Butter Side Down

“So,” says Michael to me early this evening, poking his head around the door of our storage room, “Wanna see who just came in to warm his little toes in my shop?”

In his hands was the above wildlife transport kit (consisting of a large yogurt container covered by a folded sheet of paper)

“Ah,” says I, peering down at a small rather worried toad, “And what’s your little visitor’s name?”

“Edgar.”

Indeed.

He does look like an Edgar, don’t you think?

Edgar has been safely transported to a much safer place than Michael’s shop, in a spot of newly turned soil next to the foundation of our house. Last we saw, he was happily burying himself in the damp earth.

I suspect Edgar will stay happily burrowed down in his new digs until spring. For his sake, I hope so - it’s getting too late in the season here for a toad to be out and about.

It’s already snowed.

One. Precisely one. That’s the number of blue morning glory blooms I had this year, thanks to a certain clan of long-eared varmints that finds morning glories incredibly toothsome.

As you can see, the vines were well caged. I suspect that the bunnies boosted each other up when we weren’t looking, balancing precariously atop one another’s shoulders so they could nibble the plants down.

I wouldn’t put it past them.

Bunnies. Hmpfh.

So, Oh Best Beloved, do you remember the post about the grasshopper eating my dahlias? My friend Kim read it and sent me this photo to show me what’s chomping on the ornamentals in her yard…

Oh. My. God. Yes, that really is a moose eating her tree! Having seen this, I’ve decided that a little bitty ol’ grasshopper nibbling away on a dahlia is quite manageable. You know. Putting it in perspective and all.

Although I’ve never done this before, I’m going to add a shameless plug here for Kim… She’s Kimberly Rousch, the wild bird artist. Kim paints incredible watercolors of wild birds that accomplish what few artists can: they capture the essence of the birds. Her work has been accepted into Birds in Art, and her painting “Killdeer” is in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum collection.

Kim currently has this piece, called “Grebe On Purple,” available for sale - isn’t it gorgeous? Butter Side Down readers can contact Kim privately if they’re interested in buying “Grebe on Purple,” or to see more of her portfolio. Kim also does commissions, including portraits of pets, and every one of her paintings that I’ve seen I’ve loved.

Ok, end of shameless plug…

You know, even though I’d love to (safely) see a moose like Kim’s up close and personal, I’m sure glad I don’t have to deal with moose mowing down my flowers and trees!

* “Grebe On Purple”copyright Kim Rousch. All Rights Reserved. Image reproduced here by permission. *

All summer long I’ve caught tantalizing glimpses of brilliant metallic blue native bees zipping about our yard. I think they’re “sweat bees” (scientific name: Halictidae), but I’m not sure — they could also be Ceratina dupla, another native bee. I’ve never been able to catch an image of one, as they never stop long enough for me to get a good shot.

In July, however, right after a thunderstorm, I found this one. It hadn’t found a safe harbor, and perished in the storm.

Isn’t its color amazing?

What could be better than a bumblebee in a dahlia?

Why, two bumblebees, of course, all covered with pollen!