August 29, 2026
On August 18, I felt well enough to walk around Blackberry Homestead. Bruce had been talking about frog eggs and then tadpoles in the blue half-barrel. Once the tadpoles hatched, Bruce mentioned the green layer on the half barrel was gone. The tadpoles had eaten it. In the picture, you can see the tadpoles. The brown at the bottom is coconut coir.
Here is a Hackberry Emperor hanging from the eaves.
I found a false potato beetle on an eggplant leaf. They do eat eggplant, so of course, one found mine. The strip pattern is slightly different from that of a Colorado potato beetle. There are a lot of flea beetle holes in the eggplant leaves. It doesn’t seem to be hurting the plants’ production.
I performed an inspection of Bruce’s work.
Here is a silver-spotted skipper on take-off.
The horseradish is looking much better after I picked off the harlequin bugs for several days. The sorrel in the background has recovered from the Japanese beetle attack!
I picked so many cucumbers. On the way inside, I noticed a cabbage white butterfly flitting from the hydrangea bush and the herb garden.
A lot of folks call the cabbage white butterfly a cabbage white moth. I grew up calling it a moth.
After I put the cucumbers away, I looked out front and saw a swallowtail visiting the lantana plant.
Looking out the back door, I can see the shed and pig feeder. They weren’t visible before Bruce’s fence removal project.
The spineless weeping caperbush has grown a lot and continues to bloom.
Looking at Bruce’s work of chainsawing the fallen branch.
Bruce speed mowing as the sun is setting.
South yard sky was really beautiful.
Blackberry Homestead 
So many butterflies! Beautiful sky!
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The butterflies do seem to enjoy it here. I enjoy how the sunset reflects to other parts of the sky.
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The caper bush looks so neat spilling over the side of that blue pot.
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I am hoping I can keep it alive over the winter. I’ve been pleased it is such a pretty plant and the flowers smell wonderful.
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So many steps! I just walked this morning about 7:00 down our sidewalk across the street and did 500 steps with the walker. Walking while it is still cool! Tomorrow PT at 7:30!
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I am cheering your recovery! It sounds like you are making good progress towards being able to walk again. I hope the pain is better. Just a bit of silliness here – Bruce always says, “Why would you want the pain to get better? You want the pain to get worse, not better. Pain getting better means you are hurting more.” He says this to make me laugh. I hope sharing this bit of silliness makes you smile.
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Yes, he has a point! I am glad to be out and about.
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Your property is quite lovely! Yesterday Mike trimmed some of our trees out front. Keeping things in shape with a garden can be time consuming but good also.
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Thank you! We are enjoying it. I would much rather be outside than inside and sometimes it shows in the housekeeping.!
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I am glad you are feeling better, also!
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Thank you. I am back to normal.
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I love that you had tadpoles! I hope they will survive and become frogs. I rarely see them here anymore, but after a huge thunderstorm I can hear them. I can remember seeing them in road puddles when we were growing up. The shot from the house toward the shed and former pig pen does show how large the place is!
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The tadpoles are still growing. They haven’t graduated to pollywogs yet. I hope they become frogs. I would like to have more amphibians eating pests.
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