New Garden, Old Garden

So the many, many rains of this past summer brought forth many a delicious and seed-lacking tomato from my garden this year, and I was also inspired to create a new garden. The butterfly garden consists of two pink echinacea a harvest moon echinacea and a dark knight butterfly bush. Seriously did they have to call it dark knight and appeal to so many sides of my nerdness? It even blooms in the fall which means it was worth it even to plant it late.
As pretty as it looks with a happy little bhudda in the middle the tomato garden has deteriorated into a weed choked hell as it always does in late august. Observe.

The Monmouth County Fair

So I went to the local fair yesterday, I managed to make it on the one day this week that it isnt scheduled to rain. Amongst the rides that I couldnt go on due to my vertigo issues I found a delightful inflatable kiddie ride and rather racist ride art to share with you. I know its nothing concerning my garden but a fair is rather country and its raining now so I cant go pick my first crop of tomatoes.




And then of course there's the fireworks..

The First Tomato

Well, the first tomato to successfully ripen has been photographed and promptly eaten out of my garden, It was the size of a dime, but dammnit i'm proud. The squirrels have given up on the window feeder as well and the birds have been able to empty my biggest feeder in two days. I'm pretty sure they'll move onto meat soon and then we're all done for..

When im murdered by a hoarde of house finches then this blog will get interesting i'm sure.

All that glitters isnt one of those jerk squirrels

So today the goldfinch came to my window feeder. The feeder itself suffered at the hands of the squirrels who actually tried to leap off the roof and repel off the side of the house to access it only to knock the whole thing over, which probably sent the suckers flying. The little rabies sacks had it coming.

Here though is a welcome set of shots of the goldfinch and his woman.

Monsoon Season

So NJ has been rained upon for nearly a solid month, meaning we have been hit with a tropical monsoon season. A lot of people tend to complain and whine, but I havent had to water the garden in a month. I'll leave my non existant loyal readers with this montage of lightning from friday's storm.

They're coming for me

So I neglected to fill the thistle sack and all the finches in the known universe came to my window. I'm under the impression that this will end up like The Birds but i'll succeed in making it as embarassing as possible by managing to get myself eaten alive by finches.

Look at them..staring at me..with those eyes..like a doll's eyes!..no.. wait im mixing up my nature-parinoia prompting movies..

Garden Update

So its been almost two solid weeks of rain or semi-drizzle and the garden has gotten humungous. The oregano may eat me alive one day but at least i'll have some tomatoes to distract it with and prevent it from developing a taste for human flesh!
Aaaaaanyway here is the progress so far and a few bonus birdies.

Lucky Day

So I was tending to the garden this afternoon when I stumbled upon a four leaf clover. Considering that i've been looking for one since I was six I lost my mind for a few hours. Sanity returned, I took a picture, then 86 more unecessary identical ones.

I apologize in advance for my cuticles.

The Window Feeder

So I installed a window bird feeder a few weeks ago. I was certain it wouldnt attract anything but to my surprise even the goldfinches have been drawn to it but mostly I attract House Ficnhes. It's a great, gentle, natral thing to wake up to. I highly reccomend getting one. I also suggest investing in sunflower seeds as opposed to the mixed formulas.

The following pictures chronicle my success but the cou de gras is the video of various finches sharing it..

Pay no mind to the distant thunda

So despite fainting at work last friday, wacking my head and having off from work since, I still managed to hover in front of my bedroom window so I could film another thunderstorm. This one yeilded slightly better results than the first one. There was some epic lighting, and the following video features the top three lighting bolts.

Garden '09

So here it is; two cherry ,two hybrid, and two better boy tomatoes. Plus there's basil, oregano, and chives, and a bonus shot of a snapdragon which has somehow survived my 'surface of the sun' deck.

Marveleux!

So i'm taking a break from the norm to give a quick review of a really juicy tomato.

http://http//thehumanmarvels.com/

It's a website promoting the most famous and infamous of sideshow performers. From the zealously tattooed to those born a bit different., it has everything. There's the always popular Elephant man (Joseph not John) the endearing Schlitzie the pinhead and my personal favorite Myrtle Corbin who possessed a parasitic twin which made her appear to have four legs.
Not only are you provided with information on these fascinating individuals but you're given a fair account of their lives.
It's interesting to see how they often become self- made, earning decent money from their work in the sideshow circuits and it's great to see how 'The Human Marvels' delves into this so tastefully.

Nope you wont see the word Freaks here, unless of course it's the movie.

Coming soon..

Well i'm starting work on the garden at last, bur since it's still nothing blog worthy and I in fact have zero juict tomatoes to brag about I can only share the good news that i've gotten a rare visitor to the feeder..

This here is a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, if you squint really hard you can make out the distinct patches of wide and red chest. Squiiiiiint.

In addition, the male Northern Cardinal hung out with the Goldfinch.

They buds.

Red and Gold

So I bought a thistle seed bag ,refilled the feeders and found I became quite popular. To start, blurry success with the redwing blackbird hunt followed by success with the goldfinches and we'll finish with a brief visit from the Cardinal.

First Thunderstorm of the Year

So the first thunderstorm of '09 hit. It lasted maybe a half hour, grand total, so it was a bit of a disappointment but this ushers in another feature of my blog, lightning bolt montages!
I leave you with the one lightning bolt I got out of tonight's wussy storm.

Hunt for the Red-winged Blackbird

So I expressed a longing to get a good picture of the Blue Jay but I got an even rarer sighting today than our blue friend. Cousin of the Common Grackle, the Red-winged Blackbird is your basic black bird with red and yellow shoulderplates.

Sorry the RPG chunk of my nerdness couldn't resist.

Anywho..

The very same tree that has held the Common Grackles and somewhat antisocial Cardinal had one perched on it today. Hold your suete cakes for an update on the search.

Mrs Fields and the Junco

So i was observing the feeders today and found that about 5 billion Mourning Doves come to my feeder daily, along with a few finches a squirrel and a rabbit, and in this picture and accompanying video you see a fraction of what I can get.

What's more fascinating is my latest project, discovering the identity of the Dark-eyed Junco, also revealed that they like Mrs Fields chocolate chip cookies. Granted this isnt what I usually feed the birds, but I had one on me and gave it a shot. I watched a lone bird grab a wad equivalent to a third of the cookie and bolt. It's comforting to see just how much like us they truly are.

As for the Cardinal, he was feeling a tad antisocial today. He never got closer than the ornamental fruit tree.

So to make up for it, heres a nice pair of shots of him in the snow from a few days ago

A harrowing effort

So my last post displayed the little black birds that have been hanging out by the feeders this winter. I obtained the 'iBird North' app for my Ipod touch and finally learned it was the black/slate variety of Dark-eyed Junco. It may not seem like much to report, but it took DAYS to figure this out. Thus i consider seeing the Junco a bigger victory than getting a good shot of the Blue Jay or Goldfinch.

Useful Squirrels

So I looked out at my feeders today and discovered that the squirrels dug holes around their bases to get to the seeds and seemingly abandoned them so all the birds can eat. It's downright cutesy and disney-like.

I still havent gotten a shot of the cardinals but here's what I did get.

S'no garden yet

Yeeeeah so it's still roughly a month and a half before I can so much as acknowledge my garden and I thought id show off what last year's efforts currently look like...