mmmmmm.................gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes........................

Yesterday from the kitchen window, we counted eight Thanksgiving turkeys eating the dropped bird seeds in the front garden.  With such a lush forest this year, we've noticed an increase in wildlife this summer.  Turkeys are not graceful creatures.  Late this afternoon the same eight birds were trekking through woods when a neighbor's dog starting barking.  The startled turkeys took flight up into the trees banging into low branches causing feathers and leaves to fly. 

When the turkeys aren't here, the deer nibble in the front garden.

We're down to only two remaining hummingbirds.  The pineapple sage that I planted in late spring finally burst into bloom providing natural sweet nectar which the birds prefer over the sugar water.

I cut off six good-size branches, rooted them, and planted them down along the vegetable garden, in the front flower garden, and on the west side of the garage so the HB's would have these trumpet flowers all over the acreage.  They flit from flower to flower taping each trumpet.

Pineapple sage before they blossomed with showy red trumpets.  They are so large now that they almost touch each other and cover the front steps.

from the driveway

After spotting the bear in the garden last week,  I looked for bear prints or scat in the weeds but all I found what looks like a watermelon growing in the tall grass among the lanky nasturtiums. I haven't planted melons in three years.  

The garden is full of surprises.