Oh, excuse the photo.  It is borrowed from last summer, because I wasn’t able to get a picture of him today.  Let’s hope this means an early spring!!

I did a google and found this.

Although the praying mantis is known for its cannibalistic mating process in actuality it only occurs 5-31% of the time. Especially in laboratory conditions of bright lights and confinement, the female is more likely to eat the male as means of survival. “In nature, mating usually takes place under cover, so rather than leaning over the tank studying their every move, we left them alone and videotaped what happened. We were amazed at what we saw. Out of thirty matings, we didn’t record one instance of cannibalism, and instead we saw an elaborate courtship display, with both sexes performing a ritual dance, stroking each other with their antennae before finally mating. It really was a lovely display”. (7) There is one species, however, the Mantisreligiosa, in which it is necessary that the head be removed for the mating to take effect properly. (5) Sexual cannibalism occurs most often if the female is hungry. But eating the head does causes the body to ejaculate faster.

I wonder if the Mantisreligiosa males would really care for it to be done “properly” if they knew they were about to be beheaded? Maybe they know and it’s just the price that the males pay if they want to lose their virginity?

It was an interesting read & can be found here. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1801

I’m not sure what happened to the skinny, little male. They were mating for hours and when I checked on them again, he was gone, but she looked rather pleased. I looked on the ground below for miscellaneous body parts expecting he was her lunch too. Didn’t find anything so perhaps he will be one of those lucky ones to mate again.

When I first started gardening I spent a lot of time deadheading spent blooms so everything looked real tidy. Then I happen to catch finches all over my coreopsis and started reading up on the flower seeds that birds love to eat. Now everything pretty much looks ratty from late summer to fall. I love watching the birds though.

Here is some purple millet that a few sparrows are feasting on. I guess fresh millet is the way to go since nobody seems to like it in the bird feeder mix. We now only serve black oil sunflower seed which is as pricey as black oil. The prices are soared this year so next year its very likely that we’ll be growing more food for the birds.

Unfortunately, through the years our garden cat will disappear and we’ll know that it probably victim to one of the busy streets or who knows. Then another cat will appear. We’ve never had more than one at a time and I always think its funny that one is prepared to fill the position so quickly. I know what you’re thinking, there are tons of strays everywhere! We’ve had strays come & go and its not the same as these quiet souls that visit the garden. They aren’t hunting, taking a poo in my flower beds or begging for food. Does it sound stupid that I feel like its a soul that is suppose to be close to me, but takes many forms in different cats? Yep, as I write it, it sounds silly, but that’s the way it feels.

In other news, another bed is finished. Looks kind of puney but it should start to fill in nicely next year. Yes, that’s a stump I threw in there. I want to do something artsy with it. My MIL asked me if I expected it to grow. Towards the left (tied to a post) is my mini ginkgo that has been sickly since planting it this spring. He did much better in the house. I’m hoping the new location will be more to his liking.

It was late when dh came home, almost dark but he was able to make out three little bodies dancing about my hosta garden. So after he grabs our mail & his cell phone from the car, he walks back to ask them why they are in our yard. They lost a puppy they say but they continue to climb the fence & jump all over our landscaped beds. You need to leave, he says.

So he opens the gate of our fence and helps the little one down the slope and the other two follow. “Thanks Sir”, the little monsters say repeatedly as the scamper down the street. Dh turns around to see that his cell phone is gone. He had put it down with our mail when he unlatched the gate for the kids. He turned his back for only a few seconds when he had helped the youngest through the gate. Had they taken it?!?

He bolts after them and demands, who took my phone. All of them deny it over & over. Dh told them to check their pockets and the 8 year old boy pulls out the phone. He says, “Oh look. I guess it is in here.”

Later I noticed a few things missing so I wish he would have demanded they check their pockets a little harder. I have small collections of rocks, crystals and insulators that I have clustered around the yard. I think some of them are missing but maybe they just relocated them. I expect those kids will be back though. Meanwhile there is one more lock on our gate to make sure the puppy area isn’t opened. I wouldn’t want to lose my dogs.

Anyway, here is one of my little squirrels. Now picture about 20 running around your exposed toes.

I noticed a lot of delayed maintenance in the yard. I’m not sure what happened to this birdhouse but it’s missing pieces. I’ll need to take it down to fix it because it is a favorite of mine. We bought several of them from an estate sale. The sellers were taking them down from their posts and selling the lot of them before the new buyers of the house moved in. The man that had passed away made them. I thought it was rather sad, but I was happy to give them a home. Not a very good one apparently. I’m so ashamed. lol Note to self: fix that!!

Ed, my indoor kitty, went for a stroll with me. He found the catmint.

This is the only wildlife that I found in the garden.

Now I have to go shampoo my two pups because they rolled in something absolutely disgusting & smelly.

Presentation is everything. Some enjoy their peanut butter sandwiches with the crust cut off…

…and some enjoy their pb crammed in a knothole.