Yard, Gardens, Birds and Critters

Leaves In My Yard By Mary J Williams © I just realized The way the wind was blowing A lot of my leaf mulch Blew about and was going To the neighbor’s yard They blow their leaves anyway They don’t like the leaves On the their yard to stay I leave my leaves Mulch is what they are But in these heavy winds They could go far Or maybe just next door To the neighbors they did go They are going to be upset When again they will have to blow Or maybe they went farther Down the hill to the back There they can stay And not cause any flack! I still have lots of leaves They keep my perennials warm In this cold, cold weather And in any snowstorm I went outside to check And boy was I surprised To see how many leaves In my yard, did still abide I didn’t lose any That is for sure I have all the neighbors Of that I can assure I will have plenty of leaves Plants won’t have a care Even the yard will have enough Good for pollinators everywhere The wind is still gently blowing I have an easy way to tell A wi...

Starlings By Mary J Williams I looked out my window Starlings galore I am sorry Starlings I don’t want to see you no more Walked out the door The Starlings did fly Up to the treetop And that is no lie I counted them As best as I could They were flying in and out As only birds should I finally took a picture To get a semi accurate count Twenty-five in one picture Thirty-four, too many about As I was looking, Out the window again I saw some flying down To get the feeders to drain I walked out the door And gave a big yell! Get out of here birds On feeders you won’t dwell I know, I have heard it before They have to eat too Put out some seed and I will send them to you! 34 17 25       

The Quiet Woke Me Up By Mary J Williams © Yesterday the wind blew Blowing in the bedroom I even shut that window Before my figurines met their doom When I went to bed I opened the window just a crack Letting air into the room Then I hit the sack You could hear the wind blow Going across the yard Moving the trees and bushes It was gusting really hard It was just before three in the morning I woke up with a start Something was really different It appeared the wind, did depart The quiet woke me up It was so awfully still Funny how I’m sound asleep But missing wind, penetrated the will It was so very quiet No sound of wind was there I got up to check the temperature And see how we did fare From the Sixties during the day It was Twenty-three right then Wind chill was Eighteen Fahrenheit my friend I crawled back into bed No worries about my trees Falling on the house In the mighty breeze I should have paid attention To Lacy laying there She wasn’t concerned at all She didn’t have a care My l...

 First of all, I don't like the name. Our Lady Bugs are sweet and to call an Asian Beetle a Lady is an insult! Here is what happened: The Asian Beetle Thug By Mary J Williams © There was an Asian Beetle Some think they are Lady Bugs They aren’t, and are invasive And they are a little thug I’m walking in the yard Planning what to do When I got a sting on my neck My hand went up, knocked it, and it flew It landed on the walk Just in front of me He picked the wrong person To attack this day, you see I’ve been upset for a couple of days I can’t find my shovel And other things I keep at bay But being bit By that obnoxious bug Was the limit for me I stepped on that thug One less Asian Beetle Out there in my yard I really don’t like them So now I’m on Guard!!!!

 The other day there was an ad I got on my email from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. I have purchased many items from them through the years. This time they were promoting some awesome looking daffodils!  I just had to go and look and see how much and make a decision, do I want them or should I pass!  I bet you all know the answer. I received 10 bulbs of one called Mallee Daffodil, 10 of Caribbean Parrot and 10 of Flaming Parrot. About the same time I received another ad from Dutch Grown. They had some pretty pink Daffodils. The ones I was interested in were already sold out, but they did have one called Pink Charm. They also had a mini daffodil called Cha Cha. I ordered 10 of the pink and 25 of the mini.   I received them just before we got all that rain. I was going to plant them but when the weather forecast was storms, I decided to wait. I am glad I did as the other shipment came from Dutch Grown, so, I had them all to plant. Today I started in. I couldn...

The Wasps and I are Done By Mary J Williams © Okay, that’s it I am finally done Feeding the wasps Is no longer fun I was being sweet And cut up some grapes I threw them in the flower box Didn’t think about it till too late I upset a couple of wasps Flew at me as I was standing there One landed on my shirt I thought one was in my hair I shooed away the one That was on my shirt He flew onto my arm If it stings, it’s going to hurt I moved towards the door Thought the wasp flew away I went inside my house The wasp came in to stay Oh no you don’t You aren’t welcome inside I got my dishcloth Whipped it out, I tried Realized he didn’t leave My swipe at him did no good He was there between The glass and the screen Got him down at the bottom Opened the door wide Did another flip with the cloth “Be Gone”, I cried! Now my skin is crawling I feel like they are all over me That’s the end of the feeding Live or die, what will be, will be!

Dance of the Leaves By Mary J Williams © I stand outside The wind is blowing The leaves are in the air They don’t know where they’re going Some are flying around and around not really knowing where they are bound Some from the South Are blowing to the North And yet some from the West are blowing back and forth Take your blower out Blow the leaves off the yard It doesn't take long It’s not really hard Go inside the house And just sit a spell Look back outside More leaves there will dwell It’s a useless job right now The leaves will just return They like our yards When will we ever learn All the leaves I blew today Are right back there and more Leaves love living Just outside my door Let the leaves blow In the wind, let them play It’s fun to watch them That’s what I say  

  This Old Lady Feeds Wasps By Mary J Williams Walked on the deck last night It was after 8 p. m. The wasps were still there What’s the matter with them? I did some exploring on Google To learn as much as I could About the Yellow Jackets The wasps that are up to no good Most aggressive wasp in the U.S. They have venom in their sting Fall is their worst time Freezing weather, death will bring Most live in the ground Buildings are for some Hope you don’t get close to a nest They will chase you if you come I put out some pear pieces Thought the birds would enjoy But as stated before The wasps took over, oh boy! Last night when I was out I noticed the pears almost gone This morning what did I do At the crack of dawn? I rummaged in the fridge, found some grapes that I had Punched a hole in two Didn’t want the wasps to get mad I threw those grapes into the flower box then Wasps were flying around Hopefully staying away from me again How many old ladies Do you know, besides me That’s just...

 I have to tell you, before you read the poem, this has totally amazed me! The Yellow Jackets have been here before, eating the grape jelly I put out for the birds. Before long, no birds were eating the jelly just the Yellow Jackets. By the way, I did look them up and they are  Eastern yellowjacket - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org  › wiki › Eastern_yellowjacket The eastern yellow jacket or eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) is a wasp found in eastern North America. Habitat Forests, meadows and forest edges, including urban and suburban environments. Like in all Vespula, colonies are normally subterranean, or sometimes at ground level in stumps and fallen logs. In deciduous forest, nest entrances frequently situated under tree roots or adjacent to logs on the ground. Of 40 colonies confirmed as this species in western Pennsylvania, 34 were subterranean, 3 were in exterior walls of buildings, 1 was beneath a tree stump, 1 was in the roots of a fallen tree, and 1...