Summer Slips, Fall Moves Forward

Today I recycled the geraniums, the hanging baskets and the flowering plants. Since last week's frost hit them hard, they gave up and turned into shriveled brown clumps, unrecognizable forms of their former pleasing self. I hope they stay warm over the winter in the protective brown paper bag into which I threw them. It was the least I could do. Someday, in a quite a few years, they will make some pretty great fertilizer for a future golf course on top of the landfill.

Last year wasp nests in our trees; this year grass carrying wasps in our window frames.
Don't we all have the tendency to think we are the only one? Well, guess what! It was only one click on Google that brought me to the page explaining why the frames of our crank out windows get channels of mud across the top with grass hanging down and free falling when I open the window. This brand of wasps carries grass into the top channels of these windows to protect their young as well as provide food and a nest for them. It happens in late July or early August.

It really is annoying, but the wasps are not predators, so I just wait and endure until I can clean the mess off the top before cold weather sets in. Stay tuned for next year...
Finally, this cute little woodpecker was busy last Sunday morning, pecking away at my cedar siding. For such a small bird, he has a loud tap. I could hear it in the wall but it wasn't until I stuck my head out the second floor window that he stopped, glanced quickly in my direction and flew off toward the trees. Hey bird, you're supposed to be pecking at hollow trees, not my house. Shoo, shoo!