Saturday, June 15, 2019

Fox and Egg


Finally, FINALLY, school is out for the summer. The end of school always seems like such a protracted affair. There are assemblies and parties and speeches and more parties and then a final, all-together-now assembly for staff and faculty -- that was yesterday morning. And that entailed more speeches, and then there was another party, in the school's gym. Wine was served, but I didn't have any. After Wednesday, the very thought turned my stomach.

I ducked out of the party after about half an hour, and came home to work in the garden. I picked up a ton of squirrel-gnawed walnuts from our tree, and deadheaded the roses. I admired our big yellow lupine (above), which is new. For some reason our blue lupine died over the winter, so we got yellow and red ones to replace it.


I also discovered our Solomon's seal was once again infested with sawfly larvae, which (as you can see) were making quick work of eating the leaves. We don't spray, so I had to get rid of them the old-fashioned way -- squashing them with a paper towel. Probably the least appealing of all gardening tasks.

I hate to kill anything, and will usually go out of my way to avoid it, but those guys are just too "belligerent and numerous," in the words of Morbo. Well, OK, maybe not belligerent, but certainly destructive. If I let them live our plant would be stripped bare.


This is blooming now in the wildflower garden, amid the blue borage and the bright pink valerian. I haven't a clue what it is. Anybody know?


Finally, I'm posting late today because I wanted to edit and upload this video from our garden cam. We had an egg in the fridge that was a bit past its expiration date -- still perfectly good, but we thought rather than eat it ourselves, we'd give it to our garden fox. So we boiled it, cooled it and set it out in the back of the garden by the shed.

As you can see, our little fox appreciated it! I'm pretty sure this is the same fox that ventured into our house several days ago. You can see he appears in the video even before I put out the egg -- just his tail, disappearing behind the shed. Then I set the egg out and about an hour later, the fox discovers it and nibbles away for several minutes. (As usual, the dates and times on the garden cam videos are wrong. I just can't be bothered to reset them every time I turn on the cam. The real time was about five hours behind what you see there -- so the fox discovered the egg around 10:45 p.m.)

Doesn't "Fox and Egg" sound like the name of a pub?

15 comments:

Sabine said...

Happy holidays to you!
I think the plant is a meadow sage.

Ms. Moon said...

That is a fine and healthy-looking fox! How sweet of you to cook him an egg. Your fox always reminds me (and I know I've said this before) of the fox in Alexander McCall's Isabel Dalhousie series. He makes at least one appearance in every novel and Isabel calls him "Brother Fox" and often leaves him nice treats.
School's out! What a relief!

Anonymous said...

I like that you cooked the egg for the fox. S/he is probably wondering what wonderful meal you put out next.

Dee said...

He'll/she'll be a regular pet soon. Expecting eggs and bacon every night. I bet he comes into your house more often after this nice treat. What fun to watch.

John Going Gently said...

You have lovely nails

Stillwaterrunsdeep said...

It’s so nice of you to leave an egg for the fox! Its good to see nature in action, and this guy does look healthy. Have a good summer!

Sharon said...

That garden camera is a wonderful thing. I wish I had one when I was living in the house with the big yard. I bet there was all kinds of secret activity going on at night that I knew nothing about. Fox and Egg...perfect pub name.

ellen abbott said...

the yellow lupin is gorgeous. the purple flower in the wildflower bed might be a sage or a salvia though sage is a salvia. I'm surprised the fox didn't gulp that egg down in two bites.

Catalyst said...

That fox was very persistent and he seemed to love the egg you cooked him. Of course, he'll be hanging around now, looking for more take-out.

jenny_o said...

Foxes are so very dog-like in their behavior, aren't they? I think foxes know how to deal with a raw egg in the shell, do they not? Did you peel the boiled egg for him? :D You had a kind of Disney fireworks ending to the video, there, with the lit-up insect flying away!

Yeah, I hate squishing anything bigger than a mosquito! Bleh!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I also hate to kill anything. But in that regard, gardening does throw up a few moral dilemmas.

Colette said...

LOVE that video of the fox.

Linda Sue said...

sweet little fox, thank you for giving him an egg. Glad School is out, WHEW. back to being Steve again. Have a great summer, stay cool- You may have to get a kiddie pool for Olga

Red said...

Watch those saw fly larvae. Turn around and there'll be just as many there again.

Steve Reed said...

Sabine: Thanks for the ID! I figured it was a salvia of some kind. I'm sure I've weeded it out of our gardens before, but I think I'll leave it from now on. I like it!

Ms Moon: I've never read that series! Dave and I have resolved to leave the fox eggs now and then. (Only after Olga is locked up for the night!)

Robin: We've infrequently left bits of chicken and other leftovers out for the foxes in the past.

Dee: We don't want to put something out every night because we want him to be able to forage for himself. But we'll help him out now and then. (We definitely don't want him inside again!)

John: Thank you! My high school girlfriend was always jealous of my nails. LOL!

StillWater: I think he's still very young. Wild foxes don't live long, from what I understand.

Sharon: It is very cool to see what's out there!

Ellen: We were surprised, too, that it took the fox so long to eat the egg. I guess his mouth is still pretty small.

Catalyst: As long as he's smart about the presence of Olga. I don't want him to make himself vulnerable.

Jenny-O: I left that moth in the video on purpose because I liked it! LOL! Kudos to you for watching to the end and noticing it!

YP: When I studied Zen my teacher always pointed out that a certain amount of killing is unavoidable. We can and should try to minimize it, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Colette: He's a cute little guy, isn't he? (I'm saying he but actually I have no idea whether it's a he or she.)

Linda Sue: Olga would LOVE a kiddie pool!

Red: Yeah, I know. I'm sure I'm not done with them.