The Bounty

Sporting sweat dreads and muck, I sit in front of my beloved computer with the jungle that was the front garden marginally tamed.

Except the bean vines. They were somewhat rescued from themselves but their plans to dominate the universe continues.

Dianne and I inadvertently went for most mosquito* bites (me) and largest mosquito bites (her) in a one hour period. I was swatting them three at a time, smearing blood and bug smush on my filthy arms. Dianne yelled at them. Both methods were utterly useless.

Others bore witness to the proboscis armed swarm.

This just in: this mosquito season amongst worst on record.


Amidst the plant chaos are about a zillion tomatoes, three very cute softball size watermelons and two honeydew that resemble hardened Shrek snots.










The tomatoes cover the front yard and the butcher block table in the kitchen. And they won't stop growing, ripening, asking to be plucked and eaten, being harvested and sitting still as life goes on around them.

The various roses avenged my neglect of them by catching on my skin. My neglect consists of not protecting them from evil Japanese beetles. Bad plant mommy!










The terrified toad was briefly chased in order to be place in a safe and bug-filled spot. He thanked me by not peeing on me. For this I was quite grateful.


There are other photos in my Facebook album, Yardage.


UPDATE: I now look as though I have chicken pox. And, no, I am not going to put up a photo of that. Even if you ask nicely.

And it is because of the mosquito bites, smart ass!

Thank you.


*Only the female mosquito bites. She requires the protein in our blood to produce her eggs. The female will mate only once in her lifetime, however she can lay many broods of eggs before she dies.

Mosquitoes do NOT only bite during the night hours. Certain species of mosquitoes are only active during the daytime, and in most cases, daytime feeders are a great deal more aggressive than nighttime feeders.