Garden Cat

Hi! It has been forever since my last post, and the mood has changed dramatically around here.

Spring is here, and Mom LOVES spring. She also has a very loving man in her life. We still miss Jake very much, but Mom no longer bursts into tears at the mere mention of him.

Our garden was one of three featured for a local wildflower garden tour on April 19. Our Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) were in full glory that day.

Mom asked me if I wanted to participate in the tour by being outside,

but I told her that I would rather nap. We had 117 guests visit our garden that Sunday afternoon. Refreshments were served on our deck and the guests had a good time. The non-floral stars of the tour were a pair of flickers who were busy carving out a nesting cavity high in our dead ash tree.

It has been very warm (HOT) lately. Mom had to work late last night, but she came home tonight and took me outside with her. Can you find me in this photo amidst the wild geraniums?

She stalked me with the camera.

I showed my displeasure by slipping under the shed. A groundhog and an oppossum lived here at different times.

Mom continues to be busy with work and her activities. She is co-chair of a native plant sale that will take place the morning of May 9. I continue to conserve energy and nap.

Love,

~Bathsheba

Weekend Work-Symbolic Sunday

After days of much-needed rain, the sun shone Saturday afternoon. Yesterday we went outside and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine.

~Jake


I went out front. Mom had work to do there.

This dwarf Alberta spruce (which can be seen in Friday's post) is one of two that marked the driveway. Mom and Dad planted them the first spring when Dad lived with us. This one had been dying for a while, and Mom knew that it was time to remove it.

Poor little tree. It just didn't have enough sunshine to thrive.

As you can see, the one on the left grew tall and strong in the sunshine, but the other one struggled to survive and ultimately succumbed. Was this a clue that Mom should have figured out long ago?

~Bathsheba

P.S. Mom was lucky that she bought the Halloween chocolate candy early and has been able to dip into the stash this past week.

Jake's Mancat Monday Pose

Here I am in the dark recesses of our jungle garden.

We really love our garden, and Mom and Dad worked very hard to create it over many years--mainly in the 1990s. Mom loves wildflowers and is a member of the Prince William Wildflower Society, a chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society. She and Dad created a very naturalistic, wild kind of garden both in the front and back yards. Our lot is only a 10,000 square foot suburban yard, but our house is small (by today's standards), so there is more room to garden. The lot is shaped like a rectangle with a triangle attached to the back portion that slopes downward. Mom and Dad hauled many rocks from construction sites (from as far away as South Riding, Daisy!), and Dad made some great terraced beds on the hill with them. He also outlined some of the beds with them.

One thing you won't see in our garden is a great lawn. Mom and Dad really reduced the lawn portion of the garden, and the lack of sunlight over the years as the trees have grown has further diminished the area for grass. Mom and Dad do not use pesticides or herbicides so the lawn is "weedy" with lots of clover, but that's okay by me.

Perennials are the mainstay, with annuals mostly planted in pots for the deck. A red maple grows in the middle of the deck that Dad built back in 1995. Many of the garden plants are native to Virginia. Much of the garden is shady, so spring is when it is most colorful. We have native and non-native azaleas, but the non-native ones are more showy. One side of the yard does get quite a bit of sun, so summer is also a treat with monarda, purple coneflower, milkweed, phlox, and daylilies.

Many birds nest in our yard, and Mom and Dad try to keep me inside or under watchful eye when the babies fledge. So far this year we have blue jays in the bushes, and wrens and sparrows in a couple of the bird boxes. The catbirds must be nesting close by because they're making frequent appearances at the suet. They will be very happy when the Oregon grape holly bush and service berry/juneberry (amelanchier) tree bear their fruit soon.

~Jake the Mancat Garden Supervisor

Saturday Stalking

Mom seems to think that gardens are beautiful, but that a CAT in a garden is even better. While we might agree on principle, we find her stalker paparazzi behavior unacceptable. I did not want to pose in front of the columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), an East Coast native. Mom and Dad put up lots of stakes and green tape to support the plants as they grow tall.

Just look at how tall everything has gotten this early in the season. Mom spent some time today cutting things back in the jungle that she calls a garden.

It was overcast today and rather cool. I went behind some of the plants in the jungle. I like to sleep in the mulch here when it's hot out. It was so dark today that the flash went off when Mom took this photo.

~Jake

It's not all about Jake today. Mom stalked me too. Click here for similar photo in early March.


I would NOT pose for her.

Okay, so this looks suspiciously like a pose. I just stopped to rest for a moment. Sigh. This azalea is Dad's favorite.

Here you can see it covered with snow - in April!

Have you ever heard of a CATBIRD? Click on the picture to enlarge, and you will see the catbird on the horizonal pole. He likes to visit the suet feeder on the right. He doesn't look like a cat, but he can make a sound that's similar to a mew. He didn't fool me, but he sure mewed a lot when he saw me outside.

Oh, and BTW, that was NOT me in the door mirror in the previous post. That was Jake! Somehow the flash left a white dot on Jake's front leg to make it appear that he has beautiful white feet like I do. Not true. Mom cannot explain why one of the back feet looks white, but if you look closely, the other back foot is not white. Very strange photo.

~Bathsheba

Snapshot Saturday

I was sleeping peacefully in my cat TV room, when Mom invited me outside.

I should have known something was up when she wanted me to go in the front yard because she usually wants me to stay out back.

My normally nice mom turned into a stalking paparazzi! Every few steps and it was click, click, click!

Maybe if I take this shortcut, I can get away from her.

No such luck!

How do those celebrities cope?

Maybe if I escape to the back yard . . .

But, no! Not even the clover brought me any luck in shaking this stalker.

I hoped that leaving the garden and retreating to my deck would do the trick, but she was persistent.

Maybe I should just cooperate and give her a good pose.

NOW, will you leave me alone!

~Jake

P.S. Mom hasn't let us blog much lately. She was feeling under the weather for a few days (too much pollen and not enough rain), plus she had more of her projects. She just can't get her priorities straight! We need more time to visit our dear friends since we're so behind. We appreciate your visits and comments and intend to reciprocate.

Here is a sorry excuse for a limerick in honor of Karen Jo. We hope she is feeling better.

There once was a lady named Karen Jo
Who all of the cats have come to know
She writes really good lines
And they’re all about felines
Now she needs some time to nurse her toe.

~J&B