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eek

bird, asparagus, yard

I was looking around my back yard this afternoon after work, and paused in the back corner of the yard, under the tree branches. This is a spot under the boughs of numerous trees: The broken (but still alive) arms of a choke cherry, the scraggly limbs of young and crowded hackberry and ash, and, above them all, a towering tulip tree. Immediately after I stopped, I heard bird calls close over my head, and saw movement. I couldn't tell what I saw at first, but a tufted titmouse fluttered down to branches within 7 or 8 feet of me; then a red bellied woodpecker stopped on a dead cherry limb. Then came a hairy woodpecker to the same spot. Other birds, hidden from view in the foliage, weren't far away. It was weird; I spend lots of time looking from my windows, often with binoculars, trying to get a good look. But out there, in that shadowy spot, I was in their world, and they hardly paid attention to me. They were so close. I wonder how close they would have been had I not been wearing a bright white shirt? I should research how to build a bird blind.

I put quite a bit of effort into weeding the asparagus bed, then hauled several bins full of old composted leaf mould to the bed to use as mulch. To get to the leaves, I yanked up tons of ground ivy, wintercreeper, and Virginia creeper. The leaves seemed wonderfully composted; dry, crumbly, rich. Then I weeded a little more in some other spots, then mowed the front yard.

Now I'm going to eat focaccia with kale and garlic scapes and diced tomato on top.

Wings of Glory

Two RAF S.E.5's chasing down a Hannover C.L. IIIa two-seater using the automated solo rules. In the first round of shooting, the Hannover's gunner was hit, leaving the German plane somewhat lacking in offensive power. Its only hope was to weather the onslaught and make it to the far side of the board. The scouts wore it down, however, and took it a point over its hit point score when it was a couple of moves from escaping. 

D&D online game night

Finishing our exploration of Wave Echo Cave

Garden stuff