Hanging Out Outside:

I love living in Mayberry.  Especially during the summer.  We have so much more living space then.  We spend a lot of time on our patio.  The yard is pretty, but based upon the outdoor furniture selection, we will not be featured in Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon.

Some summers, there are lots of hanging baskets and planters full of herbs and flowers.  Not this year though.  It took long time for summer to even arrive.  I don't normally get my stuff until the first of June because of "fear of frost", and this year I didn't get anything until the end of June for the same reason.  Then I just got out of the mood for container gardening.  Still, we derive a lot of pleasure sitting in our old but comfy lawn chairs, enjoying our cat, Mange.  This is the first year that she has let us even pet her.  Maybe this winter she will come inside.

I notice the flaws.  The flag is twisted.  The propane tank sticks out like a sore thumb.  The wildflowers never did grow.  The umbrella is limp on the left.  The grill is not polished up.  The gazebo is crooked, due to an unfortunate snow removal accident with a Bobcat.  This is a real life shot ... not primped, though I did move the hose out of the way.  But, the house is painted and the grass and trees are pretty.  It is pleasant, and I consider myself very blessed.

And we have our own backhoe.  The backhoe kind of scared me during the lightening.  I was afraid it would attract bolts and that they would hit the house, catching it on fire.  Fortunately, that did not happen.  It was a wasted worry.  And a wasted effort to try and get Cary to move it to the backyard.

Though you have to take my word for it, in our yard, we get:

Hummingbirds

Butterflies

Birds and Squirrels

That is suet.  It don't think that anybody really likes it.

Oops, I did not move the hose over far enough.  Oh well.  I took a picture of that corner of the flowerbed to show you how close the deer was to me on Thursday.  I was outside, reading my book and she was calmly eating leaves off of the trees.  I was afraid that if I got up and went inside to get my camera it would scare her away.  So, we just visited instead.  I talked her out of eating my flowers, at least for the time being.  She was only about 10' away from me, and it was a really nice conversation.  She spoke with her eyes.  I hope that she comes back.  I hope that everybody will just leave her alone.

Summer is flying by this year, maybe because we were cheated out of the first month.  It would be really nice if we have a long Indian Summer.  I hope that you guys are enjoying your summer as much as I am enjoying mine!