Our Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus has decided to put out a couple of blossoms at this totally random time of year. Merry Christmas! (Maybe it's a Vaisakhi cactus?)
Yesterday was busy as all get-out for me. I switched out our two library displays, so now, for April, we have an Earth Day display and one for Arab-American Heritage Month. This meant re-shelving all the books for the old displays and pulling books for the new ones. And then, of course, everybody was returning books from break and checking out new ones, so there was a ton of re-shelving, and I had a stack of magazines to process, and I began chasing overdues by sending everyone a reminder: "Now that break is over, please remember to return your books!" That kind of thing. Not wildly interesting, but the stuff of my days.
My brother gave me some bad news over the weekend. Apparently I may have another tax form to file, this one related to my late mother's trust. We didn't realize this until he did the taxes for the trust, and that process spat out a form for him and me, the beneficiaries. So I may have to amend my income tax filing. I am pretty much sick about this, having worked so hard to get those taxes done in the first place, but we're still trying to sort out what this form is and what it means. It makes my head hurt.
Remember how I ordered a new wildlife camera for the garden? Well, I harvested the video. There were about a hundred clips, most of them apparently triggered by the wind. I condensed the few interesting ones into the three-minute video above: squirrel antics, Olga trampling the flower beds, some magpies and pigeons, some very strong wind, a neighborhood cat and yes, briefly, a fox. There's even some footage of me and Dave sitting on our garden bench one evening. (If you just want the highlights, the fox is at the 1:11 minute mark,)
As you'll see, I tried two locations for the camera. I think the first location was better, even though there's a hydrangea bush right in front of it. The second one is surrounded by too much foliage that moves easily in the wind. It's hard to find an unobstructed view in our garden!
Finally, that little geranium I rooted last year is already blooming. Olga seems to be giving it a sniff, but she actually just happened to be walking past. Its parent plant, though healthy, hasn't sent up any flowers yet.
Indeed a whole world is going on in your garden, to me it's really fascinating to follow the hidden life that you wouldn't know about if it weren't for the camera. I'm still surprised that a fox lives so safely in an urban environment.
ReplyDeleteAh, the life of a librarian!
ReplyDeleteThat's great video from your trail cam. May I ask what kind you bought? We have the wind triggering problem with our trail cam too - after a windy night I may have to wade through 300 20-second videos to see if there were any screech owl visits to the nest box it's aimed at. But it's worth it for the great snippets as you've shown us here. I'm surprised the fox is so brazen in full evening daylight.
Chris from Boise
I really enjoyed the clip. The squirrels are funny. But Steve, shorts outdoors in early April? Lucky you don't complain about the cold weather.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos today. Also great video quality and so much fun to see. Your garden is so inviting. Great to see you guys relaxing there (and you both got all dressed up for the camera).
ReplyDeleteNice to see a fox. We have them here, evidently coexisting happily with buildings, parking lots and people, usually close to trees they can disappear into.
ReplyDeleteNice video. I wonder what we might see in our yard when we aren't paying attention!
ReplyDeleteLife in the Garden. It's so cool. That fox looks fine and fat. And I sort of love the short scene of the wind. It's also pretty neat how magically you and Dave appear! Sweet!
ReplyDeleteDave's "housepants" remind me of Glen's. That's what he calls them. Housepants.
I too had to file an amended tax return this year, my first time, due to a late form that came to me the beneficiary of my grandmother's estate. I use TurboTax so it wasn't difficult. Took about a half hour to input the information, print and sign the forms. It took about the same amount of time to drive to the post office and back since it required more postage than a single stamp. But I've heard that amended forms go to the bottom of the stack and so my extra refund may be a long long time in coming.
ReplyDeleteYour camera reminded me that I have two that I bought to see the raccoons in action eating our sweet corn patch down at our old garden. I need to find those, put fresh batteries in them and put them behind my house. I mostly have a lot of deer but maybe I'll get lucky and see some other creatures.
A nice busy, productive day at the library so the hours flew by, I bet. I loved your video of the garden and enjoyed seeing the loveliness of your blooms and the busy animals popping by.
ReplyDeleteA very green slice of life - love it!
ReplyDeleteI love your garden video. So nice to see you and Dave relaxing, enjoying the garden. My favorite bits, the fox and Olga wandering through the flowers.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that little video. That squirrel seems to love that bench. I especially like when it poses on the back of the bench. We had some wind like that last week. My windows were rattling...again.
ReplyDeletewild in the city!
ReplyDeleteI loved watching your video! The new camera must be a Browning (based on the logo in the lower left). I got tickled at the thought of you, Dave, and Olga as "wildlife". You captured Ogla at just the right moment in that last photo!
ReplyDeleteLoved the video! Somehow things, and people, seem so much more 'real' in a video than on a picture. Do you still leave an egg for the fox every now and then?
ReplyDeleteWonderful! I see a new career for you. Sir David Attenborough, it's time to step aside.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much going on in your garden, I enjoyed watching it. Love the little geranium. We call those pelargoniums even though I know it's wrong.
ReplyDeleteYael: That's what I like too -- seeing what goes on when we're not looking!
ReplyDeleteChris: It is a Browning Recon Force Elite HP4. Sounds very fancy, doesn't it?!
Andrew: That's what Dave is saying to me in the video: "How are you wearing SHORTS?!" But I wasn't cold, honest.
Mitchell: LOL! We didn't try very hard.
Boud: Yeah, like raccoons, they can apparently live quite an urban existence!
Bob: Wouldn't it be fascinating to find out?! You need a wildlife cam!
Ms Moon: It IS a very healthy-looking fox. I like the wind clip too! "Housepants" is a great word.
Ed: OK, well, that's encouraging. I hope it doesn't turn out to be an arduous process for me either.
Ellen D: It's nice to see all the life going on when we're absorbed in our daily tasks!
Bug: Thanks! I do too!
Pixie: I like the garden bench. Dave will sit on it briefly but he'd much rather be in his chair in the living room!
Sharon: That squirrel cracked me up. It looked like he was thinking about jumping straight for the camera!
Wilma: Indeed!
Kelly: Yes, a Browning. (Specific model mentioned above!) I guess we are wildlife, more or less -- we're all animals too.
Brigitta: We haven't had an egg to get rid of recently, but maybe I'll try to leave one! (I have to do it in a way that Olga doesn't eat it!)
Catalyst: Ha! I'm not sure I can do a whole documentary but we'll see what other footage I get!
River: Actually, I think pelargonium is right. It's geranium that's wrong! But that's what I was taught when I was young so I always default to that.
Hmmm. I should think of a wildlife camera for the lake. That might be a fun idea. You have a lot of action going on!
ReplyDeleteThat is my ideal garden; a grassy path to wander round with lots of relaxing flowers.
ReplyDeleteAnd no formal edges.