stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

funny we're talking about Mom dumping out her boots today to make sure there aren't any spiders in there and she said there was one big spider but not sure of what kind and also some other bug which she wasn't sure what it was and then asks me if spiders have blood. well they do, but not perhaps what you'd expect as it might be blue and not red. so i'm not sure if that was a tick in her boot or not.

i go outside a few minutes ago to make the rounds and there is a large jumping spider which we have a lot of around here, black with some white markings (i think) and a few cm long when fully grown, which they are by now. as i am walking out the garage door there is one of these jumping spiders trying/or succeeding i'm not sure in eating one of the many stinkbugs that have shown up in recent years. i came in and Mom joked that perhaps it was desperate and tired of the smell of feet, so there ya go. it was still trying when i came in the door but the stinkbug had moved so i'm not sure how this is going to work out - a mystery for another day because i'm tired and don't want to bend over one more time today if i can help it.

 

[flowerbug]

i had to run errands yesterday and was a bit behind schedule but as i'm driving along i see an adult painted turtle crossing the road so i pulled over to move it out of the road. it was a nice healthy one. while they may not be endangered i still like to help them out as i don't see many around here.

 

[digitS']

So often road building along lakes and rivers have steep and irregular shorelines to deal with.

Often, rock will be moved into a shallow area or across a stream coming into the main body of water. The road itself will be the access to the water that is cut off. These are prime areas for the deaths of creatures that live along shorelines. Endangered or not, it is disheartening to see the wildlife that lose their lives in these areas.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

klutzy day today. i'd finished planting a bean garden and was stepping on some rocks to go from mud shoes to clean shoes and there was an oddly shaped rock that flipped up the other end right when my foot was rapidly being put from one shoe towards the other. very unhappy toes and foot for sure. i'm swearing and laughing and telling Mom to hang on a second because she's wondering what i've done and i'm hopping around in the gravel with one shoe on and other other off. when i finally tell her what i've done she says she won't kiss it to make it feel better or give me mouth to mouth. it's good to know where we stand with such things...

 

[flowerbug]

it really helped to take some ibuprofen in the evening and right before bed. this morning i can hardly tell i did anything to my foot other than the fact that i have three purple toes. one reason why i don't take pain meds all the time for little things is that when i really do need it i want it to work. seems to have.

i'll be out in the gardens today and hope i can get the North Garden planted with beans.

 

[digitS']

Well, you did damage if there's some internal bleeding.

You might benefit from something topical. Exercise should help if it is the mildest kind so as not to add to the damage.

 

[flowerbug]

Well, you did damage if there's some internal bleeding.

You might benefit from something topical. Exercise should help if it is the mildest kind so as not to add to the damage.

oh, i know i certainly did some damage. i have a pretty high threshold for pain so to get me hopping around and swearing takes some doing. i don't think i swore at all when i broke my collarbone or my shoulder blade - it was only later for those that i did some mild grumbling when the rib bruises settled in.

today's planting the North Garden is easier than the other gardens because the soil there is reasonably good sandy loam with just some clay in it. so getting the shovel down in the ground to loosen up the dirt (i don't turn it i just put the shovel down and wiggle it a bit and then bring it up and go down another six inches and repeat until the whole row is done) and then i take the pronger (aka cultivator) and break up the top of it so i can drag the pointed hoe through it to make my seed drills. this year i'm making all my rows bigger across and planting double rows to see how that goes. got three double rows done so far. not sure how many more i'm doing today. looks like some rains might get here this afternoon so i may try to get one more done after i take a break for a while. it was very nice out there with the breeze and sunshine. so far about 2/3rds done. the last part will go faster because i only have one longer row to do and then all the rest is smaller rows.

my foot has held up to all this walking and shovel pushing and walking in the trenches between the rows and planting and i decided to water in these rows while i was out there before i came in so that was standing around for a while. all things that aren't easy on my feet. wood chips and dirt are a lot easier on the feet than the limestone...

did you pick up any rains i see that perhaps some went through your area but maybe it was south...

 

[flowerbug]

saw the first hummingbird moth today too. they like the thyme flowers.

 

[digitS']

did you pick up any rains

The nearest weather station had 1.69 inches of rain during the first 10 days of the month.

It sprinkled a little about sun-up, it's real windy, and the clouds right now are huge! Yesterday, there was a brief downpour and I wouldn't be surprised if we have several yet today. Another real good chance for rain Sunday night and Monday with 1/2" and 1" forecast.

70°f (21°C) I have to admit that June is sometimes a cloudy, sprinkley month but we had more rain in these first 10 days than the total for the 30 days of any June in 2019-21.

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' finally got a picture of this birdie. i see it is a bit too dark so i'll lighten it up eventually. Looks like a Tufted Titmouse to me.


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Surprise Toad