I can see clearly now, the rain is gone....

Or so the weather forecast promises. It has been rainy all week, with just enough breaks to break one's heart. Consequently, I have done next to nothing in the yard besides mow and trim between the showers. The coming week looks delightful, though: lows in the 60's, highs in the low 80's, sunshine. Hopefully, I will be able to beat back the jungle that I euphemistically call a garden.

This fungi is not growing in my yard, but is a good indicator as to how damp it is.

This post showed up on my FB feed:

Besides depriving birds of their food, mosquito spraying does not discrminate between mosquitoes and other insects like pollinators. The bee population in my yard is much lower than it was before the "Bite me" signs appeared around town.

The Crimson King maple in the front yard does not look quite as full as it has in the past. Several other specimens in the neighborhood have succumbed in recent years, but mine has always looked healthy... until now. I looked up some info on Crimson Kings. They are a variety of the Norway maple which lives to be 250 years... in Norway. In the US, life expectancy is arouind 60 years. If my tree was planted when the house was built in 1973, it has been in the ground nearly 50 years. I don't know when they start counting the age of trees, but I'm hoping mine lasts a bit longer; a slow grower, it is finally casting some decent shade.

The natives planted along the fence are blooming a bit more. The cup plant patch is getting there, too. Zinnias in pots are almost ready to open. The orange "ditch lilies" are doing their thing. Hopefully, this week I will get to do mine.