Shelter from the Storm

Not everyone was happy about our much needed rain today!

Electrified Grandkids

Today I thought I would show the grandkids how the electric fence around the chicken coop worked. They would only accept the challenge if I was the one to touch the wire. It worked! Photos courtesy of my wife Sharron.

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Nasturtium 2

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Another Wasp, Another Fennel Flower

When A Spider Isn’t A Spider

This guy definitely looks like a spider but it is missing spider parts. The Harvestman, unlike spiders, has only one body part while spiders have two. The Harvestman has two eyes set on mounds on it’s head, a spider usually has eight. Harvestman don’t produce silk or webs. Quite common in the garden here and can be found eating dead bugs or foliage though it will also hunt live bugs.

Harvestman (Order Opiliones)

Dam Ants

I noticed that the hummingbirds weren’t coming to my feeder so I took a close look and found hundreds of small ants had managed to get right inside the feeder.

Feeder hanging on the apricot tree

I previously had large ants going for the nectar but a blob of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on the wire kept them away. The small ones crawled right over it. I did a little thinking and and came up with my Dam Ants. A tall plastic lid, drilled in the bottom so the wire could slide tightly through it, hot candle wax in the bottom to seal it and filled with water. As long as the wire doesn’t touch the top of the lid a moat is created and the ants can’t get by. The hummingbirds have now returned.