Mr. Squirrel Came for a Visit

This morning during breakfast, I happened to look outside to see that Mr. Squirrel had come to visit. Mr. Squirrel is the patriarch of our neighborhood squirrels, at home in the trees, or scaling the 3-story apartment building atop which he raises his family, all the while, dedicated to making fools of the local cats.  

 I don't know how many generations of cats he has antagonized & humiliated, but he is clearly not intimidated by any of them, being faster, more agile & with the ability to go straight-up or down a sheer stucco building at will. Mr. Squirrel & I have had a relationship up until now, with him showing no fear & willing to approach me within 2-3 feet. When I talk to him, he makes eye contact with me & shows no fear.

chew marks - bark stripped

So I was more than a little upset & disappointed when I saw him happily chewing on the sole remaining branch & the new, green shoots that I have been counting on to keep the Hibiscus alive until he recovers from being severely cut-back. 

While my breakfast got cold, I went to rescue my plant. As I came out onto the patio, Mr. Squirrel greeted me & acted surprised that I would interrupt him..more handclapping, Mr. Squirrel retreated & hasn't returned today, but as you can see from the photo, he did strip some bark in an attempt to get at the green wood underneath & he ate about half of the new green shoots on the branch.

I don't think the minor damage done will kill the plant. 

Photo/History for Channel Island Barberry Published

 The Channel Island Barberry now has a Photo/History page accessible via this link:

Channel Island Barberry (Berberis pinnata ssp. insularis )

Spring is Sprung..I Think..

It's raining (again) but no wind..in fact, it feels more like a spring rain than the winter storm that's been forecast for the last several days..but, we'll have to wait & see how it develops. Meanwhile, all of my trees are huddled-up, under cover & cozy, for the moment.

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see the Island Barberry & a brand new leaf(first of the season) that formed overnight. I am more than pleasantly surprised, as I had sort-of written this dude off..last fall, he had succumbed to the same virus that de-foliated the Japanese Maple & caused the leaves of the Fremont Cottonwood to blacken & die. (you can read more about this in either photo/history page)

And looking at the Japanese Maple, I was pleased to see that it has also produced the first new leaf of the season, in addition to dozens of buds.

Checking further, I was gobsmacked to see back-budding has begun on the Creeping Fig although it is only 36 hrs. or so since being hard pruned. Additionally, the Pacific Crabapple has finally awakened from his winter "snooze" & threw a bud, this morning So, in spite of what may become the worst storm of the season, it feels like Spring on the Patio.

Another tool in the toolkit - Lightbox

 Originally, this blog was a photo album..or a photo gallery..I had started snapping shots with my cell-phone camera to share with friends I no longer see on a daily basis, since I retired & relocated some 40 miles away. 

In short order, my cell was running out of storage space & I discovered Google Photos..free (1 GB) storage, instant access..& did I mention, FREE? Google Photos is great & does support the ability for a simple narrative, but not much control over layout or presentation.

As my collection grew, I also realized that what I needed was some sort of database, that could store information about different cultivars, and to document the stages that different trees displayed, as time went on & a way to display the chronology of their growth, over time.

A simple blog was the easy & obvious solution  & has served my purpose well. But, sometimes you don't want to wade through a narrative, loaded down with detail & simply see the visual  

screenshot

Try this now..click on any photo on any page; you should see something like this screenshot. In the center is the photo you clicked-on

Across the bottom of the screen are thumbnails of all of the photos on that page, in chronological order so you can easily see a visual record of changes over time. Click-on any photo to see full size.

So now, if you simply want to "cut to the chase" when viewing a page or article, or want to directly compare photos taken at different times & stages of development without reading the entire article, you know how to do so.

I particularly like this feature & use it almost every day.