Arsonista

So many pictures and no time to post. Some skidmark nicked the hose that was sitting in front of the house but the joke’s on them because it was a one-season P.O.S hose. One less thing for me to have to deal with this winter.

Tiny blue and green dragonfly

Got one. Monarch butterfly nectaring on butterfly milkweed.

The Monarch butterflies have found our yard. I’ll try to grab pics if I can, but my iPotato phone insists on overheating after being outside for more than five minutes. A bit like me in that way.

Quick photo dump. It’s 90F which is nasty but this is Kentucky and it does that in August.

Unpopular take from a developer: all AI is a scam, all of it, and you should not use it for anything ever

Oh dear. That previous post loops the video and I don’t know how to stop it. I also managed to ruin an intimate moment while taking a picture of a flower that looked a bit different than the others. Apologies all ‘round.

And before anyone accuses us of putting on airs, check out the solar-powered rave fountain I dropped in for the frogs. Breaks up the surface during the day to keep the tadpoles safe and lets the lads throw ragers at night.

A square, English garden style pond. Flat. Boring. Choked with overgrown water lilies.

A kidney-shaped pond lined by boulders and plants that features a two level waterfall.

How it started and how it’s going. It wasn’t possible to reproduce the lighting from pictures taken three years apart - but this is good enough.

Tall orange and red flowers mixed with yellow coreopsis overlooking the pond at the top of the waterfall. All of the plants in the yards except for a couple of non-invasive species are native to this state.

A stone wall between garden bed levels featuring more orange and red flowers

Bright red bee balm flowers

Purple bee balm flowers with a large bumblebee in the middle of them

Flowers be flowering

A small, black water beetle cleaning a rock in the pond

A large tadpole eating algae.

A clump of water grasses from the Elkhorn River that have been planted to provide cover for frogs, tadpoles, and insects.

We never needed to worry about repopulating the pond. Nature has sorted itself out. We have water striders, beetles, dragonfly nymphs, tadpoles … probably more things that I can’t see. Excellent.

Large purple cone-shaped flowers erupting from dense, green foliage

Year two. In spite of a monsoonal spring, the purple coneflower is thriving.

HI ALL TWO PEOPLE READING THIS! Things have been happening.
Updates incoming! I hope I don't get whomped for being too posty. The gardens have happened and everything is blooming and the bees are drunk flying and it's all very nice. Except for the bit that isn't, but we'll get to that.

Pouring rain splashing against rocks, illuminated by landscape lighting.

Slept through Thursday night’s tornado warning. No such luck tonight. Alas. It’s been absolutely bucketing.

Rocks lining an empty pond that has a new liner installed with two pallets of flat rocks wrapped in plastic.

Rocks, more rocks, and rocks wrapped in plastic (that the wren refuses to stay out of) that I have to check periodically in case he traps himself.

A mallard drake stares at an empty pond that is still under construction. He is visibly disappointed.

The face of absolute disappointment. I attempted to explain to Monsieur LeQuack and received his numerous, uncensored thoughts on the pond not being completed yet. #birds #mallard #disappointed

Yard project has started back up. Pond troubleshooting, hardscaping, planting of trees and shrubs and other things - busy busy. The estimated conclusion is April. Here’s hoping.

A grey and white mockingbird waits among the ice and snot-covered branches for me to refill the suet feeder

Black eyed junco searching for seeds during heavy snowfall

Magnolia tree bending in every direction and covered in ice. It has since made a full recovery

Several trees bending under the weight of ice and snow

Ice storm. We also picked up a new guest - a mockingbird. It is completely unafraid and makes weird noises at me when it sees me. The flicker does the same. I’ll have to create a disguise so I can lurch about the yard in peace.

A divided tray that hangs inside protective grid panels that only wrens and other small birds can fit through. On the left side is a peanut butter suet cake bordered by shelled peanuts and mixed seeds. On the right side is Sputnik’s favorite brand of dried mealworms.

The Only Wrens feeder extravaganza to help them survive this cold snap. I put a variety of food choices in it. Always nice to have options.

A view outside a door where a perfectly round Carolina wren is in the middle of demanding snacks.

Sputnik J. Wren will troll back, so don’t worry on his account. The moment he spotted me he started shouting for bugs and peanut treats.

Budget Trauma thanks to a CPU fan issue and a Win10 [enshittification] update. Gaming only rig is unavoidably Win11 - however I will neuter as much nonsense as possible via Regedit. After coffee. The iMac will be for actual work and other things. Not loving the expense but it is what it is.

Trolled the Wren and now it’s three days of energetic recriminations

I can, but it will cost ya.

Watch out for your cornhole

I can do this. I spent decades translating Physician to Normal

While the view from up here is nice, I don’t have all day for this. The local farms need to start with Starlicide and follow up with other measures. Unfortunately Starlings are such an incredibly destructive (invasive here) species here that the best thing to do would be to eradicate them.

A tree branch on the ground covered in ice near a tan porta potty.

Initial damage report.
The porta potty was unharmed.

A black eyed junco in the snow, rummaging for seeds.

Dozens of juncos and some mourning doves digging for seeds during heavy snowfall

Juncos as far as the eye can see.