1 August 2013 - What happened to July?

I am feeling the need to back up and look at July. It is a blur. So much happened in a very short time. 

First let's go back to June 26.  As I have mentioned more than once, I was trapping squirrels for a relocation project. Then a raccoon showed up. I put the trap out and it was ignored for days. On June 26, I was rushing out of the house to get to the airport on my way to the Western Writers Association.  Naturally the trap was sprung. Big raccoon. And mad. He managed to pull over 12 feet of heavy duty extension cord into the trap and he chewed it to bits. Many tiny pieces--even chewed the plug off the end of the cord. The cord that was left was totally riddled with teeth punctures. 

I couldn't just let him go after all the damage he'd been causing, so I threw the cage in the back of the car with my suitcase and made a quick stop up the canyon on my way to the airport.  And yes, I still made my flight. Barely. 

Two weeks later I realized I still have a raccoon hanging around the yard. I baited the trap and catch a younger one. But this raccoon is just funny. He or she was not afraid at all and was being very silly in the cage. He spent some time lying on his back while hanging from the top of the cage.

Amy was here visiting and she got this great shot -- she thought it must have been a she-raccoon looking for a manicure. It reminded me of the wicked witch after Dorothy's house landed on her. Those are some long toes!

To my great relief, I haven't seen any more raccoons. 

I got home from the Western Writers trip, had one day home then left for Detroit on July 2. I was able to take a quick trip through Tollgate on the way to the hotel. Found some very young swallows sitting on a railing and waiting for a parent to come feed them.

Saw a fabulous vulture. I could use one of these in my yard.

 I also just enjoyed the serenity and quiet after a day of travel. 

 The following weekend Amy came out for a quick visit. We had a wonderful time. Lots of time just talking and solving all the problems of the world. Pretty sweet. However, it was very hot. July set all time records for hot. 16 days over 100. If we didn't move too much it was fine. Unfortunately I was pretty sick and didn't have much energy, but we still got out to Red Butte Gardens and even had breakfast at the Saturday's Waffle food truck. 

Here is Amy in the middle of the fragrance garden. So many bees! And so many kinds of bees. Each flower must have had at least one bee working over the pollen. 

I always get great ideas for plant combinations at this garden. 

 And the best combination in the garden?  Friends!

Amy made me some amazing meals while she was here. It was lovely. And she left me recipes. Cool!  I may cook yet. She also brought her architectural ruler and made exact to-scale cutouts of the shop equipment. We spent a couple hours pushing little pieces of paper around a floor plan. Great fun, but no resolution yet. 

July was pretty fun bird-wise. So many babies. The yard was full of fuzzy, squalling babies.  Here's a Downy woodpecker child getting fed. 

 
Not the best picture, but this baby yellow-rumped warbler landed on the screen door.  Needless to say the cats were entranced. The baby didn't know what to do and was too scared to figure out how to get its little toes out of the screen. It was a circus. 

 


Then the baby quail showed up.  I was able to count eleven babies. Ping pong balls with legs.

Next, I discovered the hummingbird nest, which I thought had been abandoned, had babies in it! The nest was built on some electrical cord on the soffit of the empty house next door.

Yes, I have already put a few pictures up of the babies, but here is the series all together.  I tried to get a picture every few days as the babies grew.

Hummers build their nests out of lichen and spider webs. You can actually see the spider webs in the next picture. It was interesting to watch the nest open up from a cup shape to a bowl shape as the babies grew.

I suddenly understood the empty nest syndrome when I showed up and a baby was missing. I spent a long time searching in the bushes in case it had fallen out of the nest. 

Two days later the nest was empty. 

The fun continued with baby grosbeaks, uncoordinated blue jay kids trying to land on the suet feeder, two baby sharp-shin hawks, lots of baby chickadees and house finches.