Delight and despair.  All winter long we feed the birds (and not intentionally) the squirrels from multiple feeders.  I pull the weeds in the spring from the seed that spills and I missed a sunflower that was coming up in among my hosta.  This week, we had a beautiful yellow sunflower reaching toward the sun.  It just makes you smile.

We have been fighting the battle of the moles/voles for years now.  This year with all of the moisture, there have been very few problems.  I assume that its because there are plenty of grubs elsewhere in the woods.  I was out watering the baskets and planters and right by our deck there was a mole mound.  I am not happy.  I flattened it out and raked it flat.  We have a dog and cats so we don’t use traps or poison – just put up with it for now.

We have this absolutely gorgeous Hillside Creeper in the front of the house.  It’s been there for years.  True to its name – it continues to creep.  There are a few blades of grass that have migrated into the shrub and yesterday, I gently parted the branches and stepped in and did the weeding.  I adjusted a few things – and was pleased with the work.  Refer to the paragraph above about the mole hill.

When I got home from work yesterday, I noticed a mound right underneath the edge of the Hillside Creeper.  I pulled apart the branches and stomped on it and silently cursed the moles.  BUT it wasn’t moles.  It was an underground bee nest.  Bees swarmed around my feet – fortunately I jumped and didn’t get stung.  We haven’t had this happen  for several years.    The hole you see in the middle is where the entrance to the underground hive is.

This morning, Leif got out the wasp spray and aimed it at the hole.  Tonight – it is silent.  I am thankful that when I was cleaning up the bed yesterday, that I didn’t step in this area.  I was on my knees weeding and wouldn’t have been able to quickly get out of the way.

Gardening – always an adventure,