When I started looking

Hidden

This week's GBE2 prompt is Hidden

I enjoy blogging but my summer time activities and shenanigans occur so quickly that most of my wacky experiences overlap.

Sometimes, I find that situations develop hidden from my daily observations only to slap me in my face when I least expect it.

Hidden Victories

I have been working with the trainer since May. I completed a second fit test to gauge my progress. I have only lost 9 pounds. I figure that is about one pound a week. Since focusing on weight loss did not help my ego, I looked at my body fat percentage.

In May, my body fat was so high that it didn't warrant a category on the chart. Now, at 35% body fat, I am consider Well Below Average for my age group. I will take that D-.

That is progress, right????



Well Below Average



This means that while I went from 41.5% body fat to 35% body fat, I lost more than just 9 pounds I lost a few inches. When asked I will say, "I have lost about 16 pounds of fat." And offer no additional explanation. I like algebra.

Hidden Dinner

Last week, I weeded the garden and found the lettuce I had planted from seed. I thought the bunny had gotten to it all earlier this Summer. I picked the lettuce. It seemed pretty hardy and long. Brought it into the house and couldn't figure out why it was so long. So, I tasted it. They were turnip greens. I picked the roots and made dinner with garden okra, jalapeño peppers, chives and onions. I didn't grow the turkey leg which added flavor to my pot of greens but I could have.


 Dinner 

 Garden



Hidden Creatures

I learned something using my GoogleFu the other day.

Did you know that groundhogs have a Summer burrow and a winter hibernation nest? Yep. True facts. Now think back to the possum which had taken up residence under my den last winter.

You got it. The possum was a squatter. The borrow that had an opening into my basement belonged to Sir Groundhog and he returned this summer. Story starts on Tuesday the 31st. I had been weeding the garden for two days and I finally had made my way back to the house. I saw it then. I filled in a small hole a back corner. Google suggested that I place epson salt around the hole and around the garden to discourage the groundhog from returning.


evicted


As you well know, if that had worked, I would not be writing this blog entry. It failed spectacularly. On Friday, I was sitting in my den, reading a book looking out over the garden and I spot movement. I ran out and found that all of the blue collard greens had been eaten down to their stalks. I was pissed. I had just eaten half of my turnip greens the week before. This was the second season in a row that the groundhog ate my Georgia collard greens.

My chat rooms suggested that I place pinwheels around the garden. I sprayed the remaining collards and cabbages with my pepper mixture (local garden store). I jumped into the car and ran to a few stores. Picked up some pinwheels.

By the time I returned, I caught the groundhog in the act of eating my zucchini vines.

NO, I didn't spray the zucchini vines. Sir Groundhog was sitting on the fence and only had to slightly lower his head in order to eat my zucchini vines. I screamed at him and watched him slink away into his newly expanded burrow under my den.





 bombs away   I have been bombing his burrow every day for the past four days. He just returns and reopens it. I am out of bombs. All the area stores are out of fox urine (the natural enemy of the groundhog). I may be beaten.

This morning, I bought granules that allegedly discourage groundhogs from crossing over and into the garden. Likely story.  Spreading repellent 


As I got out of my car, I heard desperate mewing. The most adorable kitten was in my backyard. As I approached it with some soft cat food, it ran into a hole in my neighbor's garage. I dragged her outside to help me save the kitten in her garage. She has just returned from a long trip, only to learn that this kitten had been hiding and living in her garage for days. We tired to coax it out to make it safe but the groundhog ran past... scaring the little kitten into another neighbor's yard.

I hope it comes back. I could use a good outdoor cat to handle my garden pests.