Garden Update 5/30/11

I got home early in the morning from being out of town visiting family and friends in Tennessee for Memorial Day weekend.  Upon inspection of the squash bed, I stumbled upon a little hatchling bird that was definitely out of place.  I thought it might be a Robin, but the mom definitely wasn't one.  After consulting Google, I decided to put it in a makeshift nest in the tree that it came out of.  I had seen the mother fly into her nest on several occasions, but since it was so high up in the tree, I had to give it its own nest.  The reading that I did said most baby birds won't survive if you try to care for them yourself, even if your intentions are good, and that as long as the bird hasn't been abandoned, the mother will still take care of it.  I hope everything works out, because this baby bird is a cutie!  I also did a hive inspection today, which I will document in a separate post.

Hatchling bird in the squash bed.

Zucchini almost ready for picking.  Perhaps in a day or 2 =)

Ichiban Eggplant plant

Tomato bed

Tomato bed

Pears!

Cummins Falls

Eric and I took Aidan and Marianne up to Cummins Falls just a couple of miles from her apartment.  The hike was pretty steep but we made it down just fine.  I helped Aidan down, but I couldn't have done it without my VFF!  We decided that we couldn't actually make it down to the bottom of the gorge, but Aidan and I got in the water up at the top of the falls so he could wade around.  I got him a fun floatie thing at Walmart before we went.  He was nervous and wanted to get out at first but LOVED it after a few minutes.  We had a good time.  We also took some family pictures later in the evening and then went to Cheddar's for dinner.

I went in the woods across from my sister's apartment in search of cicadas since they've emerged from the ground again.  The very first ones I saw were a mating pair.  I love hearing their shrill calls.

My sister's fiance' told her to take this picture because of how funny Eric and I looked together ;)

New Trailer

Eric and I went up to his dad's property in Knoxville today to pick up the small trailer we're taking to PSG.  It definitely needs new decking and rails, but has lots of potential and is the perfect size!  I already went ahead and bought a new trailer light kit for it also.

Red Top Mountain Camping

Eric was in the mood to go camping so I reserved a campsite earlier in the week and we headed out early Saturday afternoon.  I got stung on my right hand early in the day while attempting to do a hive inspection.  The bees seemed really agitated about something.  I was already going to close the hive up (after only pulling one bar out), and one of them stung me before I managed to get the bar back in the hive.  That ended up cutting our camping trip short, but didn't prevent me from going.  We arrived and set up camp on Saturday and went swimming in Lake Allatoona.  The water was still pretty cold, but I managed to sweet talk Eric into joining me in the water.  It was a nice relaxing day, and after dark, we laid in the tent talking for hours.  I don't normally get the time luxury to be able to do things like that, so it was really nice.  We were supposed to camp another night but decided to leave early because my hand was so swollen and in pain from the sting.  I should have just left the hive alone until we got back from camping.  I'll remember not to do that next time, and I'm definitely going to have to get some more beekeeping gear so I can figure out what's going on without getting stung again.

Our campsite

Lake Allatoona

Getting ready to go swimming

He found a froggy

Lake Allatoona