đ» Ringing in May here in the Funkyard
Because âwe planted stuffâ isnât specific enough to be the title.
Good evening, Funkyardigans!
Who would have thought that removing rocks-as-mulch from a bed would be harder than removing sod from a lawn? Not me. But alas, here we are.
I spent ALL of Saturday on the front bed, and am still only about 2/3 of the way through â and this is after multiple rock-removing sessions (including one [edit: TWO] by my mom; thanks, Mom!) We were still able to start rearranging some plants, and itâs starting to look like a real bed. Itâs a big improvement from what it was: a messy patch of rocks + creeping Charlie + lawn ornaments + invasive bush honeysuckle seedings + tall plants in front + short plants in back. (Tune in next time â I HOPE â for the finished product.)
Also, we have an herb bench! Thanks once again to Andyâs exceptional carpentry skills. Apparently, I neglected to take a photo, but it is prominent in the foreground of this paparazzi shot I took earlier for no particular reason. (Uhh, sorry, Andy.)
Other updates:
I have a new pet. Itâs a jumping spider, and it lives in my office. Before you spider-haters get grossed out, you should know that there used to be a bit of a fly problem near my computer (they live on my houseplants) and now there is not. So thanks for your service, Audax. (I named it Audax after its species, Phidippis audax, the bold jumping spider. It has cool iridescent green mouthparts and a reddish spot on its back.)
What felt like overnight, almost all of our trees leafed out.
We ate at a RESTAURANT, inside, for the first time since March 2020. (Well OK, minus one exception when we were house-hunting in KC and ate in an empty Brazilian barbeque to decide whether we wanted to put an offer on our house.) It didnât feel quite as momentous as I thought it would, but the food was good, and so were the beers (we picked a brewery) and the company (my parents).
Dog sitting is going exceptionally well. Molly is really winning us over despite her catlike, antisocial tendencies. There may be a humane society visit in our future.

In our back corner, thereâs a batch of mystery plants that Iâm guessing were sown from a âwildflower seedsâ packet. The most recent bloomer looks like a blue flax. Itâs very cute. All these plants need to move since theyâre growing on top of each other and are too short for where they are in the bed, but, I think theyâll all be keepers.
Thereâs a Carolina wren nesting on our deck. Snubbing the three different birdhouses available in our yard, theyâve instead chosen the bag of wood nuggets we use for the grill, which we had left out and slightly open. ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ
More birds are arriving! Weâve been seeing (well, mostly just hearing) a hermit thrush, house wren, barred owl, some chimney swifts, and what I really think is a yellow warbler but Iâm so rusty on my birdsongs Iâll have to see it to believe it.
Speaking of birds, I saw a crow catch a baby bunny. I kind of wish I didnât.
We hung up a hummingbird feeder, moved the oriole feeder to a more prominent location, and put out a half orange. Surely one of these will attract a bird, but so far, itâs just ants. Iâm starting to think this oriole feeder is bogus, I got it a few years ago online and Iâve never seen an oriole at it.
âIâm the lawn Thanos. Except Iâd kill them all,â said my dearest friend Matt Chansler, regarding his aspirations for a new world landscaping regime to replace all lawns with native habitats, after Andy pointed out some of his methods and reasoning made him sound like a super villain.
Want to get The Funkyard in your inbox every Sunday(ish)? Drop your email address here, and watch for the sunflower đ». (You can unsubscribe at any time.)
Next up, I canât believe this is still whatâs next up, but getting the rocks out of this front bed is now PERSONAL. You should see the blister on my thumb from the hours of âis this a hunk of clay or a rock?â rubbing motion. Itâs absurd.
Funkyard species count: 82 (61 logged). Additional new arrivals: June bugs, a bee that really wanted the flowers on my coffee mug to be real, and a carpenter bee thatâs moved into the deck (it can have it, that deck is not long for this world).
Iâm reading all the same old books. Iâm so slow. Maybe by next week I will have an article to share or at least a book Iâve finished. đ
Weâre watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) aka Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock, the sequel. Totally fine. Antman (2015), because my parents hadnât seen it and obviously everyone must see every Marvel film. Neither of these are my new favorite movie, but both are worth watching if you havenât seen them already.
Weâre playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. Itâs free on Steam! Andy is Robertocop and Iâm Jiirraa. Weâre both cyborg scoundrels (think: Han Solo types with some bionic body parts) making our way though the Star Wars universe. I like it a lot so far. Andy pointed out itâs my *first ever* MMO, awww. (For noobs like me, an MMO is âmassively multiplayer onlineâ game, like World of Warcraft, where you actually run into and can interact with other people who are playing the same game at the same moment in time.)
Weâre listening to âLavaâ on repeat, from the Disney short of the same name. It debuted with the movie Inside Out in 2015, and is on Disney+. Check it out if you havenât seen it, but prepare to have the song in your head for the next six months.
Weâre eating the best turkey burgers of my life. Andy makes them in the cast iron skillet. The secrets seem to be: Donât overcook them, donât be afraid to add a little butter, and toast the brioche bun (preferably with mayo â seriously! mayo! try it). We like them best with roasted pepper compote and avocado, but seems like any toppings will do. [EDIT: Apparently âcompoteâ specifically refers to a sweetened fruity dessert thing â I suppose I mean salsa or relish.]
This week I wrote about which states have vaccinated the most (and least) residents and how the pandemic has affected alcohol use in adults, both for Stacker.
And a question for you: Do you call the derpy brown beetles that come out in spring, bounce off your porchlights and window screens (and face) âJune bugsâ or âMay beetlesâ or perhaps something else entirely? I made us a poll so you can reply in two seconds flat: Seriously I want to know. Iâll tell you the results next week. (Hereâs what these beetles look like if you need a refresher.)
OK team, thatâs all for today. Have a great week!
Take care please,
XOXO,
A
P.S.
This isnât the full version, but if you want to sing along (you do)âŠ
â đđ»
Letâs connect.
Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook | Goodreads
Need a writer or editor? Hire me.
Want to support The Funkyard? Buy me a coffee (or a plant).
Did you never play RuneScape?! Have we never discussed this?!