Being retired, of course I still have a lot of things to do that take me out of my house. But my favorite kind of morning is one where the schedule is set by my cat’s breakfast, my coffee and breakfast, and what time my lizards wake up and want their salads. After my breakfast I cruise online for a while, with coffee. There’s a couple people to send messages to, a couple social media things, however much news I can handle that morning. Then out to pick some chicory flowers and dandelions for my lizards.
About that time my little Geyri has gotten up and is looking for some breakfast flowers, and her good salad. I buy some greens for them year round but in the summer their salads are beautiful cos I can grow some things for them, and some of those things include flowers. They don’t care that the salads are pretty, but the taste of flowers seems to be a favorite of reptiles, so they like their summer salads a lot.
Then I’ll give Chuckie a couple flowers too, and his salad. And probably get him out of his enclosure to look out the window. I don’t do that with Geyri because it scares her to be out of her enclosure, but he really likes it. Sometimes he’ll sit there for 10 minutes, but however long, he always gets to stay as long as he wants. After a while he’ll just start off going somewhere else. Hmm, some people actually think that lizards don’t have personalities.
Then it’s time to take the old pickin’ basket and go to the garden. Maybe it’s not too hot yet, or maybe it won’t get too hot. August is like that sometimes; you wait and see.
At this time in August there will be tomatoes of 2 varieties to pick, and maybe some summer squash, while maintaining a good relationship with all the bees. And there are some very special lima beans. The original seeds for those beans were given to my by a friend who is since gone. The beans are from the south west and have been grown there by the Hopi Native Americans for generations.
Tomatoes will be frozen and I’ll make tomato sauce, so good in the cold of the winter, especially knowing the tomatoes grew right out there. The Lima beans get shelled and frozen, and taste so good in the winter too.
These lazy mornings are the days I waited all winter for, thru the cold and snow and whatever, for such a long time. I might have some interaction with the rabbit who seems to live in my yard all the time. Earlier there was the beautiful song of the little Jenny wren, and the crazy catbirds who follow me around in the garden, but all of those have gone now, migrated, some to very far places, to somewhere warm for the winter. And I might sit a while on the chair on the porch and hear some of the crickets of August, or get to see that beautiful goldfinch who has been coming to eat the seeds of the chicory I grow for the lizards.
I’ll take pictures of things to look back at in the winter, to remind myself of fine August mornings.
Sarasin's thoughts....... 
The morning is my favourite moment of the day. I get up early while my neighbours are still asleep. I’m having breakfast, a morning conversation with Jimi and I’m walking slowly in the garden with my furry friend. I just love these quiet moments in the morning sunshine…
Seeing your vegetables takes me back to my childhood when my parents had a very big garden full with a lot of vegetables. They never had to buy vegetables in a store.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy those delicious looking tomatoes next winter…
I wish I could preserve more vegetables but I don’t can, and you can save more kinds of things that way. So I freeze what I can. Yes, in the winter, when it’s too cold to go outside, making something good with my tomatoes or sauce in, yummm. It tastes like the sunshine of a fine August morning. Your morning routine with Jimi sounds like it would be so peaceful and a wonderful way to start a good day for both of you. Enjoy these summer mornings.
Tomato sauce and meat balls… That’s one of the true classic meals in Belgium as you probably remember from our conversation years ago… 😉
I had coffee flavour ice cream this afternoon but Jimi didn’t like it. I had to eat his part too…
Oh you poor soul, forced to eat extra coffee flavored ice cream! No I forgot that tomato sauce and meat balls is one of your classics, but it’s easy to understand why because it is so good. I hope it always includes some parmesan or Romano cheese……….. 😉
Oh, they are not too terribly scary looking in these pictures.
I thought you might like the close up of Geyri. That’s good, they didn’t scare you so bad. 🙂
I stood back from the monitor before looking.
Hahaha!
I love this. I don’t know how I missed seeing it before now.
Aww thanks. It was a contemplative morning, knowing this awful winter was coming.
You’re so welcome. Before today, I didn’t know Geyrie becomes stressed out of her enclosure. Was she traumatized before you got her?
Not her individually, no. She was produced by a good breeder who handled his babies some before he sold them. But. Uromastyx in general are a nervous bunch. Predators kill/eat maybe as many as 50% of hatchlings in nature. Most of them never lose the instinct to be on guard constantly for snakes, bigger lizards and especially birds, from above. She is ok in her enclosure; she has had years to know it’s probably ok in there. (Right out of brumation she’s more wary: she hasn’t been looking around in her desert for a while. She hangs back in her cave a few days before she comes out.) You can see some confidence in the way she struts her cute little self around. 🙂 But when I get her out she gets scared, and goes back in her house and hides for the rest of the day. So the only time I get her out and take her away from her house is to weigh her, every couple months, and I make it quick. I do pick her up and handle her for a couple minutes each day, to maintain trust. But I handle her in her house or right in the doorway so she still feels safe. And hand feed her some treats every day. Way different than a beardie.
I did not know that. Poor wittle babies, that’s so sad. I now see how they are this way. She does have a cute little self😃. I’m glad to know she gets lovins every day. And I’m sure you baby talk to her quite often.
She walks around very purposefully in her little desert. I can tell she’s not nervous in there. Climbs her dead trees and sits there for an hour. This little girl is just adorable.