Stormy nights

Poor Danny is afraid of thunder. That means none of us have been getting any sleep the last few stormy nights.

We can tell when a storm is coming - Danny begins to pant and paces back and forth. When the thunder finally arrives, Danny tries to hide under the bed or behind the couch. Unfortunately, Danny is too big to fit into such tight spaces.

The lack of sleep is taking a toll on all of us. Danny doesn't move when the alarm goes off for his morning walk and neither do we. I may have to start drinking coffee to get thru the day.

Duck Crossing

I was running late for work and as I raced into my car, I opened the garage door and began backing out the driveway.

The Lexus has a camera that shows what is behind you when the car is in reverse. I really don't pay much attention to the backup camera, but when I looked over at the screen, there were Maddy and Paddy - waddling behind the car!

I stopped the car and chased them to the pond.

As I drove on I wondered if we could sell this idea to Lexus as a commercial - cost of a backup camera $X, saving 2 ducks priceless (oops, maybe that is Visa commercial).

Hawks return

I have not seen much of the hawks since early spring. I assumed that they had either moved on to a new hunting ground or all the leaves made them much harder to spot.

The other morning, on the way home from Danny's morning walk I looked at the pond and there sat a beautiful red tailed hawk. The only time I have seen a hawk sit on the ground is when it is grabbing its prey. I immediately thought of Maddy and Paddy, but they were at the edge of the pond about 5 feet from the hawk.

The hawk sat for a minute and then flew off. Tonight I also spotted the hawk flying around the pond, so there must be something of interest out there.

Renovation

We have been thinking of renovating our house, but are having an extremely tough time finding a company to work with.

If you know of any architects or renovation contractors that you would highly recommend in Fairfield County, CT - please add a comment with their contact info.

Thanks!

Flip-flop

I have a pair of rubber flip-flops that I leave by the door, in case I need to go into the yard. The other day I noticed that there was one by the door and one in the middle of the living room.

I didn't give it much thought, just picked the shoe up and put it by the door. The next day I noticed the shoe was again in the living room. So, I placed it by the door and headed upstairs.

When I came down, Danny was caught in the act - happily gnawing on my flip-flop. Not that Danny doesn't have a pile of toys to play with. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, he probably thinks it is a larger version of his rubber bone.

Wish I got a picture !

Turns out it is not just flip-flops that Danny likes. As I was reading this to Jeff, he said he has caught Danny with my fuzzy slippers!

Maybe Danny has a shoe fetish ??

Foxes, Ducks and Turkeys Too

There are wild turkeys all over CT, but I have not see any in the yard, until today!

This turkey seemed to enjoy the tall grass around the edge of the pond.

Calla Lilies

I received this stunning flower arrangement for my birthday and wanted to share it with everyone.

Duck, Duck, Duck

For most of the spring, Maddy and Paddy have been frequent visitors to the pond. Occasionally, Dupree (the lone male) will fly in for an afternoon.

Now, for the last few days, another female mallard is living on the pond. This duck has a white ring around her eye and constantly swims back and forth. This is very different from Maddy and Paddy who tend to sit along the edge of the pond. She is shy and flies off if I get too close (sorry, no pictures). She constantly quacks/coos as she paddles along, it is such a happy sound, I can't help but smile.

Some Retriever

The heat just wipes poor Danny boy out. On Saturday it wasn't hot, but it was muggy. While I was taking pictures of the yard he was out rolling around in the new grass. When Maddy & Paddy the ducks came to see what was going on, Danny had no interest in even chasing them today. Some retriever, eh?

Complete

The landscaping is finally complete!

Brian Cossari and crew from Hoffman Landscapes put the finishing touches on our back yard today. The Town of Wilton's wetlands regulations would have been impossible to navigate without Brian's help. When there was a disagreement during the project, I feel Brian did the right thing by making sure I was satisfied even though it cost him a little money. While our project was on the small scale for them, I was always treated professionally. I would definitely use them again for any sized project.

And just look at the before picture, yuck!

Another new visitor

As I was leaving for work, I thought I noticed something slowly moving across the grass, on the side of our yard opposite the pond. I looked again but all I saw was green and then something moved again. I was not sure what it was - at first I thought of the usual suspects - the woodchuck or a squirrel, but they move too fast.

After staring for a few minutes, I realized that it was a turtle - its shell was about the size of a serving plate. The shell was very green and I think it must have come from the pond which is covered in green duckweed.

I shouldn't be surprised that the pond might contain turtles, but I was surprised to see such a big one. After a year, I thought I had seen all the wildlife, but I guess you never know what might show up.

Tree Peony

Ever since I heard about tree peonies, I have wanted to plant one, but it always seems that spring becomes summer and we never buy one. Last weekend we started looking( very late) at local nurseries and they had none or just the regular peony.

When we lived in Oxford, we would go to White Flower Farm in Litchfield, CT and they always had beautiful plants and bushes. I called White Flower Farm and they still had a few remaining tree peonies.

After purchasing the peony, we were stopped by 2 people in the parking lot who asked - is that a tree peony - where are you planting it - have you had one before- we wanted to get one, but they are so pricey, etc. Who knew that these plants were so popular!

Tree peonies grow to 5 feet tall and have many flowers. It turns out that it takes MANY years for a tree peony to mature, which may explain why our little tree is 1 ft tall. It has beautiful flowers and I am hoping that the deer and woodchuck will ignore it.

If you have been to White Flower Farm, you know that you just don't buy one thing, so now we have several other new plants as well. If you really want to find a large selection of quality plants, trees, or bulbs, I would highly recommend White Flower Farm.

Wilton Window

Here are some of the sites from our yard. As spring time leads into summer, we are seeing some new flowers....