Schizoid

The spring weather continues to come and go. I actually ran the AC for a couple of days this past week, but today the furnace is on again, plus April showers. At least I mowed before the rains came.

Insects seem to come and go as well. Last week I saw a red admiral on the creeping Charlie, yesterday a fat bumble bee in the serviceberry. (I was not quick enough to capture either with my macro lens.) Other than the ants that have invaded my kitchen, not much else six-legged activity.

Creeping Charlie sans red admiral

Serviceberry sans bumble bee

Something new I am trying this year is dripping water from milk jugs. I hung one over the birdbath, but I think it spooked the birds. There is another one over a tray of dirt and stones, to keep it moist for bugs like butterflies and mason bees. We'll see how that works out.

I'm enjoying the serviceberry which has really popped the past few days. A hard freeze at the wrong time can interrupt fruit production, but I'm hopeful there will be a bumper crop for the robins.

The flower stems of the ragwort have a weedy look to them, but the blossoms are lovely. (Can you tell I'm enjoying the macro lens on my camera phone?) Once they are done blooming, I'll cut back the stems to tidy things up a bit.

While I am enjoying all the newbies in the yard, let's not forget the stand-bys. The new leaves emerging on the elm tree show why it is such a great shade tree.

The Crimson King maple produces flowers of a sort, but it seems to be sterile, unlike its cousin the silver maple.

I put out the oriole feeder, but so far, no visitors. An acquaintance who lives in the country has seen an oriole, plus wild turkeys. I doubt I will ever have the latter in my backyard, but today there was a pair of mallards. (I *told* you it was wet out there.)

While all this beauty comes to life with no help from me, other parts of the yards require my attention. I gathered up most the cedar planks from the disassembled raised beds and put them at the end of the driveway (free!), but no takers. My neighbor across the street has been tearing out his deck, so he took the planks (and more) to the landfill for me. I would have like to see them reused, but they weren't in very good condition, plus sometimes you just have to let go.