Garden Hunters

This is our "Bowl of Beauty" peony, which is giving us lots of flowers this year. We got just one or two last year, and nothing the year before, so we're happy with this haul. I guess it needed a rest. The ants seem to like the peonies, partly because there are always aphids on the buds.

I stayed busy yesterday but not really on anything blog-worthy. I washed a rug and the sofa throw, because we're in a period of ideal drying weather and I need to take advantage of it! There's also been a lot of plant-watering going on. I was just out there this morning before sitting down to blog, in fact. It was 87º F when I looked about 4 p.m. yesterday, and it's supposed to be even warmer today and tomorrow -- into the 90s F. (That's 32º C.)

The good news is, my flower seedlings are growing at last. They appreciate the warmth.

I finally started a book, having worked my way through all but four of my back issues of The New Yorker. It's a mystery called "The Hunting Party" by Lucy Foley, and it's good so far -- about a bunch of privileged city dwellers who descend on a remote lodge in Scotland, get snowed in, and then encounter a murder. I picked it up a couple of months ago from the Little Free Library at work.

Here's a curious find in my slide collection. This slide is unlike any of the others because it's glass, completely square and black-and-white in its original form. It looks like it was probably made for the military or some aerospace corporation. I'm not sure what this guy is doing -- measuring something coming out of those jet engines, apparently. Is that a Geiger counter? I love how he has no protection at all, not even earplugs or goggles, but he has a white coat so we know he's a professional.

Google AI is ridiculously, and perhaps erroneously, specific in its analysis: "This photograph captures a technician from the Atomic Energy Research Establishment checking for strontium during the 1960s. The scene likely documents research into nuclear safety or the effects of radioactive fallout on aircraft. The equipment pictured is a specialized portable radiation detector used for monitoring. Images similar to this highlight early nuclear research and experimentation in the mid-20th century."

OK, then.

I downloaded the week's footage from the Garden Cam. We see the foxes carrying around their mysterious dog treats -- I still have no idea who's giving them those. We also see the return of the rat, a fox that has captured a mouse, and something mysterious involving a bird.

-- We start with a fox trotting up and dropping a dog treat. These treats are blocky marrow-bone shaped things that I occasionally find buried in the garden. I think Crooked Tail brings the treat, but then Q-Tip comes sniffing around afterwards.
-- At 1:10, we have a very bouncy little bird.
-- At 1:16, Pale Cat makes an appearance.
-- At 1:29, a fox comes by and stops for a scratch.
-- At 1:47, I drop a piece of pork chop for the foxes. I know I said I'd stop doing this, but we hadn't seen any evidence of the rat for more than a week so I thought it might be safe.
-- And indeed, at 1:56 (a few hours later) Sharpie comes and eats it, thank goodness.
-- At 3:05, a fox checks out the camera. You can hear it sniffing.
-- At 3:29, a fox is back with another dog treat. Where are they coming from?!
-- At 3:58, two pigeons battle it out.
-- At 4:16, check out the squirrel in the background. What is up with that tail? At first I thought it was a monkey!
-- At 4:46, the rat is back! Ugh!
-- At 5:38, Pale Cat jumps out of the bushes and runs off. I saw this happen in real time, when I came out the back door and startled him or her.
-- At 5:42, a fox runs past with something in its mouth. I give us a slo-mo instant replay and freeze frame, but it's still hard to see. I think it's a mouse. Good!
-- At 5:52, we get a glimpse of Tabby.
-- At 5:59, one of the foxes is looking intently at the ground, evidently hunting. Good!
-- At 6:16, another vigorous scratch and some inelegant grooming.
-- At 6:31, we see a little robin next to another bird quivering on the ground. I can't tell what that bird is doing. Is it injured or ill, or has it captured some prey? It doesn't look big enough to be a raptor, and if it were a predator I doubt the robin would be so close to it. I give us a close-up, and a few minutes later it's gone.
-- At 6:54, a magpie.
-- At 7:12, a few final fox encounters.