The Buzz is Over

 No, not that one! The cellar is well supplied.

In spite of unstable weather with a drier than usual April, cooler than usual May and June, minor flooding in July, heat wave in August and a moderate drought in September, our garden has thrived.

It has been a buzz of activity in late summer and fall with lots of bees, a variety of butterflies, countless  hummingbirds (because they will not stay still long enough to be counted), beneficial wasps and many little creatures, like moths, which we have not identified. 

Scolia dubia (blue-winged scoliid) wasp that loves to feast on grubs (think Japanese beetles and June bugs)

In August a few Eastern Tiger Swallowtails paid a visit, 

and several Black Swallowtails stopped by.

                    September brought the Vanessaes,

                lots of Monarchs,

                    a few Great Spangled Fritillaries,

               and these little yellow butterflies that flit around so fast its difficult to 

               capture a photo.             

The Vanessas, Monarchs, Fritillaries, and the little yellow butterflies stayed with us through much of October. 

With the anticipation of our first freeze tonight,  ABN has been hard at work putting the garden away for the winter 

while Captain winterized The Wanderer. 

That brings us to one of the questions we are frequently asked from friends we encounter around town  "Have you been traveling?" The answer is no, but not because we haven't tried.  After the exhaustion from the basement renovation we needed a break and were looking forward to a trip through North Carolina with a visit to Asheville (one of our favorite cities) as well as spending some time with our granddaughter in Wilmington. We got as far as Asheville when COVID required us to return home. After a couple of weeks we both recovered just in time for ABN's planned second shoulder replacement. The surgery went better than expected, so we decided to plan another trip to North Carolina during the beautiful fall season. A week before our scheduled departure, Captain dislocated his 27 year old artificial hip. Long story short, it was put back in place and he is scheduled for a hip joint revision in November. No, he is not in any discomfort and is getting around quite well. He just has to be careful to not turn his leg in a manner that will cause it to pop out of place again. Once again, we had to cancel our North Carolina trip. 

We are disappointed to have our plans interrupted but extremely grateful the aged hip did not become displaced before the renovation was completed, while ABN was recovering from surgery or when we were off the grid, like in the middle of the dessert.