Leafcutter Bees

When I was watering the garden yesterday, I noticed that some of the leaves on the snow pea plants had half-moon-shaped pieces out of them.

I knew right off that the Leafcutter bees were building their nests! I worked in the nursery at our local Ace Hardware for a couple of years and every year about this time, new people to our area would start bringing in plants with similar looking leaves. They always wanted to know what was causing this and when we would tell them, they wanted to know what they could do to kill the bees or make them stop. We would tell them that the bees were just building their nests and they would quit "cutting" the leaves in a week or two.

They usually cut my roses or the fruit trees, this is the first year I've seen them on the snow peas. It doesn't hurt the plant and heaven knows, we need all the bees we can get!

They got both sides of this leaf! It was fun to be able to grab my camera and take pictures of them hard at work! :)

In this picture, you can see the cut leaf just above the bee and the piece is grasped in it's legs as it prepares to take it off to the nest! You can read an article about them here.

Linking up with Heidi for The Country Garden Showcase and Lisa for Macro Monday.

Sunday Photo - Western Femininity

The edited version is being shared at Weekly Top Shot with Madge and at Your Sunday Best with Nancy.

The equally nice unedited version is being shared at Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday with Jan.

Flowers for Leontien

Roses from my garden just for you dear Leontien!! {{{HUGS}}} from Arizona!
Join us in sending flowers to Leontien, you can link up at A Rural Journal here.

Friday's Fences #30

There is so much neat old fencing in the cow pasture where we walk. It is left over from when this whole area was part of a working ranch. Do you think this tree was still alive when it was incorporated into this fence? :)
Linking up with Jan and Jer for Friday's Fences.
Oh, by the way, the mesquite trees have all leafed out so we shouldn't have any more freezes!

Farmgirl Fashion - Tops 2012

The weather is getting hot and I wanted some new tops this year, I actually wore out a couple of the ones I made last year! :) You can see my 2011 Farmgirl Tops here. I just love, love, love this pattern! It is New Look #6356 by Simplicity. It is so quick and easy, has four necklines, two scooped versions, a v-neck and a square neck. You can also make it with sleeves or sleeveless. The pattern calls for a zipper but with the necklines I use, it isn't necessary which makes it even easier! The top with the flags has the square neck and the bright yellow one the v-neck. I have a total of $6 invested in these six tops. Most of this material I already had, people keep giving me the material they don't want, but I bought the bright yellow and the green/turquoise for $1.50 per yard down to the Wal-Mart. Not bad, huh?!? :)
Linking up with Lisa and Nancy for Rural Thursday and Deb and Heidi for Farmgirl Friday.

Black and White Calves

How about some black and white calves for Black and White Wednesday? These guys were hanging out with their mom and some other buddies near the windmill on the road to Tombstone. Aren't they cute?!? :) 

Tuesday's Tails - 4/24/2012

"What are YOU lookin' at?!?"

Garden Update - April

The turnips and rutabagas are doing well.

We had mashed potatoes and turnips with our meatloaf the other day. YUM!!

The spinach is starting to bolt already but I'm still harvesting. The Romaine and onions are doing well.

It all made a nice salad with the last of the first crop of radishes.

The snow peas are really producing! Some went into a stir fry with shrimp and lemon recently. I'm working on harvesting enough for peas with leeks and bacon using the snow peas and regular peas.

The strawberries seem happy.

I'm going to have to cover them soon to keep the birds from eating them! :)

My "perennial" oregano is coming back nicely. I planted some thyme seeds in another bucket and they are just now starting to come up.

The dill re-seeded itself and I moved a couple of plants so that they are all in one location.

This was my original herb bed and there is still parsley, lemon thyme and wormwood going strong from the original planting about five years ago. I added onions and chives last year.

Finally, I re-potted the tomatoes, eggplant and peppers last week and they are all doing really well. I plan to put them out the second week in May. I will plant my summer squash, melons and beans from seed the beginning of May. Well, that is my update, how is your garden doing? Linking up with Heidi for the Country Garden Showcase this week! :)

Sunday Photo - Faded Love

Dried flower arrangement that sits on the fireplace mantle. Linking up with Madge for Weekly Top Shot and Nancy for Your Sunday Best.

Linking up with Jan for Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday.

Friday's Fences #29

You MAY be a Redneck...  :-)

The Upstairs Neighbors

The Curve-Billed Thrashers built their nest between the chicken wire covering the chickens' yard and the tarp we have over the chicken feeder. There used to be a cholla cactus next to one of the horse pens but it got really big and the critters kept getting thorns so Jerry took it out two years ago. The Thrashers used to build their nest in that cholla. I have no idea what prompted them to choose this spot! There are plenty of other cholla nearby! I decided to check recently to see if there was an egg in the nest.

Mr. and Mrs. Thrasher were keeping a close eye on me from the yucca next to the hen house and scolding me quite loudly!

Egg, heck! They had an almost grown chick in there! No wonder they were watching me so closely!

Linking up with Nancy and Lisa for Rural Thursday.

Tractor in Black and White

When we went to Willcox for hay a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Kuhn had a bunch of antique tractors out front, as well as the baby horses I shared pictures of recently.

This is the original picture before editing on Pixlr-O-Matic. Linking up with Heidi for Black and White Wednesday.

Barn Charm #81

This two-year-old barn belongs to our friends. The upstairs/loft has been finished and is the "Man Cave" complete with satellite television and internet, a sofa, a bar and a fridge! :)

Remeber T-Bone and Shorty? This is where they live. Here is T-Bone checking to see if someone is bringing him a treat!

Linking up with Tricia for Barn Charm.

#2 Son

Guess who has become a bottle baby? For some reason only known to a goat, Abigail quit nursing #2 Son after three days so I have become his maaa.

"Hey lady! You need to pet me and tell me how cute I am!"

"See what a big boy I am? I can climb up the steps all by myself!"

"Yeah, I know I'm just too cute for words!"

Sunday Photo - Iris

Finally, I have an iris bloom to share! :) Just one so far but there are more buds yet to open. Linking up with Madge for Weekly Top Shot, Jan for Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday and Nancy for Your Sunday Best.

Birthday Cake

Yesterday was Jerry's birthday so I made him a birthday cake! :) I made a Buttermilk Chocolate cake with Chocolate Buttermilk frosting, both recipes from my Better Homes and Gardens Old-Fashioned Home Baking cookbook. The fun part was in the assembly! I have an old booklet from Baker's Coconut & Chocolate called Party Cut-Up Cakes. The booklet was my mom's and is copyright 1968. She would make our birthday cakes using the ideas from this little book. I combined the hobby horse and the giraffe to make this horse. I didn't have any licorice to make the cute headstall, reins and tail but I think he looks okay and Jerry liked him and that is what is important! :)

 



How cute is this duck!?!

Linking up to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop.