Thoughtful Thursday

A bluejay youngster dropped out of my neighbor’s blue spruce and landed on the sidewalk. Fluttering his wings, he evidently needed some sort of assistance, so both parents came winging in. They poked food into his hungry mouth and tried to encourage him to fly by flying and hopping  short distances. The baby gave it a hearty try and made it into the lower limbs of the spruce. Now, a couple of robins and some blackbirds descend upon my neighbor’s lawn. I think the attraction is that he mowed yesterday and probably scattered those yummy and nutritious grass seeds. I just hope the neighborhood cats don’t intrude into the scene.

Summertime heat has caught up with us and this early morning is about the best time of day. Maybe that’s why the birds are taking advantage of the coolness by stuffing their little gullets on seeds. The bee balm in the back yard is blooming and the climbing clematis is going wild this year. My one lonely tomato vine is doing its best and, hopefully, will soon have blooms. A small pepper plant beside it, though much smaller, is looking pretty good and the watchful marigold is a good deterrent to insect pests.

The only fly in the ointment (or mosquito in the tranquility) are the mosquitoes!! They are bad, even in daytime hours. The city faithfully sprays for them each year which seems to make the mosquitoes more robust and determined than ever. It probably diminishes the butterflies and bees, though; just what we don’t need! What we need are bushels of dragonflies. Mosquitoes are their favorite lunch.

Nevertheless, despite the plague of pesky mosquitoes or the danger of marauding cats, the birds and I rejoice in the Arkansas summer morning!

Bee on Bee Balm