Cacti and Baby Birds

I found a package of cactus seeds at the store and decided to give it a try. And guess what, they're growing! At first they were these tiny green globes, then they split, then BAM! they started growing spines. Pretty nutty.


Here is another image to show just how tiny these guys are.

Ok, now back to the car shitting bird story. The babies are growing up. A few posts back I showed a picture of the nest with three pretty eggs in it, then a few weeks later I posted a picture of three little hatchlings. Now here they are a few days ago.


So tell me, how the hell do we now have FOUR baby birds!?!?!
Crazy! I thought maybe the fourth was from a "brood parasite" bird. If you don't know a brood parasite bird finds a nest of another bird that already has eggs in it and it quickly lays her egg amongst the others and then leaves, sometimes taking one of the original eggs so things look back to normal when the original mother comes back. The mother of the nest comes home and she starts taking care of it and raising it as her own. Then as the impostor bird baby gets bigger instinct tells it to push the others out of the nest, killing them. Then all that's left in the nest is the impostor bird baby until it's big enough to fly away. It's nature's cut-throat welfare system. But I don't think one of these is an impostor baby bird though, all of these guys look the same. So where did that fourth one come from?!

Savannah, GA

Jane and I took a road trip down to Savannah, GA for a few days with Aaron and Amy (who we met there). Both Jane and Amy went to SCAD so they wanted to revisit their old stomping grounds. The trip took approximately 14 hours, in the Mini, and after the 7th hour my butt was sore as hell. But we trudged on like troopers, and then we found this beast. He stole my clubbin' shirt so I swiftly put him in his place with a well placed fist pump and we were back on our way.


This is the view from the condo we rented. Awesome location, but there was no hot water. At all. That was not awesome. But since they couldn't fix it we got a sweet discount. That's Amy and Jane crossing the street. At night, once the bars kicked everyone out at 2am the streets would get so loud with people drunkenly yelling, but 30 minutes later it was perfectly quiet again. This happened every night including week nights. The corner building on the left is where I'd get my cheese danishes in the mornings.

I loved these ferns, you could find them growing out of old buildings all over the city.


What a cutie!

We decided to go to the Wilke's House for lunch. They're only open from 11-2pm and you stand on line and as people finish eating you get let in to take their place at the tables. We met this baby on line, she had a slack jaw and it's tongue would just hang there, like a dead fish. She was actually very cute for a dead fish tongued baby.
Once inside you sit with strangers, 10 people total to a table. They had probably 20+ plates of food that you passed around family style. OMFG, this was some of the best tasting food EVER! We were on line for over an hour and everyone coming out would say it's worth the wait and we were all like "Well it better be, it's hot in this motha f*cka!" but seriously, it was. And when we left we told the people still on line the same thing. This was my plate minus about four other scoops of food that I just couldn't fit. If you go to Savannah you MUST go to the Wilke's House.
Then we went sight seeing around the parks.



Hahaha, gross! Seriously, I'd change my name. Unless I was a janitor at a peep show.

If you don't know Savannah is in the south, and in the south it gets HOT! Luckily there are some smart people down there and they have these types of play fountains in many of the parks for the kids. And the kid at heart. Notice the kid in the background. Now that's the life.


The worlds most powerful man in a wet tee shirt you'll ever meet.

I love my waterproof camera.



The ladies staying dry.

But not for long!




Later we went to find some grub.

Mustard and Ketchup strike again.

More sight seeing, this time down on River Street. We must have hit every single candy shop in the city for their free praline samples.



Old wallpaper Amy wanted a picture of. Here you go Amy.

Restroom graffiti.


Aaron, what was it that post-it on your door used to say? "I am a powerful man!" Obviously it's true.

My Dali filter on the iPhone.

It was Aaron's birthday and Amy gave him his present, a personalized pillowcase of Ketchup and Mustard riding Night Wing. Super cool!

Damn, these four people are cool.




I had an amazing time with Jane, Amy and Aaron and I hope we get to do it all again soon. :)

It's mid May already!

It's mid May and I still don't have everything in the garden yet. I'm running behind. Last year I was too far ahead and so I tried to compensate. Looks like the sweet spot is right in between. Next year!

Sooo, I checked in on the eggs today and found out they're gone, because they hatched! I didn't want to mess with them for more than a second to ensure the mother didn't abandon them so I was only able to get this one image. Damn, they are UGLY!!!! I hope these guys grow up to be swans, otherwise......

(click on any image to see a higher resolution version)

I finally got around to putting in the soaker hoses. It looks silly but my hope is it will cut down on the amount of time I need to spend each morning and night watering the garden during the summer with a hand held hose.



Here's a close up, you can see the water dripping off the bottom edge of it.

Snow peas in the ground!

Beans in the ground!

The trellis I built for them and the cucumbers which have yet to sprout.

Carnival squash in the ground!

Giant gray pumpkins in the ground!


Potatoes are finally sprouting.

Onions coming up. I got these from my uncle Oscar last fall from his garden.

In the bed towards the bottom of the image there are two types of lettuce, spinach and red cabbage. The top bed I am just going to plant flowers. I have two types of sunflowers, columbine and lupines in so far. I will replant the lupines in the fall.

Gnome with the spirit of Jerry Garcia still keeping vigilant watch. Don't mess with him, he's crazy.

Chive flower blossom.

I don't know what these are but when they take over and area they take that spot over! Good luck trying to get rid of them.

Random flower that sprouted around the front door.

These tulips didn't like the rain.


Close up of a raspberry stalk and it's thorns.


Dandelion.

Our driveway looking towards the road. Nice rock work Jane!

Jane's pigmy rhododendron has finally blossomed.

Some random wild flowers coming up through the lawn where I haven't mowed yet. I try to go around these patches and not kill them when I can, they're pretty.



The stream.
I finally got the mower working yesterday after a month of trying (changed oil, removed stale gas and replaced with 93 octane, new spark plug, cleaned air filter) and hit the grass at the front of the yard by the road. I should have taken a "before" image, the grass was literally three feet high in spots. Most of the mowing was done with the mower at a 45 degree angle, like it was popping a wheelie the whole time to get over it and keep it from stalling. Here it is after it was mowed. 30 minutes before this a teenager crashed just after the yellow arrow sign. There is an accident here every other week, and those are just the ones we know about. FYI, if it's wet outside and you're approaching a downhill instant 90 degree curve, slow down. Actually, here's some more driving advice. Always break before the turn, then hit the gas when you're halfway through it to tear out like a bull. Don't break through the turn, it's too late. I learned this from reading the Gran Turismo booklet. Very insightful.


Also planted seeds of brussel sprouts (totally the wrong time but whateva!), two types of carrots, basil and ZUCCHINI!!! I also planted some gladiolus bulbs and some elephant ears, we'll see how they do. Thanks for reading.