I'm told it's my turn ... (posted by Lani)

so here's a post complete with obligatory wildlife picture and this time NOT of Baby! I have two nesting pairs of these black-headed grosbeaks this year where I only had one last year. We also have a ton of broadtailed hummingbirds, but the rufous hummers haven't arrived yet.

Speaking of Baby, though, she brought me a bird on Friday! She laid it down on the patio once she had eye contact with me, and then backed up and sat down. When I wasn't properly appreciative she eventually took it and left; I wonder whether she was trying to trade it in for something better, or whether she thinks I need hunting lessons ;)

It's been really nice all week, but last night we got a cold front and now here we are mid-June and this morning it hailed and even snowed a little (although it didn't stick). It's been dripping nasty cold rain all day, which makes a perfect excuse for being lazy and we've all shamelessly taken that excuse and run with it. I think we've earned it though!

Steve was in Miami this week sweltering in the South Florida heat, and Jim and I have been doing some planting. We've planted spruce, juniper and fir seedlings, lilacs, chokecherry, golden currant, black currant, and plum bushes all purchased from the county extension service, plus hollyhocks, catnip and calendula generously gifted to us by my friend Yvonne, who lives directly across the valley from us. We had about 35 of the tree seedlings and 80 of the bushes and are only about a third of the way done with the planting on those; Yvonne's hollyhocks and other goodies are almost all placed. It's a LOT of work, especially with the soil here being more rock than soil. I hope the hollyhocks and lilacs do as well as the daylilies Bud and Ann sent us.

Jim has also been hauling, splitting and stacking wood for firewood for next winter -- I still have the shoulder as an excuse so I haven't had to wield an axe yet this year. I wonder how long I can milk that ...

This week we've also had Kitty Drama. Onyx, who can be a big ol' bully, apparently pushed Hunter too far and got himself bitten. As cat bites often do this one abscessed, so we got to visit the emergency vet on Sunday to have it cleaned and opened up and get Onyx, who at that point was a sick sick kitty, some antibiotics. Unfortunately what none of us knew initially was that this was a bad, bad abscess. That became clear when he just wasn't getting better; a visit to our regular vet on Wednesday evening confirmed it, and on Thursday Onyx had to have surgery. He now has a big shaved spot on his side and a rather impressive incision with lots of stitches (I'll spare you putting the picture in this post, but you can see it here if you're curious). He's on pain medications and stronger antibiotics, and of course there are more vet visits in his immediate future. Poor kitty :( We're all pampering him but he has to be confined away from the other cats, which means he's also away from his people for most of the day, so he's not a very happy boy.

I'm hoping to make a quick trip down to Florida at the end of this month/beginning of July for Alex's birthday. Apparently I'm going to miss you, Annie, by just a couple of days -- that sucks, but maybe we can both be down there later this year! I'm trying to talk Steve into a long trip to Carolina and Florida later this year ... we'll see how well that goes over, eh?

And now, tag. You're it!