Round up The Usual Suspects...

I don't know about the rest of the country but March went out like a lamb here in Florida. In a couple of days we went from early Spring to Summer lite and 75 degrees! As always, click each photo for a better view.

The usual suspects have returned to my bird feeder. The backyard bully woodpecker has not changed his ways, and despite being much too large for the feeder, still drives the other birds away and finds a way to eat his fill.

I saw this little miss through a window doing what I call "Cardinal watch." She sat there patiently and allowed me to take as many pictures as I wanted. That is why I call it Cardinal watch because she was not disturbed by my presence, highly unusual, which let me know she regarded the area as her territory.

The garden has begun to come to life. I cheated a little and bought two tomato plants I thought would keep me busy while I waited for the others to grow from seeds.

Both already have blooms and small tomatoes.

The squash too have come to life. Notice how dark the soil is. I always find it amazing that you could almost throw the seeds on the ground here and life would burst from it.

And so, the vision of becoming a backyard gardener is quickly moving from dream to wonderful reality. Can standing with a pitchfork in front of the garden doing "Single American Gothic" be far off?


I was listening to a gardening program on the radio the other day, and the guy giving advice casually stated that tomatoes are generally the gateway drug into full blown gardening. I confess! I have planned and planted so much I am ready to go into rehab... But, before I check myself in I still need to buy and plant onions around my crop as a natural method of keeping pests away. I'm raising my right hand and promise rehab after that!!!