It looks like our garden lights have another usage other than lighting the garden up when the sun goes down. One morning, I spotted our regular garden squirrel perched on one of the structures.
Our furry friend looked contented, chilling on top of the garden light and basking under the sun! It stayed there for some time, enjoying the heat, before scurrying off into the bushes. Perhaps it sensed my presence, even though I was indoors and looking out the window at it with amusement.
Look at that contented face!
It’s nice to know that our garden and the fittings are enjoyed not just by us but by furry four-legged friends.
Our immediate neighbor with the Golden Retriever and German Shepard dogs was away for almost two weeks. And it was very peaceful without barking noises, especially from the unfriendly German Shepard. I could venture out to the garden without trepidation to get some fresh air.
I stopped going to the garden because the German Shepard would rush out whenever it sensed a presence and would bark up a ruckus. Unlike the friendlier Retriever, who would wait in anticipation for pets and love from me.
But recently, with the humans and dogs not around, their garden was subject to all sorts of critters making the place their playground. One morning, I spotted a bunny! My goodness, a bunny in dog territory? Did it cross the fence from the other neighboring house?
It zipped here and there on the barren ground with so much energy, being carefree and having the time of its life. I managed to snap a couple of close-ups when it ventured closer to our side. What a cutie pie!
The carrot in the background is a doggy chew toy, and not for the bunny!
I think there could be a hole somewhere between the two properties that allowed it to venture to this side. Hopefully, after its little adventure, it went home safely.
I’m sure once the dogs and their owners come home, it is the end of the little bunny’s adventure. As for us, it’s back to dealing with the barking of the unfriendly German Shepard all over again. Sigh.
It is official. We will not have papayas from the garden anymore. Last week, hubby said we had to cut down the tree as the tree is old, sick, and no longer fruiting.
The task at hand was quite a challenge. Even the tall ladder did not help. In the end, hubby sawed two sections of the trunk so that it would break at two points instead of one. Also, with two breaking points, the tree fell at a shorter distance, thus less damage to the garden space. The tree was pulled with a rope and fell safely towards the open area.
What’s left of the papaya tree
So now, we are papaya-less. At some point, we have to remove the remaining three-foot-tall trunk and find something else to plant in that spot. Otherwise, it is a waste of precious space. By the way, the baby papaya trees are not ready yet to take over. Boo hoo hoo!
The lone papaya tree in the garden is nearing its end as we have harvested most of the fruits. The netting mesh is now loose because there are not many fruits left on the tree to protect anymore.
This has been a good papaya tree
Soon we have to chop the tree down or, at least, shorten it to about three feet to allow it to grow again. It will be our biggest challenge because the papaya tree is next to our beloved frangipani tree with many hanging air plants. And being so tall, it will be a mammoth task to shorten it without damaging anything on the frangipani tree and the ground.
The thought of not having anymore more papayas daily is rather disheartening because we have gotten so used to it. Perhaps we have been taking it for granted, the constant supply of papaya.
Well, I hope the papaya nursery will speed up the growth of the current batch of trees. And we have to readjust our fruit intake and hope the little trees grow up faster to give us fruits.
It looks like I am wrong about the Chili Reaper that comes to our garden. Two days ago, the Yellow-vented Bulbul came a-calling, and it wasn’t the chili plant that it went to but the papaya fruit that we left out for the squirrels!
The Bulbul also likes papaya besides chili, it seems. We never knew. I guess we have to rethink its given name now. It’s wrong to call it the Chili Reaper if it eats papaya fruits besides chili, right?
We used to have three papaya trees in our garden, but not anymore. Only one tree is still fruiting, as the other two have passed their prime. The older of the two was chopped down in its height but never grew again. Its base wilted with time, and we left it unattended until we figured out what to do with its precious space in the garden.
The other tree had problems as far as the fruits were concerned. Hubby chopped it down to about two feet to allow it to grow again. Hopefully, the tree will recover and give us healthy fruits again.
The lone tree so far is still fruiting well, and we have a couple of challenges with it. The first is its height – it has grown so tall that plucking the fruits from the top of the nine-foot-tall ladder is quite a task. The other challenge is keeping the garden squirrels away from eating the fruits on the tree!
Papaya fruits have become such an integral part of our diet these days. So much so, with the two trees gone, hubby decided to cultivate more papaya trees. Call it our papaya nursery, if you may.
Our papaya nursery
He recycled milk containers to house the little trees. And so far, the four trees are doing okay. When they are ready, to the garden they will go! Or he will give a few away. Any takers?
The do-nothing day yesterday turned out to be do-everything-you-can! How wrong I was envisioning the day ahead.
As much as I wanted to lay in bed, I couldn’t because the morning was not those rainy-weather situations that beckons you to stay in bed. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, and the neighbor’s noisy dog was barking endlessly.
So we did everything we could in the morning, from doing the laundry and hanging the clothes out under the sun, washing the cars, and cleaning the garden mess – it turned out to be a busy day instead. Hubby even baked a loaf of bread!
The public holiday turned out to be an extension of the weekend, and whatever chores we couldn’t get to on Saturday and Sunday, we completed them on Monday.
When it’s a do-nothing day, you should abide by it and do nothing. If not, you’ll do things and tire yourself out by lunchtime. By then, it was a do-nothing day for real. Hahaha.
It looked like a scene from a fairy tale fable. It was not too late when we came back from dinner earlier this week. The frog was sitting so upright and rigid in front of the tree. Three mushrooms were growing next to the tree trunk, making the scene more fabled. I think the street light played a role in the dreamy scenario.
My feeble attempts with my iPhone XR
The frog did not even flinch when hubby crouched so close to it to take its picture. He managed to capture a few spectacular shots with his Samsung phone. I did not go as close as I was afraid the frog would jump. My photos taken with my iPhone XR pale in comparison to his attempt.
Hubby’s shots with his Samsung phoneNight and day difference for the three mushrooms
Once in a while, it is okay to appreciate a frog if they could sit there quietly, and create a surreal fairy tale scene, instead of being in the garden choir ensemble.
There is another group of the garden choir that works during the day. Unlike the frogs performing live at night on rainy days, these birds perform in the morning. And they sure are just as annoying!
The shrill at a sharp pitch is a constant irritation. I do not know why people say birds chirping is soothing and therapeutic – this is the opposite! Occasionally, the tree shrews join the ensemble with non-stop clicking noises that are more argumentative than melodic.
On top of these irritations, the new neighbor behind our house is another strange creature. They have been renovating their house for the longest time ever. They could not do much when the pandemic broke, as renovation activities were not allowed within the estate. It was peaceful for the last two years. Lately, their renovation is in full swing as these activities are permitted again.
Their constant daily drilling and hacking have been driving us up the wall! Let’s not even go into the dust that we have to endure. Between these critters, noise and environmental pollution have become a constant in our lives. Sigh.
So the mini pineapple was left on the kitchen counter to ripen, and it did. It took a few days for this process, and during this time, we could smell its fragrance in the kitchen. What a lovely smell! We were looking forward to savoring it.
The mini pineapple
When we finally cut it, it was not as sweet, unfortunately. A day or two more on the stem would have been better. But it was weakened by the excessive rain and water – we had to harvest it. Otherwise, the squirrels would get to it before us. Oh well. Let’s hope the next pineapple will survive the wet weather.
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