Gardening update: the bugs are back in town

It’s time to get with the program.  All you’ve been seeing lately are my attempts at flash fiction.  My plants, my garden, have been suffering because of it.  So, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we?

 

Update on Mostly Dead Tree:  She’s still with us.  We haven’t had the heart(s) to cut her down, yet.  Besides, she gives a bit of shade– not much.  And, the red-bellied woodpeckers love her, pecking away at her in the wee hours of the morning, the hammering sound echoing throughout the neighborhood.

Did I tell you that I’ve been feeding the squirrels?  Well, that was a mistake.  I knew better but I just hated that they have to spend so much time looking for food, and when I saw they were eating bugs, I decided to help them out.  Now, of course, they pester me to put out the food.  And, there seems to be a gang of adolescent squirrels that are hogging the food, one of which sleeps in the feeder at night.  A bunch of blue jays have tried to take over but they’re no match for the gang.  Oh,  the feeder is hanging on Mostly Dead Tree and with the feeding chaos and Mostly shedding branches and woodpeckers— not to mention the lizards and their dramas— well, my quiet patio is a battlefield.

Who knew there would be so many frigging bugs in Florida?  And they all eat my plants.  Every morning is a new chapter in the ongoing saga of insect infestation.  And snails.  Where do they hang out during the day? How do they manage to get from their stronghold to my plants and back during the night?  I mean, aren’t snails slow?  Oh, don’t let me forget to tell you we have rabbits now.  Our lawn guy left the gate open and rabbits ate all the new growth off my impatience(s), and Mexican Petunias.  Which reminds me, the Recalcitrant Hibiscus, also known as, “surely she should be dead by now”  is still alive, and occasionally gives an anemic-looking bloom.  I had the clippers in hand and was going to assist in her suicide but I lost my nerve.  I did leave her with three branches which looks rather ridiculous.

The ICBM’s of the hegemony have all morphed into palm tree branches (fronds).  Nothing exciting there.  My roommate (RM) thinks the NSA will visit us since I have been researching such things as missiles and nuclear submarines.  I told her it’s when I start ordering things like fertilizer and digital watches in the same order from  Amazon that they might check in.  We had a honey bee colony in the corner of the backyard that made their hive in the cable company’s equipment.  They were pollinating the heck out of my plants so I didn’t care but the house next door finally sold and the owners were not as receptive to the bees buzzing all over.  We found this very old gentleman bee-keeper, who came and fetched the bees.  He smoked them into sleepiness and took them away.  Cable reception seems better.

This just in: The seed branch that was hanging precariously from the ICBM palm tree, has just fallen off and into my yard with a squirrel riding it.  They landed in my sansevieria (mother-in-law tongue) which can be very sharp.  Looks like the squirrel is okay, though.   That was at least a 20 ft drop (6 m).  Way to go, squirrel.

Special thank you to my fantastic readers and my excessively loyal and marvelous followers for reading and commenting on my weekly flash fiction challenge, hosted by Thain in Vain.  Why not stop by and write some fiction with us.   You can say a lot in 500 words or less.  I also participate in 4 other fiction challenges each week on my other blog (see sidebar).  Thank you so much.   Lucy