Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Oh Spring... Through our Kitchen Window

So, a couple of random tidbits we're learning about spring at our new place, and all from our kitchen window...

First of all, we thought when we first moved in that outside our kitchen window was going to be a lovely garden of multiple varieties of tulips. However, months later, the stems kept growing and growing with a single bud on them - but never blossoming! Last month, this is what they looked like.
But now, this is what they look like.
I LOVE these flowers! No idea what they are, but they are so pretty!

We also learned that we get to watch a great variety of birds from our window. This varies from the sparrows and starlings Steve tries to shoot at from the back door to our lovely quail, local hummingbirds, and a variety of finches.

Our newest addition is actually a pair of swallows which have just built a nest above the lights in the carport. I couldn't believe how quickly they built their nest as it's only been a couple of days!

We also learned that apparently it only takes a couple of days for: yellow jackets to start nests in car doors, or wasps to build a paper nest the size of your fist right above your back door. We use a lot of wasp and yellow jacket spray around here....

But, of course, the best part of spring is always the babies! We've recently found nests kicked out of local trees, some with eggs in them still, and constantly get yelled at by the blackbirds and starlings around the yard for daring to intrude where they live.

Today brought on a whole new experience for me though - house arrest. I was headed out for a church meeting when I suddenly saw a moving sea of black and white through our kitchen window. Meet mama and her SIX babies!
So after watching them for a while as our kitchen window - and therefore the skunks - is located between our front and back doors (and I didn't feel like a tomato juice bath today), I got to see where their den is. So I know these are blurry... They were exploring all over the place! But, their den happens to be right behind one of our berry planters, which happen to be next to our front door. Awesome!
Random tangent: our first strawberry of the year!
We often smell skunk at night, but we didn't realize that the smell was coming from a den right under our house! Needless to say, we need to call the landlord tomorrow. Funny that when we first moved in their was a live trap in that spot and we wondered what it was for... Now it's gone, and we suddenly have neighbors living below us.

This will show the city girl in me, but I feel kind of bad they're in such a bad spot and we have to try and get rid of them. The babies are so cute!

1 comment:

  1. Mom got a flower like your purple ones from Emma Jean. She might know what it is called. They are beautiful.

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