Ice Spiders!

For more than a week the pond here at paradise has been covered up in ice spiders, nine large ones to be precise. Where did they come from? I watched a sci-fi movie with the exact title I believe.

No not science fiction, I think they appeared as the pond was melting during a warm spell. The pond then refroze and they have remained on the pond. This is the first time I have seen anything like this on a pond. On Tuesday I did see Cardinals and then Gold Finches drinking out of one of the ice spiders.

 Here is the biggest Ice Spider, notice the clear spot in the center? Water might be bubbling  out as the pond evaporates and the ice falls with the water level.

 Two Ice Spiders a breeding pair perhaps?

There is the pond from this morning, I see nine large Ice Spiders. See the white drain pipe on the upper left of the photo? The top of that pipe is the highest water level the pond can reach.

 After I took the photo of the Ice Spiders this morning I filled the bird feeders off our deck. This Carolina Chickadee was perched on this red bud limb. I went inside got the camera and memory card and went back outside and took this photo. Chickadees are certainly the tamest birds we have here. I know people that have trained these wild birds to eat out of their hands.

In case any of you were wondering who helps me with the blog here. Dot the Wonder Dog is my assistant, here she is helping and doing what she does best. I took this photo while building this posting.

Garden growing update end of March

Yellow Pear Tomatoes I planted on March 17th. Meg thinks I put too many seeds in each container, maybe I did..


The main veggy garden. Notice the Eastern Redbud in full bloom after three days of rain ...The green under those poles is the Super Sugar Snap Peas. All the veggy photos below are growing in the above garden.

The new flower bed to be between the house and the pond with a new creek stone path.

A primrose I've had for a very long time is about to bloom.

Fingerling potatoes the first sprouts!

Arugula we have three patches of these.

Mesclun Mix salad greens looks so yummy!

Curly Kale my first try at kale, three small patches of it as well.

Super Sugar Snap Peas

Clematis Henrii starting to bud, this plant is over 12 years old it is spread out everywhere.

Carolina Columbine, just moved to a new location after coming up in the topsoil pile. We picked up a new red columbine yesterday and should be planting it soon.

Hostas found in the topsoil pile, I have some huge leaved hostas, these are not them.

The front butterfly garden! Looks pretty bad right now. The tall broken off plants are Bronze Fennel behind this is Mountain Mint given to me by some gardening friends that live in the NC mountains. The green is the far back is double day lilies and invasive blackberries. This garden needs a lot of work, there are some nice Phlox from Big Bloomers in there!


Dot the Wonder Dog bored to heck after three days of rain.

Peas in the Snow

Today as you saw in the previous posting we received 3 inches of snow. The Sugar Snap Peas were covered up entirely. About 3 pm today I took this photo as you can see the peas are peeking out. Bad news we might get 13 degrees in the AM, good news 4 days ahead in the upper 60s to 70s.
Meg, yes that is her in person!! My lovely lady and best friend too!
Dot the wonder dog, at 13 she still causes a lot of trouble being a Jack Russel Terrier.
Daisy Mae she's as old as Dot, yet follows her about anywhere as her partner in crime. You won't see her jumbing as she has bad hips.