Letters from Ascension Hermitage and Sanctuary

This Black and Yellow Garden Spider has been in the yard for days now - first she made her web right beside the duck water . . . I told her to find another place! The next day her web was across the gate into the yard - fortunately I saw it before I walked into it! So yesterday she made a web inside the chicken enclosure . . . at least it's in an area I can avoid and it's mostly too high for the chickens to destroy. She is catching flies, so I guess all is well! Want more information?  - from the  Maryland Department of Natural Resources Black and yellow garden spider ( Argiope aurantia ) True to its name, the black and yellow garden spider is often seen in and around gardens. These spiders are orb-weavers, meaning that they spin their webs in a circle or an orb. These webs can be up to 2 feet across, while the spiders themselves can have a leg span of nearly 2.5 inches! Females are much larger than the males, and often times, these spiders will decorate their web

 Another hot, hot Summer's day (temperature here in the shade at 4:20 p.m. is 95 degrees) - must be time for a cool canteloupe party with friends . . . the chickens are very glad that social distancing does NOT apply to them. But if you are a mere human reading this, remember wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay six feet away from other humans!

 Very glad this little county project is on the far side of our street! The chickens and ducks, whose yard is just on our side of the road, do not appreciate the noise and disruption at all. Cats are keeping watch from the upstairs windows. Dogs? well, it's a project to supervise for sure, although with the air conditioning on inside, a nap sounds pretty good, too!

 On a very warm, sunny, Sunday morning, several wild turkeys joined Sonny in the pasture. The turkeys often search here for bugs early and late in the day . . . and being wild, they are not too "wild" about being photographed!

Just because it has not happened yet does not keep Sammy from hoping the squirrel who lives in this tree will come down into the yard where he will be waiting! Many doggies - Piper, Annie Oakley, Thea, Janie, Leah, Lily - hope that they'll catch the squirrel, but only Sammy is willing to watch for hours on end. The others circle the tree once or twice, and some look up into the branches . . . no doubt the squirrel is laughing at them!

 I always look forward to the first zinnia of every summer, especially to see which color will bloom first - this year it is a beautiful pale pink! A lot of other zinnias are just about to bloom, so the flower box will soon be full of color to the delight of hummingbirds and butterflies. And for the next few months we will have a vase of zinnias in our chapel/icon corner and possibly a few tiny vases of zinnias in the kitchen as well. One of the first flowers to bloom this year was a dark red daylily, and now the double orange lilies are in full bloom, with the yellow ones just ready to bloom in a day or two. We hope your days are full of color and beauty too!

Molly, Chaelie, Thea, and all of us at Sanctuary House wish you a very happy and safe July 4th! Stay at home if you can, wash your paws often, and of course - if you must go out - wear a face mask.  We all agree: NO fireworks will be much appreciated!

According to the Wild Bird Habitat Store and a few other websites, squirrels will not eat safflower seeds - apparently, this little guy never got that message! There are ONLY safflower seeds in this feeder. This isn't his first visit, and if I go outside he leaves and then comes back when I go in, so this isn't just a momentary visit to see what might be in the feeder. When the squirrel isn't here, cardinals, chickadees, and titmice visit often.