It’s almost like a bog here, with 3″ of rain last night and more predicted for the next 3 days.  Flood watches and warnings are out all around central Pa and other places to our east.  Big fungus erupted on the old maple stump just since the rain started yesterday afternoon.

I’ve been watching an interesting and dynamic thing.  Cardinals built a nest in these roses, (below) literally right outside my back door, in a place where I’m around a lot tending to the pots of peppers and the squash in the herb bed.  It’s only about 3′ off the ground, but it’s well hidden in the density of the rose bushes.  The birds don’t mind us being out and around there, but we don’t intrude. I just go about my business and don’t go real close. I did peek in a week or so ago and saw 3 little eggs.

I’ve never had cardinals build anywhere where I could observe them before.  These birds know their nest is hidden out of sight of cats, several of which roam my neighborhood. They do have to think about other birds, tho. Since the time when they had the nest built, both birds have been in and out of the nest a lot.

I’ve gotten to see the vigilance of cardinal parents, especially the male.  He sits in my little tree, many hours of the day, off and on, even in the rain, and watches the roses from the side away from the patio. He’s ready to defend his nest from intruders from early morning til dusk every day. This is wonderful to be able to see, and understand.

The squash named Audrey, who I blogged about just recently, is loving the rain. https://sarasinart.net/2018/07/18/a-squash-named-audrey/  She grew 6″ in 48 hours, seriously. This thing is a monster among plants. She’s already half way across my path up thru the yard.

This rain for 4 days may cause the end of her and my other squash, cos they are finicky things and develop powdery mildew easily. Too much moisture causes a fungus that’s in all the ground to attack the squash plants, and can take even a big and healthy plant down in 2 days.  So I can do lots of things to prepare garden plants for heavy storms, like tie branches of tomatoes and peppers to trellises etc. But we can’t control the weather, and squash might not survive what we have coming in the next few days.

Sir Albert, my gargoyle who guards the garden, is a source of fun during times when we need some extra fun.  He wore a hat in the winter, and when the snow went above his head once, he was afraid he had been in a coma for a few days, lol. https://sarasinart.net/2018/03/20/noreaster/

He wanted to remind my last night, as rain was falling hard, that he can’t swim.  But this area drains well and doesn’t allow any high water to happen, so I told him he’ll be ok.

Garden on, and enjoy every beautiful summer day, whether it’s raining or not.