But you have some pretty special plants and lets face it the natives which make up the spring bloom there are spectacular as are the blooms here in California and in South Africa. You probably have too large a place to shape it all. I suspect if you did and had the time you’d aim for something that felt natural, as do I. But I think you might be moral loyal to the native plants than I am. I like many California natives but I make them earn their place in my affection in straight up competition with everything else that will grow here. But in laying it out I have in mind creating something that feels like the natural landscapes I’ve hiked in.
Since one of my aims for the garden is to provide a rich resource for birds and beneficial insects there is a good argument for choosing natives. That is what I started out doing. But the more I look at plants the more I also try also to please my own eye. There is some tension in my garden over that issue.
We didn’t get to see hundreds on the ground this year like sometimes, for some reason. Not too far from here there can be thousands and probably tens of thousands on the ground within view, deafening and whitewashing, so to speak. I’m thankful for where we live, and I know to whom.
Just an FYI, but possums are more dangerous to dogs. They’ll play dead, but if the dog jumps on top, the possum will rake its sharp hind claws down the dog’s belly. The dog winds up gutted and dead.
Good to know. I’ve had two dogs pick up ‘dead’ possums. But I guess they never got their chance to get their claws into them. I’m a big fan of possums because they eat ticks and snails. They’re a more frequent visitor here than raccoons.
I missed your video of your beagle harrying the feather when you first posted it, @glipsnort. That is exactly the way both of mine react. Funny to see two heeler crosses both tentatively nosing toward it ready to jump backwards if it should strike.
I got a photo of my rat tail cactuses yesterday I think is worth sharing.
We went for a family dog walk to today at a location called Ankerwyke (pronounced, ‘Anchor Wick’). Just across the river you can see the location where King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. It also host the remains of an ancient priory and a two thousand year old Yew Tree (which is stupidly forgot to photograph for you all!).
But I did take a picture of the meadows carpeted with buttercup flowers:
And also here is a video (taken at the same time) of three of them playing around. They’re growing up, but you can tell they’re the children by their playful scampering.
One aspect of creation I really enjoy are my pets as well with me behind my house in short hikes. My cats stay inside for the most part and so it’s up to me to help keep them healthy by taking them out for small walks, and sometimes I let them play outside while I’m reading a book or looking at plants in my yard. My kitten, 4 months old roughly, is starting to enjoy the experience of swimming through he mostly prefers water only a few inches tall and chases floating leaves lol. Sometimes he tried to catch fish. If I go out and just sit down, within a few minutes he’s already next to me usually. He almost never goes in unless I’m already in.
I’m surprised your cat likes the water at all. Were there small fish or tadpoles swimming around to attract interest? My sister used to have a cat that would follow her on walks and did so when I was there too. Lived out his whole life in the southern Sierras right abuttting wild lands and never got plucked up by any of the large birds or mammals that might find a cat a good meal.
He learned in part as a byproduct to my other cat enjoying water. The black one. I trained her by sitting in the water and holding her in my lap and petting her. She gradually got use to it and I think he just learned watching that and the fact he showers with me often. He likes the hot steam in the shower lol. I have to use a rubber band to keep the handle secured because he’s learned to jump up and mess with it. He will turn it on and then sit on the shower bench.
It was also leaves floating in the water that got him wanting to pursue them in it. But he really enjoys it now. Spends 5-10 minutes in it walking or swimming and then gets out and waits a while and gets back in. I mostly keep them inside due to ecological reasons.
Yeah if my wife would let me have a cat I’d be loath to let it out for fear of predation on birds. But I would hate to deprive it of a wider experience of the world too. Perhaps ‘supervised’ walks are the best solution.
Definitely. They get out a lot. At least 2 hours a day and often 6 on Saturday and Sunday. I just sit a fan up to blow on me keeping mosquitoes and gnats away and read my book under the shade of a tree. Its also why I don’t have a dog. I just don’t have the time to dedicate to on atm. Turned down to baby Pitts today that I could have had for free. Soon though. Perhaps next year my space and time will be more allowing for it.
Excellent. If I could only have one kind I’d pick the dogs but living in a hundred year old dilapidated warehouse there would definitely be work for a good mouser.
I’ve been thinking of getting a parrot. A pet that will potentially outlive me. I’ll always have an assortment of cats and dogs though. Use to have horses as well. Been wanting a goat as well.
Once the land I’m on now is settled I’m going to focus on this other property I have and probably have a few farm type animals out there. Things in a herd so that I don’t have to invest daily time with them. Maybe 10 minutes a day and a few hours on the weekend. I hate animals as just living furniture. My two cats now eat up a decent amount of my day. Pet them for about 10 minutes in the morning each. Play with them a day and then also pet them again for about 30 minutes in the evening. Even now while typing this my kitten is on my back purring away.
Somewhere I read that animals make us human. I tend to think they connect with us in ways which take us ‘out of our heads’ and ground us, and maybe that does something positive for our humanity?
I’ve also read that when people pet their animals, their blood pressure goes down and that the same is true for the pets. In fact, apparently we only have to imagine petting them to get that effect. Could be.
I wish you success in pursuing your plans for your property. I never had a parrot but before I started making a garden I raised finches and other small birds in outdoor aviaries. It required looking in on them twice a day for feeding, water and any sign of illness. I had three outdoor flight cages each connected to a smaller one inside an old shed. It was while beginning to think about building a fourth much larger aviary that it occurred to me that I live on a natural flyway with the creek on our northern border. Sure enough, planting for the birds does bring them through here and I no longer need to do those twice a day checks and feedings.
This was the first, completed in the summer upon completing my first year of teaching in 1991.
This is a close up of the Mesia which also showed in the second photo above, sharing the largest aviary with the most aggressive birds, a family of weavers and a pair of Pekin Robins.
In this last photo, taken from top floor of the warehouse on the other side of the creek, you can see the old shed with the aviaries surrounding it and the creek below. The garden was still in the future at this time, though my wife did have a vegetable garden going just to the right of the aviaries.
