Fox in the Henhouse

We have had so much going on the past few weeks that I don't know where to start. Our roses are fully back from their first haircut. Both my drift and Knockout roses are putting on a great big show. The blooms are showing up right along with all of our other annuals and perennials. Our yard is so full of blooms right now it’s kinda ridiculous. The Nicotiana blooms are fragrant but the real showstopper is our tobacco plants. I had no idea that they would get 6 feet tall and blooms white right up at the very top. We will have lots of tobacco plants around the place next season, they are just stunning.

I grew 4 kinds of Amaranth from seed both here at home and in the front bed on the highway at the nursery. The Amaranth has stolen the show, at least for me. We got the idea from the Denver Botanical Garden last summer, I never dreamed how beautiful they would get. We have cut long stems from half of them so we can learn how to successfully dry the 3 foot long dreadlock looking blooms. I grew an autumn color, a red spikey one, long, blonde tasseled and my favorite red dreadlocks called Love Lies Bleeding. Check our blog for pictures, they are super cool.

I will have them everywhere next year and I will begin pinching them earlier to produce more blooms. We plan to use our dried Amaranth in some of the areas of Mias wedding this October. Mimi will wave her magic wand and make something really cool out of them. Mia is having a low key wedding in Greenville, South Carolina where she and Cody have made their home. We were hoping we would be able to help with that part since we are so far away. She and Cody have everything else set up for a great outdoor wedding. We will be on a beautiful property with a great barn, a band and all the stuff that makes a very special day special. We will head that way a few days early to help with the setup which is our idea of a good time. We met Codys family when we went up there for Easter and we all felt like we have known each other forever. We loved getting to know one another so much we are headed to Philadelphia tomorrow to spend the Fourth of July weekend with them. The interesting part is how this trip came up.

Months ago my sisters and their spouse invited us to join them on a trip to see Longwood

Gardens. I really didn’t know where that was and our answer was thanks but you couldn’t get me anywhere near to an airport around the 4th of July if you paid me to. Later we looked it up since it seems that every one I met recently has been to Longwood and says that we have to go. When I saw that it is basically in Philly we thought again about how nice it would be to visit my new brother from another mother and Mimi was dying to spend more time with Codys mom since they really hit it off. We reconsidered, my sisters had rented a 4 bedroom house in Delaware, close to the gardens and plenty space for the 2 of us to join them.

Coincidently my brother called out of the blue to tell me that their annual month long cooling off trip to Maine was going to be a little different this year. Chip and Susan have annually driven up there slowly routing their way visiting people they know along the way. One of their favorite couple friends live in New York and that had become one of their regular stops. He told me that this year they were going to skip New York and go see Philly instead. I asked him around what date they would be there and he said probably somewhere around the 4th. I then told him about what had transpired with our sisters and our all being there. I trapped him! He couldn’t figure out a reason that he couldn’t join us so for the first time ever all four of us siblings and our spouses will be together on a trip. Look out Philly we have no idea how to act.

We will all meet, including Codys parents and sister, at the gardens on the 5th then to their home on the next day. They said they were going to show us the real Philly, like he is making sour Kraut and sausage on the grill, Philly cheese steak sandwiches and all those things you do when in Philadelphia. Ginny has a son, his wife and 2 kids who live 6 hours away from there in North Carolina who have decided to take advantage of the potential visit. They will be joining us for parts of the trip. This should be a blast but I love the way this all came together. When we all reconvene for the wedding in October we will all be closer or mortal enemies depending on how this trip goes.

Mimi realized that one of our pottery vendors, Campania, is just an hour away from where we will be staying. She called them to see if it would be ok if we came by their warehouse to see their pottery and make an order for next springs order. They said not only would it be ok but they would pay for our flight to get there since we plan to make a huge order with them. That makes it all even more interesting the way this trip has come together. Synchronicity!

The most exciting thing that is happening in our world right now is that we have a family of foxes living in our backyard. For the last month Mimi and I have been lucky enough to watch 3 kits and their mother hanging around our gardens. They have gotten so comfortable with us and our fenced in that they just sit and watch us as we move around the yard. Foxes are kind of like half cat/ half dog in the way that they move around. As we are trying to learn as much as we can about them we have found out some interesting facts. Their life span is only 3 years in the wild, I think that probably has something to do with cars. In captivity they live way longer, I guess it’s safer. We have learned that they will hang around for a short time then begin to dissipate as they are able to fend for themselves.

Out of the 3 kits we can definitely see one that seems weaker that the others and we notice that the mother pays special attention to that one. The weaker one is the one who has been the most daring one and seems to be trying to become socialized with us. She has come within in a foot of us. One Saturday my mother was touring the gardens with me when this curious one appeared. She stayed with us the entire time weaving in and out of the plants and almost brushed up against my leg once! It is exciting but we know it won’t turn out good for her if we allow her to get too friendly with humans. Someone with chickens wouldn’t be so excited to see her around so we try to keep our distance.

The mother has come out a few times when the little one is getting too close and led her away from us, that’s probably better but it is exciting to look each other in the eye. Their pupils are like cats, not dogs and their mouths are more like a cat but on a dog body, so weird. We dream that one of them will make their home here and continue raising families here. We are proud of the biodiversity that we allowed to happen in our yard. We have been purposeful about leaving some natural habitat for these kinds of events.

I think our bird population is very healthy as well. That comes from not using insecticides and adding aquatic plants in our pond which has increased our Dragonfly population. The foxes have a wide range of things that they will eat such as fruit, veggies, small rodents, feral cats, snakes, just about anything. I love them being here and keeping all those things on high alert. We have seen signs of them visiting someone’s chicken pen close to us because they will show up with chickens or Guinea fowl and once they had the back leg of a fawn that I imagine their mother had something to do with.

We hate to go out of town while this short lived show goes on in our back yard. They are like our pets, definitely the high point of our evenings when we get to watch them for hours. Pets we don’t have to take care of, that’s pretty nice that we don’t have to drop them off at the kennel so we can go out of town. I better get packed up for tomorrow’s early flight to Pennsylvania. Plants are watered up, irrigation is set and Brayden is coming over to check on things every couple of days. I think w all set for this one, we can’t even imagine Longwood Gardens, thousands of acres. We will be learning a thing or two about a thing or two.