I Spy

Every year in the spring my father planted a vegetable garden. The rows were straight and the tomatoes grew out of holes in plastic sheeting. By June the garden was ignored. By August it was a tangle of plants and weeds. He’d stand near the edge and look at it. Nothing here to harvest, he’d say and turn back to the house.

I learned to ignore him and look under the leaves.

I Spy something yellow and orange in the squash patch.

Look closely!

I Spy something munching in the flower pot. MANY somethings munching. How many do you see?

Look closely!

I Spy something noisily cheeping in the garden shed.

It’s not in the nest.

It’s a fledgling on the can!

What’s that I Spy on the fence?

Another fuzzy-headed Carolina Wren!

There’s so much to see. You just have to look. What have you spied today?

 

Comments:

  3. Love this. Thanks for all the time you have devoted to this.

    • Thanks, Julie, CBT, Lynne and Chris. Being observant and appreciative of the details does make the day go better, doesn’t it?

  5. Yesterday I spied a Tarantula Hawk flying past our pine tree. They eat young tarantulas from their nests. They are not really a hawk, more of a flying bug with a nasty bite.

  6. I have your “Carolina Wren Stuck In The Barn” as my iPhone ring tone and use it for my alarm too.

    • It is such a pretty song. Now that I can hear again, and hear the high notes, I find it especially lovely to hear. The little ones cheep, but you can tell they’ll be singing soon.

  7. My daughter and I go to your site daily to see the hens, goats and photo’s you share. She loved this post. She said hi and asked Who weighs the most? Rayne is 5 and gets excited when I say I have hen cam loaded.

    We are building our larger coop this holiday weekend and hoping to get them more comfortable. Hubby is a IT guy and is planning on setting up camera’s so that we can keep an eye on them when they or all set up.

    Thanks for having Hen Cam!!

    Beverly and Rayne

    • Caper is the tubbiest, but I have never put him on a scale. Just thinking about trying to get him to stand on a bathroom scale makes me laugh.

      • I hope you don’t mind her asking questions. We are new to Urban chickens ourselves.

        She asks, ” Do you know how much your biggest chicken weighs?”

        • I don’t have a scale in the barn, but my biggest hen is Opal and I guess she weighs about 6 to 7 pounds.

          • She asked, ” When do chickens lay eggs?” She also said, “Thank you answering me.”

            I have become a messenger hehe. It is cute to see how excited she gets when I check for an answer. She will bug me to check. Thanks for sharing with us and letting us bug you with questions.

            Beverly and Rayne

            • I think she needs a chicken book of her own :) The 4-H Guide to Raising Chickens is good for children. Also, Take a look at my FAQs page. Under Misc. I have a list of my favorite children’s books featuring chickens.

              • I will look it up. She loves our hens. She wants to be able to pet them but they don’t want anything to do with her. I am debating on getting another set of hens after we get the much larger coop built and set up so they all have room.

  8. Oh…the simple, beautiful pleasures of life!!!!! :>)

  9. I spied a small grey tree frog who had spread himself out very thinly on the branch of a maple tree probably to beat the heat.

  10. Is that your summer squash NOW!!! This year’s growth?!!!
    Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor.

    I planted out 4 courgette plants (zucchini) about 6 weeks ago… they have grown about an inch bigger in all of that time. This morning I spotted some flower buds… a desperate attempt to survive on the plants part, in this weird cold and wet year. Past midsummer and I have worn sandals on maybe 3 occasions this year, and still wearing winter layers most days.

    However plants that like cooler conditions are romping away after all the rain we’ve had!!! Make a change from the “East Anglian Desert”.

    Celia
    x

    • Yes, that photo was taken this week, and my plants are behind those or “real” farmers who already have harvested baskets of squash. We’ve had hot weather, but unlike much of the country, we’ve also had rain. I’m sure that most of the Western USA would be delighted to send our horrible dry (and now burnt) weather your way!