Our beloved friend Mike passed away this morning, with his sister, Peg, by his side. In honor of his love for flowers, cohoots visited and left flowers on his body before singing him off to the funeral home. We reminisced about Mike during our scheduled business meeting: his sense of humor, playfulness, and the many […]
A nest of chickdees successfully fledged from a nestbox near the wildlife corridor. A couple of weeks later, a nest of tree swallows fledged from a bluebird box nearby. Cleaning out the nests brought an interesting insight: The swallow nest was vacated just two days before the clean out, the chickadee nest had sat empty […]
While clearing the valerian “forest” on the bike barn path (also known as the snake bed), I was wishing something could be made out of the plant material, such as fabric. Then the thought occurred: hollow tubes, these could be mason bee homes! Anyone can make a simple structure for native bees out of valerian […]
You may have noticed the lone hawk sitting in one of the twin towers early in the mornings. Or you may have seen one circling over the cemetery and floating over the buildings of Coho. For the longest time, I could not tell what variety of hawk it could be. Early in the morning, with […]
The hornets and yellowjackets are cruising for their last snacks before the frost gets them. Yellowjackets have been particularly annoying, lately, buzzing around hair and exposed skin. If you stay calm while brushing them away, they seldom sting. They appear to be curious, more than aggressive, perhaps they want to taste the perspiration on skin, […]
On first glance, this cluster of snails on the path appeared to be having a meeting, convention, or a very quiet party. However, on closer look, they were connected in pairs, making it more of a snail orgy. My duty as a gardener probably should have been to destroy the enemy of plants, but some […]