A Home for Elves?

The cottonwood on the parking pad is not a healthy tree. There have been fungi growing on it in the past, but today we found more than ever before.
If I were a fanciful sort of person, I would imagine a fairy or an elf lived here and this was the overhang for their front door.


And here are their steps to the top of the tree...

Smart Little Bees

The weather has been so cool this summer that the mosquitoes have not been a problem-until now. The City fogged with Malathion twice this week; once Sunday night and then again last night. I am not keen on on this Malathion stuff. It tends to kill the bees and the dragonflies without doing anything to the mosquitoes, not to mention keeping me awake at night with the whining noise the spraying truck makes as it makes its rounds. The truck sounds like a kazillion mosquitoes concentrated in one area.
I was happy then to see two bumblebees in the garden when I came home today. Maybe they will make it through the whole summer!

She's Gone Around the Bend

and is now working in the basement. It is amazing how much better that hallway looks already!

Seeing Red

Armed? Check. Dangerous? You decide.

The Geek always has a Swiss army knife or multi-tool in her pocket. But what do you do when you don't have a pocket?
You make yourself a garter-belt holster.

Identified!

For quite awhile I have been wondering about some plants in the yard.

The first were these tall spikey ones with the little purple flowers. It so happens they are Creeping Bellflower, a rather pesky week. Figures, since they are so plentiful.

The other one I noticed last year but for some reason did not pull it out. This year I first suspected it was a burdock, but decided to wait, since as it grew, it did not get long stems. Turns out, after years of trying to start hollyhocks along the back fence, one managed to sprout in the backyard.

Mom dug up for me a couple of plants from her flower bed, and I successfully transplanted them, so there should be some hollyhocks against the garage next year.

It's Either Mildew or Slugs

The zucchini plant, upon which I pinned so many hopes has powdery mildew. Drat!

This caused all the little baby zucchini to abort (die, wither, rot, you pick the word).

So this morning I pulled the whole plant out of the ground and found that the one zucchini fruit that had developed an immunity to the mildew, had been eaten by slugs. You can see one of the little wretches on the bottom of what is left of the zucchini. It is all in the trash can now.

Removing the zucchini has made some more room for the acorn squash, which is unaffected by the mildew and is growing vigorously. So vigorously that when I moved some of the vine, which in this picture is smothering the raspberry canes, I found another tomato plant.

And I have no idea what plant this is. I planted it, but must have pressed 'erase' after because I have no recollection whatsoever of what it might be. I wonder if it is a different variety of cosmos?

(The second picture is of the same plant as the first, I just happened to have the flash on and liked the effect.)