I spent a very enjoyable day yesterday doing very little. It was too hot to work in the yard, but I spent most of the afternoon sitting in the shade of my front stoop, watching a beautiful Baltimore Oriole feeding a female...or maybe it was a fledgling.



They spent a lot of time in my tall chokecherry tree. I had noticed earlier that the leaves seem to be stripped of some of their leaves, and upon noticing the oriole in there, I wondered if the tree had caterpillars. There were lots of green berries, but it didn't appear the bird was pulling those off.
Every so often the birds would move over to the mulberry tree, which is providing a feast for a large assortment of birds, squirrels and chipmunks.

The oriole is still around this morning. Perhaps it has a nest nearby.

It was just so lovely in the shade, and from my vantage point at the top of a small hill, I can see a lot with my binoculars.

Around dusk I noticed a rabbit about 25 feet away, and soon after I saw a doe eating the fallen apples from the same distance. The deer knew I was sitting there and was very cautious, though it continued to munch on as many apples as it could find and it did turn its back on me. At one point it tentatively walked around to get a better look at me and then it nervously took off.

I did manage to vacuum out my car and rinsed off the rubber mat in the trunk. I repotted a miniature aloe plant into a bigger pot. I played a ton of Luminosity games online since I got a free month of access. Bad habit.

I also decided to haul an outdoor table I have in the courtyard (driveway) up to my front stoop. I haven't been using the table/chairs where it was because there were a lot of ticks under the shade earlier in the year and I'm a little paranoid. But my front stoop gets strong morning sun and there's just enough room for it and 2 lawn chairs.

I also assembled the new Panasonic phone set I got which includes the base and 3 cordless phones. The main reason I bought it for $90 I think was because you can BLOCK whatever calls you like, and I can't stand telemarketing calls. I never knew how many I got until I started staying home all day.

I've set the date/time, recorded my greeting, etc but I have yet to get an incoming call so I'm a little worried about the sound quality since sound quality is not great with my current Panasonic cordless phone set. I may try to move the base into the bedroom since they say a high location away from electronics/computers is best. Right now I have the base downstairs.

The next time I get a telemarketer call, I'm going to ask them if they can call me back in literally a minute, after which I'll block the call and then see if they can get through upon calling me back. I just want to make sure it works.

I also made a mason bee nest (actually, all pollinators are welcome. It's essentially a bunch of PAPER straws inside a metal can. I also put some samples from when I got my bamboo curtains. You need to make sure the straws, where they lay their eggs, fit snugly and do not move around. They need to be in a sunny location that's protected from rain. That means my front stoop, which gets bright morning sun. I hope someone finds it.