The Mega Pawsitive Fundraiser

[tarasgirl06]

@Norachan so happy that Henry Lee, and his adorable pink tongue are ok now! Toothaches are a bummer, so I bet he's happy now!

Shane Kent that pet, I mean Cat, bed is awesome! I keep forgetting to check online regularly per your recommendation, but I get a little reminder every time you post some new, cool pet, I mean C-for-cat furniture!


On my gardening front, I now have more colored roses blooming, including my favorite yellow ones! Even though yellow isn't my favorite color, it makes me smile to think of the Yellow Rose of Texas. There are also varying shades of pink, from blush to shocking, and pink is one of my favorites, so win-win! Sorry to post so many flower pictures, but I can't help but be excited about the fact that I didn't kill these plants (yet!)
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So beautiful -- thanks for sharing! Most of those have grown here in our yard but we lost some to the extreme heat and drought. The Yellow Rose of Texas has a special significance to me.

 

[raysmyheart]

@Norachan so happy that Henry Lee, and his adorable pink tongue are ok now! Toothaches are a bummer, so I bet he's happy now!

Shane Kent that pet, I mean Cat, bed is awesome! I keep forgetting to check online regularly per your recommendation, but I get a little reminder every time you post some new, cool pet, I mean C-for-cat furniture!


On my gardening front, I now have more colored roses blooming, including my favorite yellow ones! Even though yellow isn't my favorite color, it makes me smile to think of the Yellow Rose of Texas. There are also varying shades of pink, from blush to shocking, and pink is one of my favorites, so win-win! Sorry to post so many flower pictures, but I can't help but be excited about the fact that I didn't kill these plants (yet!)
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@tinydestroyer , I could never see too many of your flower pictures, for the reason - your flowers are soooo beautiful! I am especially smitten by the second photo posted of the flower with the very soft corals and pinks.

Today, I have noticed some very special new visitors to Speedy's birdfeeder. They are small goldfinches and I noticed they were picking up the large sunflower seeds in the bird mix. I looked on the Cornell bird site and saw that indeed, they do like sunflower seeds and thistle seeds. I am on my way to the store to get a thistle feeder and seed as I am so happy to see these new friends and Speedy and I hope they will come visit everyday now.

 

[Shane Kent]

@tinydestroyer - That piece of furniture has a tag with the website tainoki.com on it. I think Karen said it was approximately $100 when they first got it in her store. They marked it down a few times and Karen grabbed it when they reduced it to $50. I guess I should point out to other thread readers that Karen works for a store called Home Sense.

HomeSense | TJX.com

That web page has a link to Home Sense US and Europe at the bottom of it. I am not sure if they have the pet furniture at the US and Europe stores but that Tainoki company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

1CatOverTheLine I'm not seeing bumblebees here, but I don't usually. I've occasionally seen the big black shiny ones who "can't fly", flying around sounding like little drones. I am still happy to see quite a few of the small bees, though, enjoying the apple and nectarine blossoms and the birds of Paradise.

tarasgirl06 - Thanks for the bee report; bumblebee traffic today was no more prevalent than yesterday. Maybe there's a bumblebee air traffic strike?

I suspect your big shiny black bees are Carpenter Bees.



It's probably two days before the earliest of the Redbuds looks like anything here, but the Redbud buds are budding, buddy!

Not my favourite colour, but lots better than the Winter greys and browns I've been looking at for the past six months.

Soon Summer - very very soon!
.

 

[tarasgirl06]

tarasgirl06 - Thanks for the bee report; bumblebee traffic today was no more prevalent than yesterday. Maybe there's a bumblebee air traffic strike?

I suspect your big shiny black bees are Carpenter Bees.



It's probably two days before the earliest of the Redbuds looks like anything here, but the Redbud buds are budding, buddy!

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Not my favourite colour, but lots better than the Winter greys and browns I've been looking at for the past six months.


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Soon Summer - very very soon!
.

My redbud is done redbudding and has leafed.
Yes, I think they are Carpenter Bees -- I love them. My mom was scared of them and would run from them. I always said they'd never hurt her, but it was kind of instinctive in her to do that.
We love our bees!

*February*

 

[Lari]

R raysmyheart - no! She hides in the bedroom or dining room. I understood why she did it last fall when I finally caught up on Game of Thrones because it got really bad but I still was compelled to watch, but I wish she loved Dancing with the Stars.

She's a diva, I'm noticing, though. She does this thing where when I pull out a wand toy, if it's not the attachment she was hoping for, she goes to the scratching post and scratches dramatically before coming to play. It's kind of amusing. Spoiled house cat has forgotten her humble roots.

I need more positive. Um, I managed to corral three parents who didn't attend parent teacher conferences into impromptu conferences after school today when they picked up their kids. Worth staying at school until 5 to catch them.

 

[neely]

No flowers here yet but the magnolia tree blossomed it's beautiful pink petals in our yard.

 

[raysmyheart]

1CatOverTheLine , I did see two bees today, they were low to the ground near the dandelions. They were what I would say are bumblebees, the chubby, furry type, black and yellow.
Today, I did clean out the old twigs and leaves under a very beautiful bush at the front of my property. It is what my Father always called "Beauty Bush". I did a search of "beauty bush" and have definitely identified this shrub as Kolkwitzia amabilis, also called Linnaea amabilis. Every Spring it is loaded with bees on the very beautiful, fragrant bell-shaped florets. I am eagerly awaiting this. I would really like to post a link showing this plant, but I am not good at posting links. When the Beauty Bush is in full bloom (soon) I will post pictures here of the flowers with the bees circling. It is quite a beautiful show.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

My redbud is done redbudding and has leafed.
Yes, I think they are Carpenter Bees -- I love them. My mom was scared of them and would run from them. I always said they'd never hurt her, but it was kind of instinctive in her to do that.
We love our bees!
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*February*

tarasgirl06 - You're correct, of course. The drones, who fly back and forth across the Carpenter Bee's hole, threatening everything that comes too close - this largest of North American bees, whose job it is to protect the 'nest ' - have no defenses whatsoever. They're stingless.

Nice to see that your Forest Pansy Redbud is equally late on the west coast, compared to Chinensis, which has nearly bloomed out in your photo. That lavender colour is incredible in its saturation, and brightens the whole landscape - sadly, for just a week or so... but for that one week, they are so worth having!


Edited to add:

Today, I did clean out the old twigs and leaves under a very beautiful bush at the front of my property. It is what my Father always called "Beauty Bush". I did a search of "beauty bush" and have definitely identified this shrub as Kolkwitzia amabilis, also called Linnaea amabilis. Every Spring it is loaded with bees on the very beautiful, fragrant bell-shaped florets. I am eagerly awaiting this. I would really like to post a link showing this plant, but I am not good at posting links.

R raysmyheart - My neighbour has the white form, but not the pink.
.

 

[raysmyheart]

tarasgirl06 - You're correct, of course. The drones, who fly back and forth across the Carpenter Bee's hole, threatening everything that comes too close - this largest of North American bees, whose job it is to protect the 'nest ' - have no defenses whatsoever. They're stingless.

Nice to see that your Forest Pansy Redbud is equally late on the west coast, compared to Chinensis, which has nearly bloomed out in your photo. That lavender colour is incredible in its saturation, and brightens the whole landscape - sadly, for just a week or so... but for that one week, they are so worth having!


Edited to add:

R raysmyheart - My neighbour has the white form, but not the pink.
.

That's it! 1CatOverTheLine ! As you can see, this plant does put on quite a show! We have many people walking now that the new sidewalks are in and when my windows are open while the bush is in bloom, I can hear many people enjoying its beauty.

 

[Furballsmom]

FINALLY!!!
I've been waiting and waiting, and waiting some more......
Last year the first hummingbird of the season showed up in the late part of April (unfortunately I didn't mark down the day).

This year, I thought I saw one yesterday zipping along between the houses.
Today, it's official and one in particular, a female broad-tailed, came back to the feeder over and over within a couple of hours.
That feeder was her oasis in the desert, my goodness!

I'm not exactly hummingbird central out here - they seem to much prefer hugging the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, but by golly, I actually have a couple-three regular visitors.

I grew up in an area of the country where there are NO hummies. The first time I saw one was a few years ago when I was sitting on the deck and a hummy stopped by to check out the red-colored cable tie on the pole for the weather station. I was so thrilled ...and felt so darned bad that I didn't have a feeder up LOL.

They take my breath away every single time I see one.

 

[segelkatt]

My yellow Angel Trumpets (Brugmansias) are blooming!The scent at night is intoxicating! Wish I could include it with the pictures. For those of you who don't know Angel Trumpets they come in white, yellow and various shades of pink, they are related to Loco Weed and tobacco and all parts of it are poisonous so you won't want to nibble on them no matter how sweet they smell. The bells are about 4 to 5 inches long and the plant can grow to 8 feet high. In cold climates they need to be taken inside during the winter and can be grown from cuttings very easily.

I was introduced to this plant by a friend who had a white one but did not know its name, she called it "Wedding Bells" and gave me some cuttings. Here are pics of those white ones along with some yellow ones when they were about 5 years old and tall and straggly looking because I did not know how to prune them.

I'm looking for some pink ones so I can beg some cuttings.

The cereus has buds on it. Every day there is a change, will keep you updated.

There are 4 buds on this picture, the 2 at the bottom, another much smaller one next to the leaf next to the bright green patch which is a watering can and another even smaller one on the leaf on the left which you probably can't see. As the flowers only last 2 or 3 days it's nice when they don't all open at the same time, however, if they do it's a wonderful sight. With all that beauty they have no scent at all.

 

[mama africa]

mama africa Love the snags! He's adorable.
Your chicken girls look so big and healthy! Gorgeous. Their "produce" is beautiful, too. Do you have any chickens who lay the blue or green eggs? Those are the araucanas and amerucanas, very beautiful birds. There were quite a few in our flock.

tarasgirl06 - I never had chickens who lay blue or green eggs, but I'll keep the name of the breeds in mind. Three chickens is the limit, because my garden is very small.

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My yellow Angel Trumpets (Brugmansias) are blooming!The scent at night is intoxicating! Wish I could include it with the pictures. For those of you who don't know Angel Trumpets they come in white, yellow and various shades of pink, they are related to Loco Weed and tobacco and all parts of it are poisonous so you won't want to nibble on them no matter how sweet they smell. The bells are about 4 to 5 inches long and the plant can grow to 8 feet high. In cold climates they need to be taken inside during the winter and can be grown from cuttings very easily.View attachment 230459 View attachment 230460 View attachment 230461

segelkatt - I don't have Brugmansias, but friends of mine have plenty of them and I am familiar with the sweet, intoxitating perfume.

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I have a blooming Clematis; the flowers - four pure white petals around a yellow heart -are lovely in their simplicity.

 

[ileen]

I don't think there are a lot of hummingbirds in NYC; perhaps the bird watchers in Central Park would disagree, but I've not seen them. The first time I saw them was in southern CA & I was hypnotized. They're amazing.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

I like how this thread has a lot of Nature in it!

It's funny how one can get too used to the smaller joys and take them for granted. Where I live, hummingbirds seem to be ever-present.

There are so fast! I can tell when one is near when I hear its song. It's hard to describe, but it's sort of like a trilling, squished song that sounds like it is occurring inside a handful of saran wrap!

Have a great Wednesday, everyone

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

I like how this thread has a lot of Nature in it!

PushPurrCatPaws - Let me get a box and I'll send you some Nature! These little guys

have decided that the freshly mulched beds are perfect for practising their 'digging to China' skills. With those little faces though, it's hard to get mad at them.

It's funny how one can get too used to the smaller joys and take them for granted. Where I live, hummingbirds seem to be ever-present.

My third or fourth Summer after moving from the city to the countryside, I saw a single Ruby Throated Hummer. A neighbour who's an avid gardener and whose property is Hummingbird Central, suggested putting in Cardinal Flowers. I found a spot behind the garden shed, against a large window, and the next Summer, Holy Cow - they were there like moths to the flame!
.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Gorgeous pix, all -- thank you!
We have quite a few hummingbirds here. They have aerial battles and chases quite frequently (they are very territorial and really angry little birds!). Their "clucks" almost sound like they're machine-generated. Some of them seem to be quite comfortable with my presence in the yard -- or maybe not, because they "dance" very close to me and then dart away. We did have a hummingbird nest in the patio at one time, but since the hedge gets manicured, it has disappeared. Sometimes I'll sit out in the back and watch them coming in to drink nectar from the bird of Paradise flowers.

 

[ileen]

I was going to ask here if anyone had cats with hummingbird interactions, but I decided to google first and found this charming story. Hummingbird Falls in Love with Cat - Empress of Dirt

 

[tarasgirl06]

I was going to ask here if anyone had cats with hummingbird interactions, but I decided to google first and found this charming story. Hummingbird Falls in Love with Cat - Empress of Dirt

What a beautiful story and gorgeous pix! Thank you for sharing this with us. I'm passing it along on social media. Though of course my cats have always enjoyed watching hummingbirds, they've never had any interaction such as this story chronicles. I had one fly very close to my face, though, and it scared me -- those long, sharp beaks!!! They are very territorial and will confront anyone who's encroaching on their patch. They're very beautiful, too, of course!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

PushPurrCatPaws - Let me get a box and I'll send you some Nature! These little guys

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Oh dear, I think there are plenty of those to go around nation-wide. Return to Sender!

edit:
I just realized that wasn't technically a fundraising positive post, so editing to douse everyone with some tulips from 2 yrs ago! Enjoy!