New Nest, Old Nest and Thistle City

Okay, so Summer is just about here and so are the weeds. I mowed the lawn again a couple days ago. Well, actually, I mowed most of the lawn. We're having some trouble with a big wet spot in the yard, and the PTO belts seem to be stuck. That means that Dad needs to fix things up, so the back half of the yard is waiting. Not a bad thing. It gave me time yesterday to get a bit of weeding done in the perennial garden. Last year, I wasn't able to get at the weeds in the Spring, so I was never really able to get a hold of the situation. So, I decided to attack things sooner this year. Ever since the neighbors started feeding thistle seed to the birds (supposedly it's sterilized seed), we've been inundated with huge thistles. All over the garden! These are some "before" and "after" pictures of the weedy area that I worked on yesterday --- followed by a picture of the can and stack of weeds. It was so heavy that I couldn't even get it all the way to the garage. All I could do was drag it behind the house and let Dad use his muscles on it later. :) I ended up getting almost every thistle. Saw a few that I missed, but by then I was beat.

BEFORE

AFTER

The baby doves have "flown the nest" and headed to greener pastures. Their little nest is sitting in the wood shed . . . empty. Not to feel badly, though, as it looks like something is nesting in the bird feeder in my Gnome Garden. Nestled amongst the old corn cobs (discarded by the chipmunks) is another nest. Mom thinks it might belong to a Robin, but we haven't seen a bird in it yet.



It rained all yesterday evening, last night and this morning. Needless to say, it's pretty wet around here. We were out at a doctor appointment this afternoon and running grocery errands. Not sure what tomorrow holds. More later.