Sounds to wake up to

This morning, I awoke to the sounds of gentle rain falling, the gurgling of the drain spout, and birds singing. Not so yesterday. Yesterday, the sound was the flapping of a bat's wings. My husband had gotten out of bed and shut off the attic fan that had run all night. When the fan blades had stopped, and quiet settled in, my husband could hear a rustling noise out in the hallway. He tracked the source of the sound to our spare room, behind the door was a bat. He quickly shut the door to our son's room so the bat couldn't enter it, and then came to shut our door which he had left opened. That's when I heard it. The rustling, fluttering noise was now in our room. I opened my eyes to see a bat flying around the room over me. "Wait," I cried, "you've trapped it in here with me!" The bat had followed him down the hall into our room.

My knight in shining pajamas returned with a small trash can to do battle with the dreaded, flying mammal. He managed to trap the bat up against the wall. Between the two of us, me opening the window, him carefully sliding a magazine between the trash can and the wall, we carefully maneuvered the trapped bat to the window to be released. We knew there were bats up in our belfry, but never imagined they would enter the floors below.

What is it about bats that we so dislike? Is it that they only come out at night? Is it our association with the vampire legend? Without them we would be over run by insects. In some ecosystems they play a key role as a pollinator of plants. Anyway you look at it, I prefer the gentle sounds of rain first thing in the morning to the flapping of wings overhead. Complaining about the weather can be another day's entry.

Red Shouldered Hawks

Over the years we have had Red Shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) nesting in or near our yard. This year the nest must be in a tree in the neighbor's yard across the street. I can hear their distinctive call in the yard and woods behind as they fly between the two houses. Our yard bordering the wet lands is situated near their favorite food sources. Plus I hate to admit it, our bird feeder may tempt them with an easy meal from time to time.

A couple of days ago I witnessed something unusual, three hawks landed in the same pine tree out back. I needed to figure out whether or not this variety of hawk exhibited this grouping behavior. According to the website above parents will feed their young for 8 to 10 weeks, and it will be up to 17 to 19 weeks before the young are independent. I've gotten to wondering if what I've been witnessing is the young learning to hunt under the tutelage of one of their parents. I have not been able to tell if it is a male or a female adult and young. Then move quickly and haven't perched for long. It is amazing to see them glide through the woods.

The Farmer's Market vs. The $64 Tomato

Okay I write about my garden, but the one thing you won't find in it is vegetables. The first summer we were at this house, I really didn't have the time to establish a vegetable garden so I figured I would simply grow some herbs and tomatoes in flower tubs on the deck. I had a couple of grape tomato plants and they were doing great. The little tomatoes were coming along and just when they were about to ripen, poof they were gone. The only evidence to support where they had gone was a half eaten one. Chipmunks!!! Chip and Dale of Disney fame they are not. I do not consider them cute and cuddly when they are destroying the garden. Pluto (remember Mickey's dog, not the planet that lost its planetary status) did not like those two chipmunks. Mickey tried to convince Pluto of their innocence, but Pluto like I know the truth. They're varmints of the worst kind.

Second animal problem - deer! Our lot borders wetlands and the deer live in the woods out back. They come out to feast on hosta, daylily buds, cone flower, tulips, etc. etc. etc. I would need a large fence to keep them out. This brings me to the title of today's post: "The Farmer's Market vs The $64 Tomato. If you ever get the chance, read William Alexander's book The $64 Tomato in which he recounts his experiences of building his garden and orchard. In one of the chapters he finally breaks down to calculate how much it has cost him to grow the tomatoes in his garden. After tallying up the cost of soil, compost, materials, plants, professional help, etc, etc, etc (there's a lot of those) he comes down to the bottom line - it costs $64 to grow one tomato. Well with those numbers, I might just as well go visit the local farmers that gather on the town field every Saturday morning (see this link for more info). I'll buy their tomatoes, corn, squash, etc. for a lot less. I'm still tempted at some point to dig up a section of the lawn, enclose it with a fence and plant some vegetables, but it won't be this summer.