![\"Maggie](\"http:\/\/dev.firepowerdesign.com\/kp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/flower.png\")
<\/a>Maggie LOVES the back yard\u2014smelling flowers, chasing bugs, eating rabbit poo and chasing Marlo around and around. She’s pretty cute, isn’t she? Except the eating poo part.<\/p><\/div>\n
The peonies are long gone now but they were pretty spectacular this year.<\/p><\/div>\n The bee balm is very nice this year too. I saw a hummingbird enjoying it this evening.<\/p><\/div>\n Last summer we planted three currant bushes. The berries look like little shiny jewels.<\/p><\/div>\n We also planted a pink champagne and black currant bushes. I think the pink ones taste the best. I have plans to make jelly but we’ll see if that actually happens.<\/p><\/div>\n This is the very first year that the broccoli formed nice big heads. I think the cool weather did the trick and prevented them from bolting before they were mature.<\/p><\/div>\n Mr. and Mrs. Wren set up housekeeping in the new bird house I mounted to the fence in the yard this spring. However, something very sad happened. The four babies, who had been creating quite the racket begging for food, fell silent. We thought they had fledged but Annette found two of them dead on the ground under the bird house. I found the other two dead in the nest. We have no idea what happened but suspect maybe the mom fell victim to a predator (there are a couple roaming cats around here) and the babies perished. So, so sad. I hope they will try again next year and be able to successfully raise a family.<\/p><\/div>\n And now a few from some random hikes and birding outings:<\/p>\n This particular day, we were looking for Bobolinks.<\/p><\/div> Pearly Crescent Butterfly<\/p><\/div> Widow Skimmer Dragonfly.<\/p><\/div> Grasshopper Sparrow<\/p><\/div> Sandhill Crane<\/p><\/div> Juvenile Eastern Bluebird<\/p><\/div> Alder Flycatcher<\/p><\/div> Common Yellowthroat Warbler<\/p><\/div> Baby Turkey<\/p><\/div> Clay-colored Sparrow<\/p><\/div><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>