Just call me Marty Stauffer

My front garden is turning into Wild-freakin-kingdom. My morning ritual has been to sit out in the garden with my cup of coffee, inspecting the flora to see how it's growing and changing. I suppose I sit rather still because all of the little critters don't seem to mind my presence as they flock, scurry or slink (in the evil squirrel's cases) to see what's new to nibble. I have bluejays, cardinals and all manner of little songbirds who perch nearby before swooping in to get their breakfast from the birdfeeder. I have a little chipmunk who does a great job of cleaning up the seed the birds (and damn squirrels!) knock out of the feeder. He comes in and stuffs his little cheeks full, doing a decent impression of a hoover vaccuum in the process. I startled him a bit this morning and he ran and perched on the nearby frog-sitting-on-turtle's head, it was uber-cute but I didn't have my camera handy to snap a pic. I think I will have to keep my camera on hand for some critter action shot opportunities. I also think I will pick up a birding field guide so I can start to learn the names of my feathered visitors.

The other rather unexpected "wildlife" visitation started out as a bit of a mystery. I planted some catnip in an unfortunate spot for the health of the catnip; right by the sidewalk. Not surprisingly, it got chowed on the very day I put it in. It's like a kitty cat buffet. I have seen every cat in the neighborhood( and some I've never seen before) stroll by, do a doubletake as they catch the scent, then make a beeline right for the remains of the plant, which is fighting gamely to keep it's little head up, even if it is getting pruned regularly by the feline conniasseurs. The mystery is this: as I've been tending my plantses, I noticed that the little metal plant marker which labels it 'catnip (nepeta cataria)' kept getting pushed down into the mulch. Well, this weekend, my neighbor's cat, Kitten (so not a kitten anymore btw) does the kitty head swivel and starts sniffing and munching my Nip. Next thing I know she is rolling and rubbing on the plant marker. Mystery solved. I chuckled.

I also nipped my own kitty, Yuki, who has always been more of an afficianado of this treat than my other cat. She rolls and leaps and zooms around, much to our amusement. Bean, our other cat affects an aloof air at her sister's antics, she can't be bothered to stoop to such kittenish behavior. Currently, this is most likely due to her being quite ill, but she has never really had the taste for the Nip.