I hadn’t seen my little tree frogs in my garden this season. I was afraid that since I chose not to grow melons, they left for other places that were more friendly for perching. Turned out they just blend into the basil better.
We have a spider that hangs out on our Hibiscus bush. It is a very welcome spider, and especially welcome to eat the insects that come to eat my flowers. I am pleased with this photo because the backlighting really highlights the spider and the petals.
My eldest, of the eagle eyes, spotted this year’s batch of armadillos foraging in the back meadow. Nine-banded Armadillos give birth to identical quadruplets. They eat insects, digging into the earth to get to grubs. They also eat ticks and other pests. They can contract and spread leprosy, so best just watched or only handled by trained professionals. They are fun to watch!
A friend invited us over to pick peaches! So many peaches! It was our first time picking straight from the trees. The air was full of butterflies. There was even a butterfly ball; a ripe peach completely covered with hungry butterflies. iNaturalist identifies the species as hackberry emperor butterflies, at least the one I took a picture of, separate from its kaleidoscope.
After picking the peaches, we brought them home, gave them a wash, and laid them out on paper towels on the counter to dry and finish ripening. To keep the flies off (there always seem to be two in the house), I laid some nylon netting loosely over the top.
As they ripened, we tried blanching to remove the skins. We weren’t successful with a quick blanch, so kept increasing the boil time. We ended up with cooked peaches, but the skin came off well. We made peach puree by adding lemon juice and sugar and blending it all together. From that we have made peach ice cream and peach smoothies! Yum.
So the chewing squirrel has continued to break sections off the bungee cord holding down the lid of the metal can where I store the squirrel food.
Time for a new tactic. I went to the hardware store and bought a length of chain. I replaced the chewable bungee material with metal.
I over estimated the amount of chain I needed, but that’s ok, because the chewer is also working on the knot in the rope that holds up the squirrel feeder.
Critters and Craft 