At Bluebird Cove

Making Things Easier

2008-09-22T22:52:00.006-04:00

There will be no more posts to this website.

All information has been moved to my new website:
The Nature In Us.

Here's the recent posts at the new site:

Hummingbird Moths

2007-08-16T16:57:00.000-04:00

One of many joys of the summer are the appearance of Hummingbird Moths at our flowers and butterfly bushes. You may have noticed that your flowers attract what looks like a hummingbird with antennae. These are commonly called Hummingbird Moths and unlike most moths that fly only at night, you will see them feeding on nectar from your flowers during the day. Hummingbird Moths live in fields, gardens, and forest edges and can be seen in our area from around April into October.

The most delightful thing about them is that they don't seem to mind you hovering over them as they hover over the flowers. They don't hover long since they move around the bushes and amongst the flowers fast enough to make most of the photos I've taken of them a mere blur.

Hummingbird Moths grow up to two inches long and are green, brown and shades of red. Tufts of hairs from the end of the abdomen look a lot like feathers. The wings of this moth are mostly clear, sometimes with some red near the body, explaining why they are also known as Clearwing Moths, losing the colored scales on their front wings after their first flight.

Their wings resemble leaded stained glass with clear glass in the panels, much like a bee or wasp wing.

After mating, female moths lay eggs on host plants that will feed the caterpillars when they hatch, such as honeysuckle, hawthorns, plum, wild cherry and viburnum. The caterpillars are yellowish-green with darker green lines and reddish spots on the sides. They also have a yellow tail horn.

Within the various species of these moths, you will find the Tomato and Tobacco Hornworms being the caterpillar stage for Sphinx Moths. Hornworms will not hurt you if you handle them since the tails can't pierce your skin or sting you. When a hornworm is alarmed he will tuck in his tiny head and expose his big white teeth that are really harmless suction cups. This makes him intimidating at both ends to predators!

When caterpillars are fully grown, they climb down the host plant and into the soil where they make a coccoon and become a pupa (resting stage). If it's not too late in the summer, the adult moths will hatch in a few weeks. If it is in the Fall, the moths won't come out until the following Spring.

Adult Hummingbird Moths feed on nectar from many flowers, just like hummingbirds. Some of their favorites in our yard are Highbush Blueberry, Blackberries, Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), Bee Balm, Milkweed and Phlox.

They use a long, thin, needle-like mouthpart called a proboscis to eat. The proboscis stays coiled up like a garden hose until the moth approaches a flower. It then uncoils it and dips it deep into the flower for nectar as seen in the photo. The nectar is rich in sugar, which fuels the energy required for hovering.

Predators of Hummingbird Moths include birds, mantids (i.e. praying mantis), spiders, and bats, but camouflage is a great defense in avoiding detection by a hungry predator, and looking like a hummingbird works well for them.

Another moth considered to be in the Hummingbird Moth family is the Carolina Sphinx Moth which comes from the Tobacco Hornworm. This hornworm is green or brown with seven diagonal white lines on each side, and a horn arching downward at the end of the abdomen. This horn is commonly, but not always red. It can also be yellow, white, green, orange or the palest blue or. This caterpillar feeds on plants in the nightshade family which includes tomatoes and tobacco.

Adults may feed at flowers such as Moonflower, Morning Glory, and Honeysuckle. In our yard we've seen them mostly on Petunias and Cleomes (Spider Flower), which is the flower this night visitor is feasting on in the last photo.

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Living With Beneficial Paper Wasps

2007-07-31T10:17:00.000-04:00

You will probably know this wasp by its nest. This nest, currently to the right of our front door, was in its beginning stages in early June with two mated females (queens) building cells and laying their eggs. It's doubled in size but the wrens prey upon Paper Wasp nests since the larvae are good food for their babies.

Paper Wasps don't make a huge colony like Yellow Jackets whose colony's can grow to thousands by Fall. Paper Wasps are also not aggressive like Yellow Jackets. We've had them building outside our doors that have a covered porch area for 17 years and have never had a problem.

Last year they began a nest at the top of the front door frame against the door, so when we opened the door, and one of the females flew into the house while the others scattered and flew about. Randal rescued the wasp indoors, while I removed the nest and placed it a couple feet away on the base of our porch light. Super glue did a great job of keeping it there. They don't reuse their nests, so we took it down in the late Fall.

I had to giggle thinking about them returning to see the nest in a different place, but with all babies okay. My mind imagined all kinds of silly conversations they had about it. I sat on the porch bench and watched as they returned and scurried all around where it was, and then after finding it, they did a thorough inspection to find that all was well. They kept adding on cells to deposit eggs and all of us lived in happy co-existence.

Although they make many people nervous with the thought of stings, Paper Wasps are considered beneficial to agriculture, since they feed abundantly on corn earworms, armyworms, tobacco hornworms, harmful caterpillars, etc.

In the household garden, they are great pollinators as they gather nectar for their own food, and gather insects to chew up and feed to the larvae (their young). If you look closely at the second photo, you'll notice the top queen has a green globule in it's mouth ready to feed.

By the way, we've also left hornets nests under the eaves of our roof also to enjoy their benefits in our garden. They never reuse their nests, so it can be power washed down in late Fall or if it's in an area that's accessible, the nest is a keepsake. It's incredible the design they make by chewing up wood and spitting it out.

Animals all need protein and wasps obtain protein by eating other insects. Hornets, for example, feed upon flies and other flying insects. Paper wasps generally eat caterpillars. A few common pest caterpillars listed in the literature are cabbage butterfly, Fall webworm and several oakworm species.

Some colonies have been reported to prey upon 2000 caterpillars. Tests have shown that enhancing Paper Wasp populations in tobacco fields reduced caterpillar populations in the crop. Thus, wasps can be real biological control for the landscape and garden. Wasps, in general, are helpful in the landscape, and Paper Wasps are one of the easiest types to manage. All one needs to do is provide nest sites.

The key is to encourage the wasps to build nests where YOU want them and away from places they might be a hazard. A simple box can be a four-sided construction and placed 4-6 feet above the ground for easy observation. An old birdhouse with the bottom removed makes a fine structure. Here's a site with more details on this and a photo of one you might construct:
www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Other/note121/note121.html

The European Paper Wasp, unlike our native Common Paper Wasp, also sometimes uses bird boxes, but is bad news. The European prefers to nest in cavities and it attacks people with much less provocation than the native Paper Wasp. It's becoming a threat to cavity-nesting birds. Get more information on the invading European Paper Wasp here:
bluebird.htmlplanet.com/paperwasp.htm

The benefit of getting macro photos is that when you enlarge them even further, you get a microscopic kind of look at things. I was able to get within two inches of our current resident Paper Wasps' nest for photos.

When I downloaded them, I was very excited to see their little "babies" that are inside each cell. The body is a light beige color with the face or maybe head being the round brown part.

I hope this information will help you to enjoy something that we have been taught to fear.

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A Non-toxic Approach to Yellow Jackets

2007-07-23T18:44:00.000-04:00

The Eastern Yellow Jacket is the best known wasp here in Virginia where we live. Yellow Jackets can be found in all of North America with the Western version being identified by the first antennal segment being yellow, rather than black in the Eastern species. They are social insects that live in nests in the ground, or at ground level in stumps and fallen logs.

Yellow jackets feed their young large numbers of insects that might otherwise damage trees or crops, so they are considered beneficial to agriculture. They chew up the insects and feed it to the larva. The insects are very important to our ecosystem and gardens since they eat garden pests and play a role in pollination while the adults feed on flower nectar.

If you find yellow jackets where people and pets won't bother them, it's a good idea to leave them alone. If they are in an area that must be dealt with, there are some solutions below that are less toxic to you, your pets, and the water supply.

In the Spring, a mated female (the queen) will build a new nest that is surrounded by a paper envelope underground. They use rodent burrows or other natural openings for sites. The queen begins laying eggs and daily brings food to the larvae until the first brood matures and those females serve as workers, extending the nest and tending young.

All Summer workers increase in number as the nest also increases in size. In late Summer, males develop from unfertilized eggs and then mate. By Fall there can be thousands of yellow jackets in a nest and this is generally the time of year they become a problem. The odors of meat, fish, and sweet substances are particularly attractive to the wasps. In early Fall, the yellow jackets especially prefer sweet things, as shown in the photos. These were attracted to the very overripe apples that we'd purchased from an orchard for the woodland critters in September.

Most Yellow Jackets, other than the queens, die with the first frost and the nest is abandoned and typically not used again as is the case with hornet nests. Most yellow jackets defend their nests vigorously, and being near a nest means you're likely to get stung. The females sting repeatedly with the Eastern Yellow Jackets being the most aggressive. Those that nest above ground seem to be somewhat less touchy.

When our son, Benjamin, was about 13 years old, he was using the weed eater in the front woods to trim along the paths through the woods. We lived in Alabama at the time. He obviously got near a nest because he came running to the house yelling for help and had bees coming out of his pants and t-shirt. Besides the multitude of bites, my husband and I were slapping him all over to try to get the biting bees off of him so he could get inside.

With the large amount of stings (we later counted 41), we knew we had to get some Lobelia Essence on those bites to draw out the poisons topically and take away the pain, while we had him drinking Vitamin C Ascorbates and taking Licorice Root (a natural cortisone) to prevent allergic reactions. Yucca could also be used in place of Licorice Root.

It's certainly a blessing to keep an Herbal Medicine Chest in our home. It would've been an awful experience for him to have to stay in pain all the way to ER and then get shots. By then, he would've absorbed so much of the toxins into the bloodstream that we would've been concerned about him having serious allergic reactions to bee stings in the future.

Do all you can to stay away from their nests. Don't swat at those that approach you since this provokes them to sting in defense. As much as you can, do not fear bees, because your thoughts instantly create a chemical reaction that is evident on your skin and creates an aggressive behavior pattern in the bees.

Avoid wearing perfume, hair spray, or other scented body care products. Don't wear bright red, orange, or yellow clothes which can attract yellow jackets. They can be persistent, clever and difficult to manage, but that doesn't mean you should reach for a spray can to deal with the problem.

When I fell in love with God's Creation, I got over my fear of buzzing, creepy, and crawly things. That's obvious from these photos since I was within a few inches of them to get the detailed close-ups. I focused on their awesome design and diligent work ethic, and they focused on eating. The word 'co-existence' came to mind.

Obviously that can't always be the case if you've got pets and small children running around, but that's all the more reason why you don't want to spray poison, besides considering the birds, earth and water supply.

If you can find the opening at night with a flashlight, you can place a transparent bowl firmly onto the ground. The adults will be confused by their inability to escape and seek food in daylight. They will not dig a new escape hole and will soon starve to death. Not a pretty mental picture, but poisonous chemicals don't create a pretty picture either.

There are other pesticide-free alternatives. If you are doubtful about effectiveness, search for information online about Waterfront Park Baseball Stadium in New Jersey. In only 5 days they emptied the stadium of 70,000 yellow jackets in a non-poisonous way.

Traps can be an effective, pesticide-free method for managing yellow jackets and they can be purchased or homemade. You'll find some examples online at www.yellowjackettraps.com and www.rescue.com. In some areas of the country there are people who will collect yellow jackets, hornets and other wasps for medical labs who use them for sting allergic patients (see www.freeyellowjacketremoval.com).

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Eastern Gray Tree Frog

2007-07-12T15:55:00.000-04:00

The Eastern Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor) is the chameleon of the frog world. Although its name would imply it's not always the same color. It has the ability to adapt to backgrounds ranging from gray to green.

With a white spot under both eyes, a white belly and yellowish-orange markings on the inside of its hind legs, he is rather an exotic-looking frog for our area. The large adhesive pads on the end of its toes aide its ability cling to vertical surfaces.

Their predators are many species of birds, small mammals, snakes and other larger frogs. Bullfrogs and Green Frogs in our area are known predators and Giant Waterbugs will also attack them. They rarely leave the trees until the breeding season to avoid predators and are most active at night.

They prey upon most types of insects and their larvae. Mites, spiders, plant lice, harvestmen, and snails are also eaten as they hunt in the understory of wooded areas in small trees and shrubs. Like most frogs, it may also eat smaller frogs, including other tree frogs. Local pest populations of mosquitos, gnats, and flies are reduced in the territory of a single Gray Tree Frog.

Females in the animal kingdom tend to be more selective than males in choosing a mate. Female tree frogs respond to male tree frogs who have longer mating calls and ignore the frogs with shorter calls.

This initially seemed to indicate that females chose the male with the best song, but careful study revealed that offspring bred from these superior singers were of a higher quality, being measured by growth rate.

The sound of the male calling is comprised of a resonant musical trill and the dewlap (the pouch at his throat) expands and quivers.

In comparison to other frog species here, their calls are shorter being only .5 to 3 seconds long, but similar to the American Toad, but not as shrill.

Breeding is April to July. The female will lay up to 2,000 eggs singly or in loose clusters up to 30 eggs attached to vegetation near the surface in temporary or permanent ponds in swamps, forests, or gardens.

She chooses ponds that are relatively free of predators, especially avoiding fish. Eggs hatch in 3-6 days and tadpoles turn into frogs in 6-8 weeks, grazing on algae and plant debris.

They are subject to being consumed by larger fish and other amphibian larvae such as salamanders.

They overwinter under shelters of bark, leaves, rocks or logs. These frogs prevent ice crystals from forming in their organs by changing glycerol into glucose and circulating it through the organs. The remaining water in the body is allowed to freeze. The frog is basically frozen until next Spring.

In our habitat, the Eastern Gray Tree Frog returned each year to our deck planters which seem to offer protection from predators and they are near our small backyard pond.

This year they don't spend as much time in the planters, but they are often there. Our naughty squirrels have chewed the planter corners so the water runs right out of the bottom rather than being held in the reservoir below.

The tree frogs seem to have adjusted. I hear them in the bushes by the deck and they still visit the planter that has a corner unchewed. They make it look so comfortable there. We would replace the planters, but the squirrels have been eating all things plastic for quite awhile now ... so it would be a fruitless endeavor. Last week they chewed a hole in our big garbage toter that the trucks pick up.

During mating season they call from our deck and catch bugs attracted to the plants. This photo was taken at night while they were leaping for moths against a deck door that had an inside light gleaming through. They are just so cute and squeezeable, but I avoid touching them.

Amphibians can be safely handled if you are sure your hands have no toxins on them.

Always wet your hands before touching them so you don't rub off the mucous membrane that keeps them from drying out and protects them from germs that can take their life.

Amphibians are being used to judge environmental toxicity of areas since they are so sensitive to poisons. Our world seems to be so full of toxicity.

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© 2006-2007 Donna L. Watkins

All photographs are the property of the editor, Donna L. Watkins. This article may not be used on any website. If you'd like to share this article, you can forward the link to it.

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Five-lined Skink

2007-06-30T19:58:00.001-04:00

The Five-lined Skink (Eumeces fasciatus) is one of the most common lizards in the Eastern United States, so we saw them when we lived in Alabama and enjoy seeing them here in Central Virginia.

You can see how they got their name with this photo that shows the light-colored lines. They also have a bright blue tail which is what usually attracts our attention as they dart about our deck and grounds. Their size is from 5 to 8 inches long.

Our cat, Squeek, enjoys seeing them squeeze under the screen door on the screened porch. She sits there on the rug watching and now and then one will tease her. This one apparently wandered by and into the house. She's a great alert kitty to things that don't "belong" in the house. She was meowing and following behind this one that we found on the living room carpet.

They are poisonous to household pets and having been a feral kitty, she knows better than to think of it as a snack.

Although these skinks are smooth like a salamander, they are is lizards. Lizards are reptiles which have claws and ear openings, while salamanders are amphibians which lack both claws and ear openings.

The females retain the striped and blue tailed pattern for life, but the adult male's coloring becomes brown or olive.

During mating season in Spring, the head and jaws of the male turn orange-red which helps them to attract a female.

Their nest is created in rotting logs, loose soil, or leaf litter where 4-15 eggs are laid. We had one nest under a garden statue of a Mallard Duck.

The female skink guards the nest until the young are born. After only 1-2 days the newborn skinks are left to their own instincts.

To attract skinks or other reptiles to your garden, provide lots of shelter in the form of dense vegetation, brush and rock piles, and fallen logs. Let leaf litter accumulate and place a rock or log where it receives morning sun as an invitation for basking reptiles.

They will reward your efforts by consuming roaches, grasshoppers, beetle larvae, spiders, crickets, flies, grubs, crustaceans, worms and even small mice, a diet more varied than that of some other skinks.

They are extremely important to humans as natural pest controls and play an important role in the survival of many larger lizards, birds, mammals, and snakes as they are a food source for these predatory animals.

One of their defense mechanisms is a tail that easily breaks. If confronted or grasped, the skink's tail breaks away and continues to wiggle wildly keeping the attention of the attacker on the tail, while allowing the skink to escape. The tail does grow back, but not to the original length, and it is left more defenseless until then, so viewing them from a distance is best since skinks shouldn't be handled.

Although considered terrestrial (ground dwelling), the Five-lined Skink will climb a decayed snag in its forest home where it knows insects can be found. Although secretive and wary of anything that moves, skinks occasionally bask on rocks or logs in the sun, but take shelter under logs, rocks and leaf litter in the heat of the afternoon.

Its most comfortable temperature range is 78-85 degrees and it is most active during the day. In areas where Winter brings cold, they hibernate in rotting logs, under large rocks, or underground.

Copyright Info
© 1999 Donna L. Watkins

All photographs are the property of the editor, Donna L. Watkins. This article may not be used on any website. If you'd like to share this article, you can forward the link to it.

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Black-Winged Damselfly

2007-06-19T22:47:00.000-04:00

The Black-winged Damselflies are back. They've been delightful to watch in our yard. Usually we find them in the back since that's where the pond is.

The Black-winged can be more easily identified than many damselflies since it is the only one with solid black wings. There is some color difference on the wings between the male and female with the male being a darker color and the female being more brownish.

However, the best distinguishing mark to spot the females is a tiny white spot at the top of their wings as this photo shows.

Dragonflies and damselflies are not the male and female names for the same insect, which is what I thought for many years.

Damselflies hold their wings together over their back when at rest. Dragonflies generally have their wings spread. Another tip is that damselflies have elongated or wide heads, while dragonflies are rounded. The photo to the right clearly shows a broad head on the male.

These beautiful beneficial creatures begin their lives as nymphs in the larval stage, living underwater for a year of more. The aquatic nymphs of the Black-winged Damselfly are typically found in flowing streams.

If you look for them along stream banks, you will probably see a male defending its territory, since they spend much of their time within a small area throughout the day.

They choose their site for its suitability for egg-laying. Another consideration is a perch for the male to keep an eye on his territory. Maybe an overhanging branch similar to how hummingbirds defend their feeders and flowers. Damselflies feed on small flying insects like mosquitoes and gnats, which they catch in flight.

The male will even defend his territory from other species and especially other males. Damselflies mate on the wing in the same unusual fashion as dragonflies and after mating with a female he will immediately return to his perch.

The nest is just below the water's surface on some type of stationary debris to which the eggs will stick. They hatch in about 7 days and the nymphs swim away to feed. As I've been playing around in the pond with a little tea strainer I've caught several of the larvae and was able to get the magnified photo of one of them while it was still in the strainer.

This is the first time I've seen this in our pond and after identifying what it was I was very excited. Our little habitat at Bluebird Cove gets better every year. It's wonderful to see things balance themselves out.

The nymph will molt from 6-15 times before emerging into what we see flying around. The last stage crawls out of the water onto vegetation before the adult emerges. Most species have one generation per year. Adults emerge spring, summer or fall and live from a few weeks to a few months. Seems like such a short time for such a beautiful creature, but that is similar to butterflies also.

Adults feeding on flying insects are very effective at reducing mosquito populations in the air while nymphs eat mosquito larvae in the water.

Like most of their adult behavior, the feeding ritual is very interesting. They will choose a place to perch that is directly facing a sunny area. When another insect flies into the area, the damselfly will speed out and catch it in flight with its hairy hind legs, and then return to its perch to feast on it by chewing.

Fortunately we're able to watch this from our breakfast area window which seems to be a favored spot for them since there are plenty of bushes and stair rails and posts. It's also not very far from the pond.

Ponds provide an added habitat feature to your Backyard Wildlife Habitat. Ours is only about 4' wide by 8' long but it has been busy since a few months after we completed it.

We were blessed to have Charlie Allred help with the pond project. He was the one who "paved the way" for the one we had in Alabama.

Charlie is also known as "The Butterfly Bench" man since he made the steel butterfly bench for us which has been a major attraction here at Bluebird Cove.

We've got a lot of wings fluttering around here .... if you get near Central Virginia, remember you're welcome to come sit with me on the butterfly bench and take a walk-about. Until then, maybe you'd like to see some recent critters and blooms of Bluebird Cove.

Scrawny Tail

2007-05-29T17:40:00.000-04:00

Scrawny Tail

With all the possible critters that come with living by some woods, there is the reality of death also. Each one of the critters that lives on our one acre we call Bluebird Cove is special to us.

Recently one little squirrel was especially noticed because its tail dragged on the ground and had absolutely no fluff to it. We named her Scrawny Tail. Then days later I noticed that there was a wound on the tail. When I took photos I could see that it was really bad and several inches long, so we borrowed a humane trap and took her to the nearest wildlife rehab place, The Wildlife Center.

There are directories online for wildlife rehabilitators, so if you find a little critter that needs help, search to find one and you can make a difference in the animal's life. We've taken several animals for rehab, but only one has made it, which we picked up to release where we had found it. It was a turtle that had been hit in the road. What a joy to be able to be part of returning it to it's wild life.

Scrawny Tail didn't get to be released. She was sent on to Heaven because the tail had three broken bones that protruded in several places and the wounds were so bad that amputation would've been necessary.

She couldn't survive in the wild without a tail. It's used for balance and in winter they wrap it around themselves to stay warm enough so as not to freeze.

It was hard to let go. I wanted so badly to bring her back to release her here and continue to feed her the little treats she enjoyed. Dried apricots seemed to be her favorite within the handful of nut and dried fruit mix I was throwing out at the time.

I would not have chosen for her to suffer just so I could enjoy her being here. Sometimes love means letting go. Often, we don't get our own way or what we want, since our way isn't always the best way. The hard part about that is recognizing that our way isn't the best way ... it all seems to logical and right in our own minds.

There's so much about life that we don't understand. We need to have Faith to know that Somebody knows more than we do and can see the whole picture that we cannot see. The picture, given me by a dear friend, is my Mom, who is also in Heaven, feeding Scrawny Tail till I arrive.

Our place is full of critters, so I've been well entertained. Flowers are blooming too, and those blooms always make me sniff and smile. Life goes on and being able to adapt and be flexible is a life-long classroom for me.

Looking For American Toads

2007-05-09T21:28:00.000-04:00

I'm listening for their mating calls. The American Toad is probably the toad most often noticed here in our central area of Virginia. Forests, lawns and gardens are their preferred habitat so they set up residence in our forested backyard near the pond when they're ready to mate.

They patrol our garden and eat lots of insects, spiders, earthworms, snails, and slugs. They will eat just about anything that fits into their mouths. They lash out with their sticky tongues to grab the prey. If the prey is large, they'll use their arms to stuff it into their mouths. That's not the table manners of somebody you'd like to invite to dinner.

They are large and chubby, growing up to 4-1/2 inches long. The coloration varies within the brown, olive and reddish colored range. Both male and female toads have a spotted belly, but the male has a darker throat as shown in the photo of a male calling for a female on the edge of our small backyard pond.

This toad prefers cool woodland and edge areas with plenty of moisture and insects, but will visit meadow and garden if cover is adequate for protection. I've seen them patroling in the front of the house around the bushy areas.

During daylight hours they generally seek cover beneath porches, rocks, leaf litter, flat stones, boards, logs, wood piles, or any other cover. They primarily lead a terrestrial life but move to ponds and pools to mate and lay eggs. That's when you get to hear their long-winded song.

American Toads are most often seen and heard in the Spring when they are breeding. Toads call from mid-spring to late summer and their call is a long, high-pitched trill that lasts for as long as thirty seconds, making it easy to identify them at night when they are most active. The males find pools of water and begin to call for females. He stretches out his dewlap (the pouch at his throat) to create this unique song that many people mistake for crickets. Crickets sing in the Fall, toads sing in the Spring.

Females, who are attracted to the calls of males, reach the water and mating begins. Males will hug the larger females and the female will lay between 4,000 and 7,000 eggs, in long strings, in the water, and then leave the site in a few days.

Many people are confused between frogs and toads. Toads have warty dry skin since they prefer a drier habitat, but like all amphibians, they need to keep their skin moist so they will remain near water. Frogs have moist or slimy skin preferring a wetter environment and will remain close to their source of water at all times. The bumpy skin on toads helps to camouflage them.

Because their skin is so thin and easily damaged , it's best not to pick them up, but if you have them around as much as we do, I have to give one a hug now and then. There are a few rules if you're going to pick up toads or frogs. First make sure your hands are clean. Amphibians are the species that will first disappear in a toxic environment.

Their skin will absorb the chemicals from hand lotions or anything you may have on your hands, so make sure they are clean AND wet. Their skin is very thin and easy to damage so wet hands are very important so your enjoyment doesn't shorten its life.

By the way, people do not get warts from toads or frogs. Warts come from a human virus.

Tadpoles will hatch from the eggs in about a week. The black tadpoles will steadily grow by eating algae and plant material for over a month and will then emerge from the water as small young toads. They now have lungs to breathe out of water.

Most folks like to have a pond that looks like it's ready for a garden commercial. We keep ours pretty natural which means there's some algae in it and plenty of leaves on the bottom, not only for food but also for the frogs and tadpoles to winter over at the end of the season. It's not crystal clear and certainly not blue. That makes it very appealing to the frogs. We also don't have any fish which would eat the tadpoles but even frogs eat tadpoles, especially bullfrogs.

The main predators of toads include snakes, owls, skunks and raccoons. The toads have paratoid glands behind the eyes which produce a foul-smelling, toxic chemical that will keep some predators from attempting to eat them.

When cold weather comes, these toads will dig backwards into a burrow up to three feet under ground to hibernate. With our clay soil here in Virginia I do wonder how they do that. For now I'm listening for their song which I love to hear as I fall asleep.

Grackle Gets a Second Chance

2007-04-03T20:28:00.000-04:00

The window on the deck door has been a quick and brutal stopping point for a few birds. Although we have decals and a hanging crocheted decoration on it, when the hawk chooses our backyard for lunch, the bird they are chasing only seems to look at the empty spaces between the decals. The south sun hits that door causing deep reflections of the woods.

Last week, while in another room I heard the dreaded sound of something hitting that window, but this was much louder than any I'd heard before. I actually wondered if the hawk had hit the window this time.

Running to through the screened porch and onto the deck to see if there was any hope of saving the bird, I discovered a Common Grackle on its back still breathing heavily with its beak open.

I quickly got an old pillowcase from the porch tub where such things are kept for cats and critters. I didn't want to get scratched from the claws and I knew he'd feel safer with a firm grip and the ability to wrap the fabric around him. Birds feel safer if the world goes dark.

The Common Grackle is from 11-13 inches long, so it was a large bird. The Grackles had arrived in early March, three weeks earlier, as they do during migration. We see them in the Fall and Spring. They raid the feeders and chase away most of the other birds since they come in groups and are quite gregarious and not very friendly. They will even attack other grackles at times.

We can enjoy them since they do not remain here. Their iridescent coloring makes me want to call them Rainbow Birds. Their preferred habitat is open areas and we are forested. They prefer coniferous trees and ours are hardwoods. They don't mind sharing space with humans, and are quite common in suburban areas, farmlands, orchards, and city parks.

The clearing of forests for agriculture has resulted in an expansion of the range of the Common Grackle which has also increased their numbers. They are one of the most successful and wide-spread species in North America.

They are known to help control pests in crops, but are generally not liked in corn fields. We enjoy them being around at this time of year since they dig in the dirt with their bills for food and will happily consume Japanese Beetle grubs. To encourage them finding the grubs, we scatter cracked corn in the areas where we have problems with Japanese Beetles.

Predators of this bird that eat the eggs and/or nestlings are squirrels, snakes, raccoons, chipmunks, and cats. The adults are food for a variety of hawks and owls.

During migration and in winter, Common Grackles like to eat grains and seeds from farm fields, such as corn and acorns. They will eat fruit if available. While breeding, their diet mostly consists of insects, frogs, salamanders, crayfish, minnows, earthworms, mice, and even small bats they catch in the air. They are very opportunistic foragers and will follow a plow in search of grubs.

Feeding in groups they make themselves known as they sit in trees or feed on the ground. They use a lot of vocalizations to communicate and produce a harsh song that sounds much like a squeaky, rusty gate.

Our visitor was totally alone which is another reason to believe it was the result of a hawk chase. There were no birds to be heard or seen when I arrived on deck. I held the grackle on my lap while I gave it some Distress Remedy, a formula well known among animal owners and rehabilitators since it helps greatly when an animal is in shock or trauma or very stressed.

The grackle responded well to the few drops which I placed on the tongue. The beak was hanging open. I didn't want to put anything down its throat since I didn't know if it could swallow. I'm so glad I was there to help.

When it seemed to be improving, I put it in a box and closed the flaps. Birds feel very secure in the dark and in an enclosed area. This seemed to finish off the brief rehabilitation process since it was scratching around in 5 minutes. I took it to the front porch hoping to see a group of friends that might call.

It seemed I had a female since the tail was shorter than most and that's one indication of a female. They are not as vocal as the males and they weight a bit less also.

As I began to turn the box so I could open the flap on the end providing the bird a platform to look around from and depart, a few birds came back into the yard. It seemed only a moment longer that I could see the head appear near the end of the box. Once she saw the open pathway to freedom, she took off with such a strong flight pattern turning after maneuvering through a couple of trees.

I was so delighted that it had done so well so quickly. Please be sure to view the rescue in photos.

Praying Mantis

2007-03-19T09:37:00.000-04:00

The Praying Mantis is such a unique looking bug that most people are familiar with. It is considered a beneficial insect for gardens. Two of its relatives are the grasshopper and cockroach.

Mantises range in size from 1/2 inch to 12 inches long depending on the species and location. The nearly 2,000 species are widely distributed throughout tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate areas of the world.

Some species have no wings, but the ones we see here at Bluebird Cove have 2 pairs of wings. The largest one we've had in our garden was 5 inches long.

This insect ambushes its prey and captures it. They do not actively hunt for prey, but instead wait in perfect stillness, virtually invisible on a leaf or stem of its own coloring, ready to seize whatever may be within grabbing distance. When the prey is close enough, the mantis thrusts its pincerlike forelegs forward to grasp the prey. Along the inside of the leg, there are rows of hooked spines that minimize any chance of escape. The mantis then bites the head off first and continues to consume it. This Buckeye butterfly got away.

Its diverse appetite includes all insects, butterflies, and even other mantises, which makes them solitary critters, being widely spaced within their own territorial habitats.

These habitats include gardens where they can be beneficial although we will have no input on its choice of meals. It has been noted that they have caught and consumed hummingbirds.

Mantises have a number of predators, particularly birds, so to discourage them from attacking, the mantis will strike out with their spiny forelegs hoping to scare the bird away.

Their first line of defense is to avoid detection with their coloring and stillness. Can you see the mantis in this photo? It's a view from the top.

Those that dwell in bushes and grass are colored green, while tree dwellers are often mottled brown. The flower mantises in Africa and the Far East so closely resemble the flowers that insects often land on them to get nectar.

The male mantis performs a ritual dance and the female, instead of attacking her mate, responds with a dance of her own. While the female dance begins with a menacing stance, it ends with a non-threatening posture which signals her receptiveness to mate.

The female has been known to eat the male after mating, but this may be only in captivity when she has not been fed enough or in the wild when food supplies are lacking.

You can tell a pregnant female since her abdomen is swollen. After mating, the female lays her eggs (up to 400) in batches enclosed in a tough, spongy encasement called an ootheca. The ootheca is attached to fence posts, twigs, stems, or sometimes buried in the ground.

The one you see in the photo is now on our dining room window sill. It was amidst the mums that we trimmed back a week ago. I always look for things to discover when we prune back our perennials in the Spring. You don't want to destroy the natural predators that nature has provided.

To keep the egg case protected from predators, I placed it between the window and screen so it would have normal temperatures so the "little ones" would not come out too soon. We had another egg case outside our breakfast window on a holly bush that a bird had gotten into. It will be interesting to see if any nymphs come out of that egg case.

No matter what size the mantis is, the eggs are all the same size. Some females stand guard over their eggs until the nymphs (young) emerge unless it will be overwintering.

Protection is needed from parasitic wasps that lay their eggs in the eggs of the mantis. The eggs will hatch in 3 weeks to 6 months depending on the temperature and humidity. The young will emerge from tiny holes in the casing. The nymphs will go through a series of molts (shedding of skin) as they grow into adult mantises.

See more photos of critters at Bluebird Cove

We And The Cat Are Bundling Up For The Chill

2006-10-19T21:35:00.000-04:00

It's been getting a bit chilly here in Central Virginia. The Fall colors are appearing on the leaves and the view through our breakfast window is grand, but we're walking around in fleece clothes and wool socks now. Days are nice in the 60's so I'm not thinking winter yet.

Our kitty, Squeek, is a cold-natured cat, so when it's cool she doesn't mind having a cover on her in her baskets. We have several baskets around the house with great entertainment at each location. This one is in the guest bedroom and at this moment Squeek considers our guest (in the chair by the chest she's on) more interesting than the wildlife outside.

Nature's Balance - Japanese Beetles and Cottony Scale

2006-10-12T16:23:00.000-04:00

Japanese Beetles

We are plagued with Japanese Beetles every year and they take over our Rose of Sharon bushes hardly allowing them to bloom since they eat the buds. One year I picked them off and put them in water and felt so bad about it. Instinct told me that something could possibly benefit by leaving them. We now leave them. The bushes are not good to look at and certainly not nice to be around. They last 4-6 weeks with an interest in about 300 species of plants. Fortunately for us, they seem to congregate mainly on the Rose of Sharons.

Some birds love to eat Japanese beetle, so attract them to your landscape with birdbaths, feeders and nesting boxes that are nearby where you have beetle problems. Don’t chase away starlings! These birds may be considered pests, but again, they have a great purpose when it comes to Japanese beetles. They eat the adult beetles and the grubs in the ground.

Another great natural enemy is the Spring Tiphia wasp, which was imported into America from China to control the beetles. The female wasp goes into the soil and lays her eggs right on Japanese beetle grubs, killing up to 85 percent of the grubs in a lawn. Sounds way better than poisonous chemical insecticides! Plant forsythia, peonies, and firethorn to attract these beneficial wasps.

After they are done feasting, they lay eggs that produce grubs that winter over and become beetles next year. There are many critters that dig these grubs up and eat them. Sometimes I find one while digging in the garden and I put it in the bird feeder as a juicy morsel for some fortunate bird. If you've got turf grasses, these guys will kill it. Fortunately we don't want a lot of grass since it doesn't serve much purpose for wildlife, so that's not been a concern.

My friends and neighbors have tried sprays and the bags that you hang around the garden to collect them, but their bushes don't appear to look any better than ours during this time period. The beetles release a substance that attracts more beetles and these bags have that substance in them. However, I've read online at various places that the bags seem to attract more beetles than they collect, so they're mostly being promoted now by places that sell them.

Patience is something I get to practice while waiting for the beetles to have their fill and be finished with our bushes and then the bushes seem to bloom profusely. It seems that the beetles have given them determination to shine after the battle is over.

Cottony Scale

Every now and then we have a bush that gets cottony scale which is not a good thing. This year our pyracantha bushes have had a heavy infestation of cottony scale.

There are lots of chemicals to kill these aphid like critters and there are some more natural products also recommended. I always wonder what benefit something is that we may not know about, but it's hard to just let things be "eaten up." The bushes were heavily fruited so I kept thinking that maybe the fruit would not get to ripen and all those berries would be lost.

As the cottony scale multiplied, the berries continued to ripen and turn bright orange, so that seemed to indicate it wasn't killing the bush or the berries.

Today Randal and I were in the garden and saw a small bird dart into the pyracantha bushes. We both knew it was something we don't usually see. He went for the camera while I kept my eye on the bird, and then another that joined him. After many photographs, I identified it as a First Year Pine Warbler. The interesting thing is that it was eating the cottony scale.

One of the photographs shows him with a grin on his cottony scale face. This was an exciting event for Randal and me because we realized we would not have seen these birds if we'd sprayed to kill the scale.

Those who use chemical sprays not only kill the scale but contaminate the berries and bush. Randal wondered whether birds know not to eat from a bush that has been sprayed. Do their instincts tell them not to visit certain yards because chemicals are there? I doubt it since we know that many birds die from the poisons. It's not a research project I will do. I like to learn about the more exciting and positive topics.

The more we add to our experience list with such events as this the more I am grateful that we've chosen to take a "nature's balance" approach to our gardening for wildlife. The rewards have been so great and so far, we've never lost a plant doing it this way. We may not have perfect specimens, but maybe perfect is not in wildlife vocabulary.

Ants and Aphids

2006-09-18T19:46:00.000-04:00

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I took the window screens off the kitchen windows a couple of months ago so I could see the birds and butterflies better. The only problem with that is I can't open those windows for fresh air. I don't want to risk a hummingbird or some other bird flying in. We've had that happen in house and garage and it's not an easy task to get them back out. It drains their energy supplies and right now hummingbirds are storing up for their long migratory flight South.

Now and then I open them just to hang my head out and see what's happening in Smallville. We didn't choose a typical foundation planting for the two windows of our bayed breakfast nook, we planted a holly tree on each side and with a bit of pruning, they have been growing into fine specimens of cover for the songbirds. I have titmice and chickadees and wrens within a foot of the window where I work. The reflection in the glass from the sun seems to block them from viewing me, but I sure do get to enjoy their antics.

A few days ago, I stuck my head out to find a spider on the side. As soon as I went to touch it, it repeled down to the ground. Of more interest than him was some of the holly leaves that had black dots underneath plus a few ants. Being black and on a holly tree I didn't automatically think that they were aphids. I had never seen black ones and had never seen them on a holly.

Flipping the leaf over for more light allowed me to see that they were brown, not black, and definitely aphids after enlarging the size of the photo.

Some species of ants are attracted to aphids and feed on the honeydew they produce. Apparently I had that species only a foot outside my window. Ants protect the aphids from natural enemies and will even carry them to new plants if the current food source is depleted. A few species of aphids have become so dependent on their ants that they won't even excrete honeydew unless stimulated by an ant.

So, you see, this is a relationship in nature that benefits both species. It's called a "symbiotic relationship." The word symbiosis means "the living together in more or less intimate association or close union of two dissimilar organisms." You might think of it as a win-win situation in nature. I have recently learned that aphids come in many colors such as green, white, yellow, red (pink), brown, black, or mottled.

My photos allowed me to get a close-up view of the ants too. You can see their pinchers on the front of their mouth which are used to carry things. They also have a way to carry food inside their mouths.

Ants have always seemed so commonplace but getting a glimpse into their lives right at my window have made them a bit more personal.

It is said that ants rule the earth because they have colonies in almost every landmass on Earth. They can constitute up to 15% of the total animal biomass of a tropical rainforest. In the Amazon, the combined weight of the ants is said to be four times more than that of the other animals in the same area. Myrmecologists (ant experts) tell us that the total weight of all ants in the world is the same as the total weight of all the humans in the world. That's a lot of ants.

There's a lot to be learned from ants. Proverbs in the Bible tells us to consider the ant and its ways. They are diligent and cooperative, working as leaders and followers, and always willing to lend a hand. They are neat and organized.

I know they can be a problem when they exhibit all these wonderful character qualities inside your home, so here's an article on getting rid of ants that gives you a few non-toxic options. There's more to controlling your indoor environment than simply killing everything that happens inside for food, water or shelter. We can learn so much more about having a symbiotic relationship with the living things around us.

Gray Foxes

2006-09-15T18:13:00.000-04:00

We've been seeing grey foxes quite often and our neighbors are also. We had a lot of rabbits this year and it's also the first year that any of us have seen foxes so often. Their normal range of habitat is from one to ten miles and territories overlap, so we're not sure how many we have. They are nocturnal, which means they roam mostly at night, so we're seeing them with headlights in the evening or early in the morning for the sunrise walkers.

When we lived in Alabama, we had a female fox that had a den behind our property and she would come daily to feed on the peanuts we would put out for the wildlife. After filling her tummy, she would lay at a distance close enough to hear if something was wrong at the den, but far enough away to be training the pups for the time they will be on their own.

Grey foxes live in pairs rather than packs like wolves. Their life expectancy can reach 15 years. Although they are called grey, they do have some reddish coloring around the neck and chest, so when the reddish color is seen, some people think they've seen a red fox. Get more information on Gray Foxes at this site: www.dep.state.ct.us/burnatr/Wildlife/factshts/gryfox.htm

Our New Firepit Reminds Me Of Childhood

2006-09-14T17:52:00.000-04:00

We initiated our new fire pit with some friends last weekend. There was a nice chill in the air here in central Virginia, so it was a perfect night for it and we even roasted marshmallows.

Reminded us all of camping when we were young. We cut our own sticks before roasting. It didn't take but a few marshmallows to be pretty sick from the sugar.

Funny how moments like that make our childhoods seem so simple compared to the complexities of being an adult. Wouldn't it be nice if marshmallows and a fire could take away all the complications of life?

Well, it did for that evening. Some friends, some fun, some laughter and a fire to spark some dreaming. Even the short moments in life that create inspiration can be a pivotal point from which our lives can change for the better.

Meet you out back in an hour?

Butterflies Everywhere

2006-08-25T17:54:00.000-04:00

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We've had so many butterflies around Bluebird Cove. It's been delightful to look out the windows and see them floating everywhere. Each year we have more plants and bushes that attract them.

This year was the first that our Joe Pye Weed grew huge and bloomed. The Eastern Tiger Swallowtails have been all over it, sometimes 10 of them at a time. Other butterflies have enjoyed this plant also. We transplanted it from a lot that was going to be developed, so it's extra special to us since it's a rescued plant.

This plants loves water so we planted it right by a downspout so it has moist soil. We dug it up from the side of a small stream. It grew last year after the previous Fall transplant, but only had tiny blooms. This year it is well over six feet and full of huge beautiful flowers heads that are a foot high and half a foot wide themselves.

The first Monarch we saw this year was on the Joe Pye Weed. These beautiful butterflies remind many of stained glass. Their colors and design are so striking in any garden or on any plant.

Their polka dot bodies make them look like they are all dressed up for a special date.

Monarch lay their eggs only on Milkweeds. When the caterpillar emerges from the egg, it eats the plant for about two weeks and then forms a chrysalis and this is known as the pupal stage. After another two weeks, the butterfly emerges to continue the cycle.

An adult Monarch will live only two to six weeks depending on the weather. If they migrate they may live longer with the extended warm weather, but there are many risks involved.

Each year thousands of Monarchs arrive in Mexico to winter-over before heading back north again to lay eggs for another cycle.

A couple years back I was on the way to the mailbox and saw a Monarch on one of our grasses along the driveway. It was stretching and there was a chrysalis beside it so I assumed it had just arrived for its first morning at Bluebird Cove and in this world.

Since their life cycle depends so greatly on the presence of Milkweed plants, habitat is getting scarce, so there has been a concern for these butterflies.

MonarchWatch provides a lot of detailed information on them and some projects that would be fun for the entire family. Getting the natural world to be part of your daily lifestyle makes a difference on how adults and children manage stress in their lives. It's well worth the time involved.

We had Bluebird Cove certified as a Monarch Way Station not long ago. This is one of the projects mentioned at the Monarch Watch site. There's not much to do it. You need some Milkweed plants and some plants that provide nectar. The cost for certification is only $12.

We had received a cash gift from some friends and since she loved butterflies it seemed appropriate that we use that gift for the certification. We also purchased a sign that's available. We wanted the sign especially for education since our street has many walkers.

Getting others to consider providing habitat for Monarchs makes it even more rewarding a project. The local newspaper did an article about it and took the photo of us that you see here. With the sign and the article, we've had a lot of questions and others have already begun to add things to their own gardens to enjoy these incredible creatures.

Here's a website that offers lots of article on Butterfly Gardening:
www.thebutterflysite.com/gardening.shtml

Different plants attract different butterflies. There are long lists of what various types of butterflies like. You can gradually add plants to the garden. The obvious ones are those that attract the adult butterfly, but you will want to provide host plants.

Host plants are those that will be used by various types of butterflies to lay their eggs on. Each type of butterfly has very specific requirements for where they will lay their eggs. The plant must be one that the caterpillar (or the larval stage) will consume to become big enough and strong enough to spin its cocoon.

None are as fussy as the Monarch, but you will want to be sure to include some plants for all stages of the butterfly.

That information can be found on the sites mentioned within this blog.

Getting a butterfly field guide is a nice addition to the project and enjoyment factor of butterflies. It's nice to know the names of your visitors.

The one I like the most is a Kaufman Focus Guide. "The Best Guides for Getting Started: Butterflies of North America," by Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman. I'm sure there are many others that are equal or better, but this one has been easy to use. I like to mark the date in for the first time I've seen one here at Bluebird Cove.

I notice that when I begin to see ones that we have seen before, I feel that they are old friends returning. Of course, being a butterfly with such a short life span, they are not the same ones, so I have to consider them kinfolk dropping by. They know genetically that we welcome them, I'm sure.

You will see many of them looking like they're on their last day. They seem so worn. I've taken a lot of photos of some of those Tattered and Torn butterflies and included some in the article on another one of my blogs, A Healing Moment.

One new plant we've had this year has been the Jimson Weed plant which some little birdie dropped in. I would've put it somewhere else if I'd know how tall and wide it was going to get, but it's still done well where it is.

It was interesting to see a Monarch interested in it.

The incredible number of blooms has been a real blessing to view but this plant is quite toxic to animals and humans, so we will probably not invite it back next year. I've been dead-heading it vigorously.

Here's a site that will give you a photo of Jimson Weed and more information: www.holoweb.com/cannon/jimsonwe.htm

Be sure to leave your comments on your own butterfly experiences below at the bottom of this blog. Others besides me will enjoy them so much.

Blooming Petunias

2006-08-16T11:44:00.000-04:00

There's so much we can learn in the garden. I am amazed at what Creation can tell us. God speaks to us through His creativity and there is a large world of discovery out there for us if we will take the time to watch and listen. All I need do is step outside my door each day. Although I do live more rural than most, I find that any time I am in the city having to wait in the car, or wait outside a building, I still find lessons abound around me.

We have a senior development going in nearby behind our property and the noise from the equipment and chain saws threatens my sanity. At some moments I get a tiny glimpse of how close that "edge" is that we can slip over in this world of many stressful circumstances. The edge that determines whether we remain in our homes, or travel to the big place with the men in white coats, while we're put in a suit that requires you to hug yourself.

Maybe it's not that our world has more stress. It could be that we're no longer built to deal with it. We've been told we can have it all "my way" so when things don't go our way, we don't have a good mental response to it. Our adrenals take daily irritating circumstances as if they were bison charging at us.

I know this project will take a long time to completion and when the leaves on the trees are gone back there, we will be getting more than noise since there will be no protection for all that dirt flying around. As I get up each day, I have to remind myself that life never was designed to go "my way." This world with all of its evil is one doomed to destruction before we have the true Heaven and Earth ruled by Jesus. However, if we have the Living Christ within us, we are built to deal with it. We are promised to surprise if we hold on to The Rock.

This morning I went on the deck to enjoy the Heritage Petunias that come back every year. They have such a wonderful scent that it takes my mind away to exotic places and rainforests. Since I have them in planters, the roots can't grow deep enough to get bushy like they will in the ground. They begin to look leggy so every week I cut some back. I don't like to do it because I'm cutting away buds and I get very close to my plants feeling like they are actual friends or children, so it's hard to just cut part of them off when they are flowering.

I know God doesn't like cutting away at us either as He allows circumstances to come into our lives that will allow us to grow looking a lot better than long and leggy. He prunes and shapes us so that we will be healthier and more beautiful as we reflect the glory of our Father. Just like these petunias do.

How we respond makes all the difference to our physical and mental health. I often heard the phrase, "Bloom where you're planted." I've never felt planted here in the community, but I've certainly been pruned and tossed in here for some reason.

The birds are God's gift to all of us and they sure make my days special here at Bluebird Cove. With many feeders and more and more plants producing seeds, we are blessed with birds all day long. Their songs remind me that no matter what is going on around them, you can still sing a sweet song.

The bug-eating birds are everywhere looking for a meal. I put some mealworms in the petunia pots, so they're always hopping around our deck looking for a surprise. This little guy has just discovered our turtle on the deck rail.

I keep a pot on the deck behind the glider, in which I put the trimmings. Randal comes around and gathers all my dead-head trimmings around the garden because even though dead-heading produces wonderful results and is so very beneficial to the plants, it is difficult, so he takes care of throwing them away. This community doesn't allow compost piles either, so we are limited to what we compost in some plastic containers that we keep behind bushes between the yard and the end of the screened porch. I'm grateful that he is willing to take that job so I don't have to see the plants go to the landfill.

I grabbed the pot to put some weekly clippings in and saw that Randal had not emptied it from the previous week. It had rained so there was some water on the bottom of it and the plants were still green six days later and some even continued to bloom. That is certainly a picture of "blooming where you are planted." I will have this visual image to remind myself that even though I feel like I've been tossed aside into this pot of Lake Monticello, I can bloom while I'm here. God will send some rain into the pot and allow me to survive if I want to, so I will continue to look for the good of every day.

You can do the same. Hang in there with me. You'll make it through the current circumstances and although it seems like one bad thing has happened after another, it's just a season of time in our lives. Winter brings many storms, but Spring brings refreshing rain and in time we will bloom again in Summer.

Remember that plants still grow in Winter. This is a time when they can sink their roots deep to find water in the midst of drought. We will make it through the bad times. Just sink your roots down where you're planted and find that Living Water that's available to us. Choose to trust in our Heavenly Papa through all circumstances and don't forget to bloom while you're in the pot.