Something's Bugging Me

The King found this praying mantis as he was trimming the weeds. They're regal and do good things for the ecosystem, but I have to say... they creep me out.

Is it 'praying' or 'preying'? I can see why both would be true. 'Preying' would seem to be more appropriate. But Google says 'praying', so I acquiesce to the search results.

Then I ran across one of these as I was raking up the yard debris. I couldn't determine if it was a spider, an ant or a wasp. Turns out it is a Red Velvet Ant. Talking about it makes me hungry for red velvet cupcakes.

She was gorgeous but uncooperative. By the time I ran inside to grab my camera she was making a concerted effort to burrow into the grass to get away from me. So I used a photograph from this blog post.

She really isn't an ant at all, but a wingless wasp that eats ground wasps and bees. And she's clearly not aggressive, which I appreciate. Apparently the males get the wings, and they don't sting but the females will if you provoke them (maybe they're mad because they don't have wings... wonder if they've heard of Red Bull? *snort*).

You can't see them, but they're there... dozens of wasps flying just above the grass, circling around...

... looking for... what?

I don't know.

But they are definitely focused on finding it.

Luckily they aren't red wasps, they are black wasps that don't seem to care that I want to get to the front door and the only way is through their choreography. If you know me, you know it took courage to wade through a cluster of wasps.

I'll wait while you praise my courage.

To build the hugelkultur mounds you need tree stumps, branches big and small, dirt and yard debris.

As you can see, we are accumulating quite a pile of limbs, and we still have most of the tree to cut up and drag to the front. But I was worried that we wouldn't have enough yard debris.

I was worried for nothing...

We are building up a nice pile.

The yard debris pile is almost as big as the limb pile. And there is more to be raked!

The King solved the mystery of what happened to the tree... not a lightning strike as I'd assumed, but little miniature loggers eating away at the insides of the tree. Nasty little things. I assume they serve their purpose in the ecosystem, but I wish they'd stick to trees that were already down... and not ones that are still standing in the woods.

This would make a nice rustic side table with a place to put pistachio nut shells.

Why pistachio shells? Because I said so, and the Queen is almost always right.

The Day of Fun

The King and I have been working hard lately and it was time to take a day off to enjoy ourselves. So we hopped in the royal carriage and took the scenic route.

Around here every route seems scenic.

This is the big green barn. I have now seen red, black, green and today we even saw a white barn.

By the way, the hawk was perched on the electrical wire again today. First time in over a year... and guess what? It was then that I realized I'd forgotten my camera.

He flew off anyway. Just to spite me. Like, "I know you're wondering if I'll still be here when you return with your camera... buh-bye." 

This is the so-called "backwater" route.

I would like to be on a boat. Out there. In that backwater.

I was looking forward to getting a gorgeous photo as we crossed a bridge near the Gore's property... yes those Gore's... but they rerouted the road and are in the process of taking down the bridge... what? I blame the Gore's... but the view is still gorgeous. 

Imagine how much more picturesque it would have been from up there...

Speaking of picturesque.

I would trade the castle for this house.

It's amazing how much things have changed in the last year or two. Hairburger is completely closed (we call it that because it's burger joint in front, barber shop in back... like the business version of a mullet). Too bad, they actually had good burgers.

So we had lunch at the local gas station/convenience store/restaurant. It's changed ownership since we were there last. And we stopped by to see a friend.

Then it was time to hit the road - no rest for the wicked!

Yes, you've seen this dam before. Do we have a dam problem?

I didn't think so. :) 

It's like deja vu... or deja view

But guess what? Just down the road is the most amazing scenic overlook of all... we have decided to move our things there and see if we can just take it over without anyone noticing. 

Can you imagine looking at this every day?

And then you turn your head a little to the right and see this?

Dam, what a view.

Of course, we'd have to evict this guy... he's a little creepy with the big fly eyes, cockroach legs and grasshopper body. But also kinda cute like a cabbage patch kid.

What the hell is he???

Enough about him. I'm obsessed with the view.

It's a really nice view.

It's a view that rocks.

  
This is a hill of beans. Some of you will get it, some won't. But it doesn't matter.

(see what I did there?)

The royal chainsaw has been working very hard lately and needed to be sharpened. Who better to do that than Mayor Tom?

Sparks flew...

Meet Ludwig. After we met him we decided we wanted a great dane because he is such a cool dog, and that's how we ended up with Daisy Bear, who is also a cool dog.

And perhaps the best part of all - the King found my favorite ring today! I found this moonstone ring at one of the apartments I lived in long ago. I knocked on a couple of doors but no one claimed it, so it's mine, mine, mine.

(and it's my lucky ring)

And that was our day.

Tomorrow we will smoke some brisket and ribs in our new electric smoker while we work on the tree. It's exhausting, but oddly satisfying, and for the first time since we moved in, it is starting to feel like a castle.

...And the Tree Came Down

More work for the royal couple today as we continue to chop up and break down the tree. The discouraging part of the whole thing is that once we finish this, the rest of the tree has to come down and that means we have to do it all over again.

This is fascinating to me since I was just learning about how to prune a tree from The Smiling Gardener's online course.

Trees have a way of shedding branches while causing minimal damage to the rest of their structure, and that is a system of branch collars. A branch collar is something like our shoulder or hip socket where the limb joins into the tree. When you prune, you're supposed to leave the branch collar in place so the tree can heal around the wound without causing disease and rot, and I have seen the collars from the outside of the tree, but never how the branch fits into the collar on the inside.

As I was breaking the branches apart, this one didn't snap like the others, it was more like it popped out or slid out. And it was really cool, because there it was, the part of the branch that goes into the root collar!

This is a good angle to see the root collar, how it bulges out a little around the branch.

It's strange to look out the window and no longer see the other half of the tree hanging off. But you can see how damaged the rest of the tree is... there's unfortunately no way to save it, it's going to rot and eventually it will fall where it pleases... which most likely won't be pleasing to us. So once we chop up the downed half we will drop this tree as well.

Lots of wood for the mounds!

More butterflies

The tree on the ground... it's probably a good 40 feet, and some of it was already chopped up so that we could get to the fence to have it repaired.

Another root collar where a branch was shed.

We have elderberries growing in the back. I want to gather them up but we have to move some weeds out of the way first.

And the weeds are abuzz with honeybees and bumblebees and butterflies. So I want to clear out as little as possible because we like honeybees and butterflies. I'm dubious about the bumblebees... people say they aren't aggressive but the first thing that ever stung me was a bumblebee.

This is one of our red-tailed hawks. He is uncooperative when it comes to being photographed. I rue the one time I saw him perched on a power line and I didn't have my camera...

Someday I will get his picture close up. But for now this will have to do.

And now, back to the grind...

The Coolest Barn Ever and the Mounds are Finally Underway!

Sometimes things don't go exactly as planned. Such was the case with our new window. The old wooden window that was original to the house never had leaks, despite the fact that one of the casement windows never shut all the way. Our new window leaked every time there was a driving rain.

They came out three times to try and suss out the issue, but ultimately nothing worked, so they ordered a new center unit and it was installed a few days ago... just before another rain. Actually it was the day that the cinema episode happened in Antioch because one of the guy's wives worked nearby and heard the gunshots.

Luckily no one, except the attacker, was hurt. And the window was also replaced without incident. Now we wait for another driving rain to see if the swap was successful.

Sometimes you just appreciate being alive and even the weeds are pretty.

Mr. Bo-Bo doesn't like it when the Queen goes away, but go away the Queen must. I had a follow-up visit with the girly doctor. It could have all been done over the phone, but I had to take another hour long drive to get there. I arrived early and waited 30 mins while the doctor chit chatted with the office staff and took a call regarding a dog she was attempting to rehome. Like Mr. Bo-Bo... I was not happy.

But before all that, I saw this gorgeous creature. She was at the edge of the woods where not too long ago she would have been concealed by the weeds in the field.

As would these plants.

We have a lot of rock here in my part of Tennessee. Some rocks show lines, some are porous aquifers that filter down to a spring, some stick out and form a canopy. The Queen is fascinated.

And now to the coolest barn ever... some nice child did this for their parents. It's pretty nice to be able to stop in the middle of the road and snap a picture because there is no traffic... I must say.

Someone has a sense of humor. The Queen approves.

After I picked the King up from the airport we went to a fancy schmancy restaurant that was featured on Michael Symon's Burger's Brew and Que. I had hoped we could have the hamburgers, potatoes and coconut cake that were featured on the program, but the burger is only served at lunch and we were there for dinner. Sadness.

So we tried something else... I have to say, we were not blown away by Adele's.

I ordered grilled lamb and it sounded like it would be a flavor explosion...  the lamb was served over watermelon, which was interesting and might have been better if the watermelon was actually ripe. Then they put a lemon, pistachio, capers and olive 'relish' on the plate. Somehow that didn't add much flavor at all, and the whole thing needed more salt but there was none on the table. The lamb itself had some sinew that didn't break down on the grill like it would in a stew and even for me it was a little rare.

Not to mention it was LOUD in there... so loud that you could hardly carry on a conversation. So we were disappointed. And you had to valet your car, which seemed unnecessary.

This is what the King and I term "the Bo-Ball." I don't think he can get any smaller.

The Queen was making Banh Mi sandwiches and thought the condiments were rather pretty.

Now there's your flavor explosion! The sandwich was a success and now I can attempt the bbq beef dish I got at the Vietnamese restaurant... I could eat my weight in the meat... no I couldn't... but I could eat a lot of it. The flavor is amazeballs.

Lady Richelieu sister and cousin? And Cardinal Richelieu's tail feathers peeking out from the back of the feeder. 

I'm not entirely sure these are cardinals, they don't look like Lady Richelieu, but at the same time they are bigger than the finches that have similar coloring. Perhaps we have yet another new species at the feeder.

And perhaps Cardinal R is a polygamist... hmmm... big love indeed.

Today the King and I started the enormous task of cutting up and repurposing the tree that fell this winter. I had two dominant trunks and my suspicion is there was a lightning strike that caused a crack, that got wet when it rained, and then the water froze and expanded, causing half the tree to fall on our fence.

But I could be wrong.

No matter. However it happened, the result was the same. Tree fall down, tree go boom, fence go crunch.

We had that repaired soon afterward, but the remains of the tree have been sitting there while we waited for warmer weather, then time for the King to get to it, and then cooler weather... Today was not necessarily cool, but it was in the 80's instead of the 90's so we went for it.

In the meantime, the King saw these pretty butterflies in the woods and bade me to come take a photograph.

This is the tree... what's left is very tall and the King is going to have to take it down because this much injury is going to eventually kill it. We would rather choose where the tree falls.

You need us, you need us.      
Like a bee needs a buzz.      
Like a peach needs its fuzz.      
So that's why you need us.      
Buzzzzz. 

Remember that little ditty?

Well here's a picture of a honeybee anyway.

And after the swallowtail butterflies came this colorful creature.

  

The butterflies really like this plant. I like it too, but it seems to prefer the shade, so it won't be incorporated into the flowerbed out front.

This is the top part of the tree. Lots and lots and lots or limbs... That was my task, to break these down into a smaller size that could fit into our lawn cart. Then I drove them up to the front to dump them out. We're going to build hugelkultur mounds for gardening and to block the view of our house from the road. It's a trifecta of awesomeness.

This is the first layer. Logs and larger limbs with some smaller limbs on top. On top of that there will be smaller limbs, then yard debris, and finally dirt. We will probably dig out the ditch in front of the house to make it more functional and to provide us with some dirt.

Lawn clippings awaiting their turn on the mound.

Smaller sticks.

They're so neatly stacked...

I leave you with this moment of cuteness... this is a tiny lizard. Enjoy it.