Construction!

.... At last.  We have the framing started on our little house.

Ralph, Richard (the contractor man) and Glen (chief carpenter) 
discuss the progress.

It was a beautiful day for viewing the progress--rusty red oaks and green pines 

on the gray hillsides beneath a brilliant blue sky.

And a view from above. 

Crocus

In the late fall these delicate crocuses appear in yards all over the Midtown neighborhood and are soon buried in leaves.  

 A cuckoo wasp flies from bloom to bloom.

A Fungus . . .

Growing around a twig.

a woody polypore

 

Early November

Virginia Creeper

the last of the plumbago

a hosta says goodnight

Squash Harvest

One giant squash vine with very prickly leaves, a volunteer from the compost pile, thrived during the whistle pig invasion.  Ralph harvested over 30 pounds of squash from it.  Even though they aren't shaped like butternuts, they're butternut colored and taste like butternuts.

Rain . . .

On Halloween.

Urban Trapping

The garden marauders--first they ate all the leaves off the sweet potato vines.  No sweet potatoes this year.  Then they climbed the pole bean towers and ate every leaf off the bean plants.  No more beans.  Then they started on the summer squash.  Ralph tried to blockade the squash but they nosed their way in and ate every squash leaf they could get to.  Then Ralph bought a trap.  By then the only things left in our backyard veggie garden where a few struggling patty pans, okra (even whistle pigs won't eat okra) and a giant volunteer butternut squash vine with very prickly leaves.  No luck with the trap so far.  Then they started on the butternuts.  Giant teeth marks on every squash they could get to without going too deeply into the prickly vine.  Someone suggested baiting the trap with cabbage.  Success finally.

The proud trapper and his first catch.

We had seen two different individuals and thought this was the bigger one.  One of Ralph's co-workers relocated it to her place in the country.

Second catch.

This was not a veggie eater.  A catch and release, the 'possum is happily roaming the wilds of Midtown again.

Third catch, another (or the same) 'possum. Ralph moved the trap and baited it with an already gnawed on squash.  
 

The urban trapper and his fourth catch.

Nope.  The first one was not the big one.  

Amy couldn't fetch him (her?) for relocation until the next day.  By morning that squash was almost gone.


FYI:  whistle pigs, aka groundhogs or woodchucks.  Here's a YouTube video demonstrating why they're called whistle pigs.

Happa Asks . . .

                     "Who is this interloper?" 

Hopper and Looper in the divided rabbit corral