Hey everyone, it’s really hard to put into words how beautiful the wildflowers have been. And it’s almost a disservice to talk about them when they could be shown. Forgive me, I’ve left off the monarch butterfly and the hummingbird. I will need to make another video to showcase them.
I hope you enjoy this video and that wherever you are, you’re having a great weekend.
p.s. my categories selection isn’t working after some type of update, so if you never see this, I won’t be surprised. Thanks, WordPress. 
I’ve been taking photographs of flowers and trees and plants and bees…all spring and summer. Ma’am the squirrel makes an appearance in the video below. She’s got babies now and she stops by, but those babies take up a lot of her time. She’s fully healed, so it’s hard for me to tell if it’s her or not her. I ask all the squirrels if they are ma’am. I am pretty sure they think I am the strangest food lady ever.
Some sad news to report on ERJ (my eastern redbud tree, for those who are new here. He and William The First, my Willow Oak, are tied for favorite tree first place): I noticed he wasn’t doing well a couple months ago and had an arborist come look at him. He has borers. The arborist seemed to think ERJ would pull through, but I have serious doubts. I know my tree, and he doesn’t look well. His leaves are yellowing and dropping. He has tons of suckers and tons of seed pods. I feel like this is his last hurrah trying to create new generations. I have applied the insecticide three times now and I don’t think it’s working. You might remember ERJ from previous posts. I will be very sad to lose him, but at the end of this video, you will see I have another redbud in my backyard and its leaves are huge. I love the heart shape of the leaves. It’s truly my favorite type of tree. But don’t tell William.
I hope you enjoy this trip around my flowers, an (unnamed) eastern redbud, a lightning bug, a bumblebee and a squirrel.
You may not know this, but Ma’am has her own container of walnuts. No one else gets these walnuts but her. I keep it fully stocked. Yes, she is spoiled. She stopped by the café this morning and nicely requested a table for one, so I easily made the accommodations. Not even the starlings knew she was there for 40 minutes snacking, and the starlings know everything.
She doesn’t come around often, but she did visit on Sunday. She had a snack and a sploot. Splooting is when animals lie on their bellies to cool off on a hot day. Ma’am has perfected this.
Happy Wednesday, everyone. Sploot if you need to.
Ma’am is looking good! Her tail is stumpySelf-service Splootin’ and eatin’Splootin’ in the shade
Now that I’m allowed to answer prompts again for the past two days, WordPress had better be ready for me. I’m not actually going to answer this prompt, but I feel like the choice of words is incorrect. Well, that wouldn’t be the first time for WordPress, am I right?
I agree, Idris 
Let’s talk about something else. Let’s continue the theme of helping animals. In mid-April we had a really hot spell. I had no air-conditioning installed at the time, and neither did the animals outside. Earlier in the morning, I washed up a few dishes in the sink and placed them next to the sink on a cloth. I didn’t dry them. I just sort of left them there with the drops of water surrounding them. I left the kitchen and came back a bit later only to find a tiny spider on the counter. I don’t know how many of you would have squished the spider, but as you know, I had Katherine I, the orb weaver, make her nest on my porch a few years ago, so I have developed a reverence for spiders. Well, at least a tolerance. I will not kill them if I can move them outside. And yes, I do realize some spiders are house spiders, and they will die outside. So we have a deal. As long as a house spider doesn’t get in my shower, it can live in my bathroom, but in a space where I can’t see it.
Back to the counter spider, I wondered what the spider was doing, but then I understood. It was drinking the water on the counter. It was thirsty and it was hot. So I let it drink, and I told it as long as it goes back to its house outside, I would not have to use the special cup with the lid to transport it outside. I watched it for several minutes and then I left it alone. It was fascinating. I came back later and it was gone. I did put a small piece of cat food next to it in case it wanted some food with its drink at the drive-through, but it didn’t seem to eat any.
Safe travels, my tiny friend.
Even insects deserve mercy, a safe home, and not to be uprooted from all that they know.
*Except the tiny ants who are found in your kitchen by the thousands and are trying to eat one grain of sugar. I cannot rescue these individuals.*
This is Ma’am. She frequently does performative art. I’ve been feeding this squirrel for at least four years. Around Thanksgiving, she showed up with two huge masses on her face. She couldn’t eat, but she tried. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew she would die if I didn’t try to help her. I searched the internet for help and found a wildlife rehab nearby. The woman there told me to get the squirrel into a cat carrier and bring her over to her house via car.
I had the cat carrier, but I didn’t have much conviction that this would work. But I didn’t have time to think about how it would fail. I got the carrier out, put it on the porch and loaded it up with peanuts and blueberries. By this time, the squirrel had gone home and I waited on the porch to see if she would return. It was a matter of life or death. I’m not being dramatic – it really was. She came back, and got close enough to the carrier that I was able to push her in and shut the door. I called the woman and informed her that I was successful with the capture and I would be at her house within 20 minutes.
I expected the squirrel to get loose in my car and envisioned a horrific scene of torn upholstery, and a screaming driver with a squirrel on top of her head, but the squirrel was so good. She didn’t let out a peep and enjoyed the ride.
We got to the woman’s house, which is where she runs the rehab for wild animals, and I gave her my friend Ma’am.
I called the next day and inquired about my squirrel‘s face. Apparently, she had two pockets of infection. One had popped with some antibiotic treatment, but the other one needed more time. Ma’am was there nearly a month. I called every day, wanting to know how she was and if she could come home yet.
The woman was astonished that I would want to bring her home because usually people drop off wildlife and the woman releases them into the woods behind her house. But that’s not how I work. The squirrel lives here. She has a nest and a family and friends and a life here.
Remarkably, she got better. She never stopped growling at the woman who was helping her, but she became well enough to be released back to me. I was thrilled. I drove over to pick her up sometime around Christmas. She was quiet all the way home. I let her out of the box on the porch, where she usually eats, and she needed a few days to familiarize herself with her homebase. She came back in a few days, hungry and looking for snacks. I was worried she wouldn’t be as tame with me or as friendly, but I was worried for nothing. But I also didn’t want her to be as tame with me, I wanted her to have natural instincts to stay away from humans and to keep her wits about her out in the wild. 
As I compose this, it is May 9th, and I haven’t seen Ma’am in a few days, but that doesn’t really mean anything. A few times I haven’t seen her for a couple of weeks and she shows up unannounced. But once she’s here, everyone else must leave. She won’t have it any other way. (I have never seen an animal – besides my own cat, Susie – with such a will to live. I’m not sure what power charges that squirrel to keep living, but for Susie, I know it is love.)
Her face has healed up quite a bit since she got home, and although it may never be perfect, I tried my best to help an animal who badly needed it. I don’t regret anything, and I would do it all over again, even if the squirrel didn’t live.
Oh, there is a slight debate going on about whether the squirrel is a male or a female, although I’m almost 100% positive she’s a girl. I do know the squirrel growls at everyone and anything except me. She will fight off three other squirrels while she is eating walnuts (this is how a squirrel ends up with two pockets of infection on her face…). And I could swear I’ve seen her in previous summers with babies, but just in case, her name is Ma’am/Mr. Ma’am. It’s not important to me if the squirrel is a boy or a girl. What is important to me is that I help the helpless. I had to do it. She sought me out for help, and I couldn’t say no. I wouldn’t say no. So I said yes, and now I frequently have performative art on my front porch, which does include a sploot or two. May we all find kindness when we desperately need it. May we all be kindness when others need it. May we take refuge in the solace of nature when everything feels heavy and impossible. The animals are worth it. And the trees are worth it too, but that’s another post.
Ma’am under the cherry treeAlmonds are hard. 1/10. Splootin’ on a hot day Living her best life
Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.
I wouldn’t call it exciting, but I saw this scenario playing out last night and came up with a little video idea. I hope it makes you smile, or maybe even giggle.
Basil the Pig meets a new friend (a green leafhopper.)
I just posted this on Instagram and I thought maybe you all would like to know I chased this brand new to me butterfly around and captured this excellent footage. Somebody’s gotta do the hard work down in the trenches. 😉
My first sighting ever of a gray hairstreak butterfly 
“It's Amy,” I said. 