Peach Thief

When we got back from our camping trip to Keaton Beach, we jumped on the golf cart for a tour of the property.

Al was checking on his garden.  Yep….lots more weeds!  The tomatoes are doing well, but still green.  We have some jalapenos, and green peppers, and he has quite a few cucumbers (pickles as Al calls them).

The peaches had grown a lot and were getting the pretty peach color…however, we had little bites taken out of a lot of them.  They didn’t eat the whole peach, just took a bite or two.  We know it was the squirrels because we have seen them do it.  I grabbed a few that were still on the tree.  Darned if I’m going to waste them.  I’ll just cut off their bite areas and peel and wash them and I’m eating the rest!  Boy are they yummy.  I love our peaches and will sure miss them when we leave here.

While we were gone the crape myrtles started blooming and the Mimosa are now in full bloom.

Here are a few photos of the Mimosa trees.

Here are some Lillies that started to bloom while we were gone.

Our Gardenia must have bloomed like crazy while we were gone but mostly what we have left are the brown remains :(

Full moon tonight.  It is going to be pretty.  We also saw a lot of Fireflies.  Before we came here, we hadn’t seen any since we were kids!

We saw our newly fledged Blue Birds.  There were 5 of them and we saw the whole family flying around the yard!  Hope they will all survive to mate and have more babies!

BlueBirds Fledged Today

We had a nest box by the Rv that had five little eggs in it.  We weren’t sure if all the eggs hatched, but today the nest was empty and there were no eggs left there!  They were there yesterday, but gone today. Another success!

That makes two batches so far this year.  We have two more nests starting, so we should have some more babies soon!  We love them because they are in a nest box and we can open the door and peek in.  The Blue Bird expects encourage you to put up nesting boxes and monitor them for parasites and such.  You are to keep track of when the eggs hatch and not open the next box after day 14.  At that point they are close to fledging and opening the nest could cause them to fledge early.   Just wanted everyone to know that we aren’t hurting them by peeking inside!

The garden is growing well.  We have potatoes, snow and sugar peas that we’re eating already.  We have some green tomatoes, and some small Jalapeno and green bell peppers.  He’s growing cucumbers and dill for some pickles.

Things are flourishing here, between the garden, grass, weeds, and birds!

Finally Finished the Pasture

I finally got the pasture finished with it's first mowing of the season.  What a job that is.  I guess we need a few horses!

After I finished the pasture, I came inside for a break, looked out the window and what did I see?  Sprouts!!!  Of course while I was concentrating on the pasture, the rest of the yard kept growing and now it's time to start all over!  It's a good thing I like to ride my riding mower!  

Yard work and Mowing

After coming home from our camping trip to Keaton Beach, we have been working to get the yard cleaned up, mowed and trimmed.

Al does the trimming, hand mowing and the application of Round Up and I do the mowing on the riding mower.  Good gig, isn't it?

I love my zero turn mower but it has been kicking my butt lately.  I have been working on getting the pasture mowed.  It's about 5 acres so we don't mow it as often as the lawn.  It usually gets 4 or 5 mowings a season.  I have just about completed the first cut.  I can't just get out there and work until it's finished.  I have to do a little at a time.   You wouldn't think sitting on a riding lawn mower would be so tiring, but when I do the pasture it wears me out.  I think it's because the pasture is extremely bumpy and the bouncing gets to you very quickly.

Al has been working on the garden.  I told him to cut it back this year and not plant so many things so it wasn't so much work.  He agreed, but ended up planting as much as usual.  The problem is, you can't maintain that much garden and the hotter it gets, the harder it is.  The weeds are trying to take over.  We don't like to use Round Up on the food areas, so all the weeds seem to thrive in south Georgia's warm humid weather.

We have had a good crop of Snow/sugar peas and have some small tomatoes and peppers.   The asparagus has been a disappointment this year. 

The Blueberries, peaches, apples, raspberries, and pears are coming along nicely as well.  Can't wait for them!

Blue Bird Wars

Al and I were wandering around the yard and we noticed a lot of Blue Bird Activity.  There were 8-10 Birds fluttering around, chirping, and fighting. 

Evidently a new pair decided to move into one of the empty nest boxes.  We know that they are territorial and that you can’t put the houses too close together, but we put one up a little close to another, hoping to give them lots of options.

We have a nest down in the pasture and the babies fledged a few days ago.  Mom and Dad keep them kind of sheltered for a little while until they hone their flying skills.

The other active Blue Bird nest is up by the motor home. There were 5 eggs and we think all 5 hatched.  They hatched while we were at Keaton Beach, so they are getting close to fledging. 

The new house is close to the one by the motorhome and they old birds are not having it.

They were having a major fight, where one bird would be on the ground on his back, and the other one would be on top of him, pecking at him.  We tried to break up the fights, but they just took it elsewhere.  It was interesting, but we didn’t want anyone to get hurt.  I know it’s nature, but in my back yard, you have to play nice!

I tried to take some pictures but they were flying around so fast I couldn’t keep up. They had no fear of us either and flew right up near us.  The only time they quieted down is when they heard the hawk.

Here is a picture of a fight.  One is one the bottom.

This is the new nest box, that was at the center of the controversy.

This is a bluebird coming in for an attack.

I think there were three birds here..one is on the ground.

We had about decided to take the nest box down and move it, but it appears they have quit fighting, so maybe we can keep it there.  It’s closer to the house so we could enjoy them a little more.

The next few photos are some of our flowers.  No Zinna’s yet, but they are coming.