Sunset Bird
@rbstewart
Retired architect, writing, feeding birds, messing about with plants.
Ginger is a neighbor’s cat who came over last night to see why we had guests, and then was caught out on our porch by the rain. There was much meowing as she assumed it was dry inside. So, another guest—plump and damp.
The side garden is patrolled by this toad, who picks off the passing carpenter ants and watches me work on the garden gate. A master of zen stillness among other things.
That’s shed… not she’d. Anyway, the one-time piano lacks keys but still has some strings and the iron harp. The carcass would make a nice desk or vanity. Good wood.
You can’t even give them away with an offer to cover local delivery by professionals. So it’s being slowly dismantled in hopes that someone can at least reuse the wood. The cast iron harp will be another issue and may become art in the she’d.
They can be so expressive as they develop. The blooming will be like slow motion popcorn for a couple of months.
Was fed up with awkward alarm clock apps, so I got this brilliant bit of tech. Has a battery and dials. Lovely, and has a charming chime.
This raggedy hackberry is a preferred perch for ridge watching crows and now home to a woodpecker. The upper branches are dead but refuse to fall in spite of storms, digging beaks, and burrowing bugs. Home to many, including mistletoe and its own leaves.
Fog in the valley last night was glowing with the light of blanketed buildings.
Crows doing crow things among the branches of a challenged tree and using the stiff breeze to help with maneuvering. Love watching them but have no idea what they’re up to.
I think this carpenter bee is napping on a dahlia bloom. An absolutely charming beast.
We have a squirrel who likes to lick the rock shelf our house sits on. Wonder if I should place a salt lick there to keep him from eroding our foundation.
This is a fine specimen of a hackberry—2 doors down. Their wood is rather weak, but they are prolific and powerfully anchored, with a buttressed base of roots with crevices for wild creatures. The group behind us fight the high winds and tend to batter each other. Huge branches fall in the night.
We had to have this hackberry topped due to storm damage last year but left a tall trunk for the birds and squirrels. It is rebounding in shaggy fashion. Almost tropical looking.
Sunsets creeping westward each day but some still reach out to be seen.
Best bloom so far on the dahlia. It’s first season and the heat/dryness have been brutal.
Crepe Myrtle is one of my favorite tree types. They shouldn’t be butchered to produce more blooms, throttling their expressive branching.
