Priorities

The kitten is back on my arm as I write this. It’s a good thing he’s cute because OMG he causes trouble. The images today were captured with a wide angle lens – which is the only one he hasn’t broken yet.

So, if you’re wondering why the birds are blurry/out of focus it’s because they were taken at a distance with a camera set up for big landscapes. I’m experimenting with work-arounds and I do have that big heavy zoom lens to try and figure out. In the meantime, it is what it is.

The past couple of years have introduced North America to some new kinds of insect life. I’m thinking here of Murder Hornets and the Joro Spider. I’m looking forward to the arrival of the latter because they love eating mosquitoes.

The latest I’ve heard about is the Jumping Worm. You can do your own research on them, but apparently they degrade the topsoil making it difficult for plants to root and affecting the nutrients/food available for other insects and birds.

This is not going to be a problem for most of us living on a rock. There are those who manage to produce small vegetable gardens but they are the exception – there are no farms on this Island and very few flower beds.

Unfortunately they seem to be arriving in bags of soil/potted plants/ and even bait. I still have a dream of someday tending a large herbaceous border in my yard but even if it was feasible financially I don’t think it’s a good time to bring in truck loads of soil – we don’t need more creepy crawlies. 🙂 It’s to be hoped that vegetables will be grown from seed this year in existing soil.

I’m actually getting some projects checked off on my to-do list – even some spring cleaning. The latter is motivated by the need to keep on top of the kitten’s need to spray and it just seems logical to do other chores while I’m at it.

I finally realized that worrying about the cosmetic work that needs to be done on the house is a waste of time until all the structural stuff is done. The animals don’t care about what the walls look like – they just want to be warm in the winter. I’ll focus on that. 🙂