Porcupines

 

Did you know that porcupines only have one baby per birthing?

I saw this Momma climbing my big elm and went out to take a pic of her.  Imagine my surprise when I saw-and heard-baby following Mom up the very tall tree.  

 The elm goes at least 50 feet before it forks off.  Baby whimpered and made little baby noises.  I prayed I wasn't going to see it fall.  By the time it made it to the first fork, Mom was in the branches eating either leaves or seeds.  

 

I think it must have been seeds because I have much shorter elms that have leaves.  OR maybe Mom was teaching baby how to climb big trees in addition to finding supper.

 

I like porcupines.  I have a few stories involving porcupines, most that include dogs.

 I had a Mom and baby here two years ago that I loved to see, then Mom got run over up the hill and her body lay in the middle of the road.  I was disgusted neighbors were just driving by, so I went up with a shovel and broom  and moved her off the road.  

A day or two later I was taking a walk and found baby cowering in a rock pile not far away.  I was very sad.  I have seen and heard of baby porcupines who linger near their dead Moms.  They follow them everywhere so no wonder they are lost when she won't get up ever again.

Fingers crossed this family survives the road- and the year round open season (no limit) on this amazing native.

 

 

Summer Solstice

 The days are flying by.  We finally had a little bit of rain yesterday when a thunderstorm came through.

The clover is blooming.  The highlight of my summer is when I walk across the lawn to my chair and find white clover blossoms tucked between my toes.  I don't care for jewelry and have ugly feet but something about the clover blossoms in between my toes is lovely.

Happy Solstice!

Justice

I was wondering what Jim Hansen was up to these days.  You may know him as the NASA climate scientist who testified before Congress in 1988 outlining the potential impacts of Climate Change

 

I was reading an article from the Guardian and it said that he was arrested as part of a protest against the Keystone Pipeline.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/19/james-hansen-nasa-scientist-climate-change-warning 

400 protesters were arrested in front of the White House that day.I think that is more than the number of people who were charged for the storming of the Capitol January 6th.

 IMO that reflects what is going on from the top down in the Criminal Justice system.

 

 

 

 

 

Ramblings

 Summer Solstice 2021 is nearly upon me. Temperatures have been on  a roller coaster, 90 one day, 40 the next. that's F BTW. 

Today was a beautiful one, just right in the shade, just right in the su,n although some recent transplants didn't quite agree.  I spent the morning hauling goat manure down to revitalize a section of perennial bed that had gone rampant with Jeruselum Artichoke and a viral form of skanky aster, which was pulled by the handful last fall when I woke up and realized what it was doing all over the front garden.

Foxglove, recently given went in,  the roses (which are always finicky for me, but without a doubt my favorite flower) were tucked in,  I rescued one of the last fragments of purple coneflower which struggles here, ditto with a perennial bachelor's (Centaurea Montana I believe) button division from last year which wanted to be anywhere else but where it was.

The hops have taken off, placed in between the refuse-to-ever-bloom-in-20 years Chinese Wisteria and the refuse-to-give-a-grape-in-twenty year grape vine, on a tripod of rods, it reaches one way for the wisteria and the other way for the grape, themselves reaching their stride and reaching back in return.

The Wisteria appeared less than thrilled to meet Hops and every creeper turned the other way after they touched.  the Grape, a bit more tentaive, met Hop and thought that was ok.  Hop knelt in respect and gave Grape the upper hand.

I wonder which one I am most like, the Hop, the Grape, or the Wisteria?  

The WIsteria which just goes gangbusters and to hell with flowering.   The grape who hides until all threat of winter chill is gone and then goes full bore, eventually deciding it is just too much effort to fruit, or the hops, the gypsy orphan salvaged from a property up the road changing hands-usually such tentative divisions refuse to prosper away from their parent,  But not the hops, even after a bit of neglect, part of it jumped forth its first year and put on a nice streamer of hops blossoms.  

This year it took me by surprise, despite it's placement in the sandiest poorest soil in my garden, it sent forth a half donen vinelings this spring and is currently the Queen or King of the garden.

 

I feel lonely and horny looking at it. Eight long years.  sigh.