My Backyard's Gonna Make It Afterall

I think my poor rabbit went to the big farm in the sky. It's been a while since I've seen him or evidence of him. When my sweet potato vines were left to grow several feet long, I knew something was wrong. Also, a few weeks ago, there was a weird smell in the garage. It lasted a few days and I have a sneaking suspicion if I could get past all the junk and equipment in there, I'd find a familiar skeleton. Shame. When my son asks for the rabbit, I just tell him he went home to his mama and will come for a visit later. So far I'm not doing too well keeping the woodland creatures alive in my future Certified Wildlife Backyard Habitat.

Some good news though, there is a forest (several acres of undeveloped land actually...does that consitute forest???) across the street from us and while eating lunch, the kids and I spotted a family of deer a few times. Too cool. At least until my son would shout 'look mama, the deer!!!' and they'd scamper away. We've also seen the babies cross over to several backyards on our street. While out for walks, they would race by trying to reach cover. A few scary moments while crossing the street, but thankfully, they're all ok. As far as I know anyway.

Also, my toad abodes are working. I have tons of American Tree Frogs living in our yard, and even in the rim of my rain barrell. They sing to us and sleep on leaves. It's such fun to spot one. Guess I'm not doing that badly afterall.

Woodland Creature Sightings

I guess my little rabbit friend forgave me as my kids and I spotted him behind one of my hydrangea bushes this afternoon. He's a brave little bugger as he happily posed for us for about 10 minutes. Long enough for me to get the camera and take tons of shots.

Right before that, we found a frog on the patio. This thrilled my one-year old daughter who tried to climb up to reach it. My two-year old son was intensely curious and studied it for a very long time. Then he asked 'squash it Mama?'. (I should mention that he helps me squash the bad bugs and catepillars that eat our plants.) Of course we didn't squash it and I explained to him that frogs eat those bad bugs, which is why we need them in the garden. He seemed happy with this answer and went back to look for the rabbit.

That inspired me to create a few toad abodes around the garden. [Stop reading here honey.] As I didn't have the opportunity to buy any yet, I half buried a few clay pots sideays in the spots I normally find them. That should do for now.

If I spot anything else, I'll be sure to let you know.

Hare Today, Gone Tommorow

I'm currently dealing with an internal conundrum. This morning, my family and I found a rabbit hole/nest in our front yard behind some flowering bushes. After poking around a little, out hopped the cutest little rabbit ever. I've actually seen this little bugger around my flower beds before, especially early in the morning. (And I've recently had to chase it out of the garage so it wouldn't meet the same fate as an old toad and sprightly hummingbird who both got trapped in there. Ewwwwwwww.) Instinctively, I covered the rabbit hole as a means of protecting my home (as it was right against the wall), only to face constructive crisicism from my husband. 'What's the point of working toward the NWF recognize our home as a national wildlife backyard habitat if you go around destroying wildlife homes?' Point taken.

I'm all for celebrating little critters living, procreating and any other 'ings' in my yard, as long as they don't destroy the house in the process. Since I'm higher up on the food chain, I figure I have the right to call the shots on this. Maybe I'm overreacting due to my Dad's insistence on keeping the perimeter of my childhood home clear of any living thing, flora and fauna, because it's just too expensive to repair foundations. But then how much damage could a family of rabbits do, other than eat my produce and croton plants?

Anyway, to asuage my guilt, I reopened the rabbit hole and fluffed up the lint (yes lint) they used for bedding. Maybe my little buddy will come back and forgive me. When my Dad comes in a few weeks, I'll have him evaluate the situation and advise us how best to proceed.

Watermelon Schwatermelon

I've given up on watermelons. For this year anyway. My southside garden receives too much sun for the poor things. That, and the rainspells caused them all to split on the vine. Same reason tomatoes split - too much heat followed by a deep watering causes the fruit to expand suddenly and split. Thing is, green tomatoes are edible, unripe watermelon is not. I couldn't leave them on the vines to putrefy, so I fed them to the birds. This happened one too many times and I pulled up the darn thing instead of wasting more water on it. Shame really. My vines were really healthy and were loaded with young watermelons.

There's a lesson here though. A north or east location would be more ideal for next year's vine. I'll let you know how that goes.

In other news, rabbits roam my garden at night, devoring sweet potato vines and bell pepper bushes. AND they've even eaten all the leaves off a potted croton plant in front. How dare they!?! At least they're also fertilizing my garden while they're at it. How's that for a mutually symbiotic relationship?