I also planted some romaine and mescalin lettuce. Last year was my first time growing lettuce and I found it was easy to grow, and carefree. I planted it in pots and put them on the back porch where they get some sun. I am thinking I had them last year through some very cold weather and they were fine. We'll have to see. So far there has been no frost damage.

I also planted some sugar snap peas in the garden. This is a little more difficult because we have to bring a hose over to water them. It's hard to want to drag a hose over when it's cold. I am still waiting to find the "English Peas" that I grew last year. They are like a sugar snap pea, but not as sweet. You eat the whole pod.