Miscellaneous stuff at home

I took this picture in our back yard just before we left for Vernon.  The daisies and the mauve delphinium were just starting to come out.  I was looking forward to coming home to find this flower bed in its glory.  And it was perfect for 1 day and then we had a gully washer thunderstorm in the evening that knocked the daisies to the ground and snapped the delphinium stalks off.  Grrrrr.

Science quiz:  What animal made this 3" long poop?

I was picking red currents in the back yard.  When I came back inside I felt a giant insect crawling on the back of my neck.  I screamed!

It was this 1-1/2" long cicada, only the second one I've seen in all the years we've lived here (29!).  We hear them all summer long.

We finally got out on the Horsefly River on Wednesday evening.  It was a perfect evening, the water was warm, a good time was had by all.

Leo and Mark having a good time in the evening glow

Our ripe Saskatoon berries in the backyard are very popular with the birds.  At one time we had a family of western tanagers, cedar waxwings, house finches and juncos feeding in the bushes.

Male Western Tanager

Science quiz answer:  I've seen those feces before and figured they were squirrel, but Leo witnessed a large toad poop it out!  I guess those lumpy things I thought were seeds are actually insect parts.

We have lots of toads, but they are not making much of an inroad into the huge slug population in my vegetable garden.  They have pretty much eaten up my beans and peas and are working on my squashes now!  I have given up on having any vegetables this year and am now concentrating on killing off the slugs for next year.  I bought a bag of (nontoxic) slug bait and the war is on.