Hi!  Oh, wow.  I haven't been on here in a week!  For blogging shame!

Well, I will tell you what.  We met some real live blogger friends again.  This is getting to be a very frequent habit lately!  I will wait until they return home before I announce to the world that they aren't home.  Wouldn't that be prudent?

We enjoyed their company greatly, and got to see several sights here that locals seem to never see.....of course, THEIR history is much older than OURS.  And they seemed to delight in letting us know, repeatedly.  LOL.  Also, they had something against one of our military base's football team......hmmm.  Some rivalry going on for sure.

While we were out playing tourist, we came across this: 

My friend was taking a photo of a cactus flower, and I spotted this little guy taking a rest in a bindweed bloom right next to her foot!   Doesn't he look comfy?

I don't have any cacti in my garden, just lots of flowers.  Although I just found out that all that blooms isn't pretty.......according to some folks.  Even though most of my flowers are native, AND almost all are " xeriscape," or low water use and drought tolerant, they aren't welcome!    There were a few "weeds" in there, but mostly it is just flowers that I planted. 

 What is your definition of a weed?  Mine is;  "something growing in my garden that I don't want there."

The supposed weeds are Common Sunflowers.  I planted them there, and they attract the Lesser Gold Finches every year.  They eat the seeds, and they are SO cute!  They are tiny little birds, and they hang upside down and bob around on the flower stalks.  We have enjoyed them for the last 10 years at least. 

Can you see the little bird there?  It is only about two to three inches long, total!  They are so fun to watch, and have the neatest little call too.  Click here for a really nice photo link of one of these birds, sometimes called "wild canaries."

Between my sunflowers and the Ratibida (Mexian Hat), Blanket flowers, Coreopsis, Echinacea, Hollyhocks, Campanula, Rocky Mountain Penstemon, and a few Colombine, I have fresh bouquets all Summer long, and I will share them with anyone who wants a free bouquet!  My kids sneak them to the neighbors houses (and ring the doorbell, and run!) and we love to give fresh flowers to our friends for any and all occassions. 

But someone doesn't like my flowers (God's flowers, really) and anonymously reported my "weeds" to the people in charge of "weeds" in our fair city.  It looks like there might be a show-down, because I really like my flowers. This yard was nothing but dirt and tumbleweeds when we moved in 11 years ago, as renters.  We completely changed the look of the yard, and neighbors who have lived here for years came over and told us how it had been a rental for a long time and always looked terrible!  They loved how we were fixing up the yard and were surprised that we were only renting at that time. 

So here we are with our lovely, pleasant little garden, that only grows for a few months out of the year......short growing season here, you know.  Gosh, it might be unimaginable for our public servants to do something about the illegal fireworks that go on nightly, or the domestic squabbles that go on at 3:00 a.m. in the street, or the loud music that shakes the windows  OR perhaps someone could fix the sidewalk in front of my neighbors house, that was torn out several years ago by a city crew.....(they have been told it is still two years away on the waiting list of repairs...............but instead, they would rather take on the hard core, weed cultivating criminals. 

That would be me!

Blessings,

Nancy

©Nancy K. Baetz

 Homeschooling Is Life 2006