I am blessed with the ability to still be able to maintain my yard and (modified) garden while getting old(er.), with a little help.  I’m blessed to live in a place where there is wildlife all around,  partially because there’s a small woods behind my house which wildlife lives in and comes down here to visit.  I’m blessed that my wonderful neighbors across the alley own that woods and leave it alone as a woods, cos so many different types of animals live there, right in a small town, in their own little haven.

There are various creatures show up at times unexpected, and we let them alone and enjoy them.  No intervention in wildlife is usually necessary, cos they have their own lives to live, and we can observe.  My daughter in law found this very unusual moth the other day on some Russian comfrey growing along the property line.  It was about 4″ from the tips of the feathery antennas to the end of the wings.  I would have liked to see the caterpillar of this, cos the thing was so big.

We always have squirrels and lots of pretty birds: blue jays, cardinals, jenny wrens nesting in a box on the clothes line pole, doves, occasionally a couple crows in the yard.  But ducks stay at the water, right?  Pond or creek?  Well, maybe not, cos the closest creek is about 3 blocks from here and 2 mallards have been hanging around for about a week. They like the corn the kids put out for the birds and squirrels.

The garden is doing well; lots of veggie plants up from seeds planted out directly in the ground, and plants that I started from seeds in the house and then planted out.  And the wildflower bed I started last year is beautiful this year. Foxgloves and sweet Williams, lots of love in a mist, and other kinds.

Rabbits yea, sometimes.  Pretty brave ones too.

And then we have groundhogs.  Momma and 4 pups.  We feed them tomatoes and carrot pieces at the back of the garage, protected behind a retaining wall.  They wander out from under the front of the garage to look around and sometimes we have to talk to them to make them go back under so we can open the garage door or get in the cars.

We can see that they’ve grown a lot already, having been out of their den a little over a week now.  They should stay with their mother till around the end of July, then wander off in search of their own lives and new homes.

She used to be fat, and now she’s not, cos wow, she had 4 babies!  And now she’s nursing them, as well as teaching them to eat grass and they’re all also enjoying the veggies I’m giving them, and dried corn that the kids give them.

Blessed with pretty good health for an old(er) soul, and having accumulated some wisdom along the way.  Blessed with wonderful people in my life and a beautiful place to live each day, knowing that what we each have is……today.  I think that way all the time, and it’s in my mind more cos I just lost a dear old relative, who I already  miss so much.

Enjoy your Today.  Do fun stuff and eat good things, and be glad to be blessed in the ways you are.