Today a neighbor stopped over to check that three quarters dead branch on the magnolia tree.  He used to work for a landscaping firm that did a lot of tree trimming.  He says he can remove the branch for us no problem.  Sometime after his 17 days of day shift or over a weekend, he’ll take care of it.  That’s one weight off my mind.  I had visions of that branch, heavily loaded with snow, crashing down on our shed this winter.  Now I won’t have to worry.

     We’re still picking tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.  There are two different varieties of sugar baby watermelons and each have one fruit on the vines, I hope they ripen before the first frost.

     The cardinals had nested in the magnolia the parents and several now fully-fledged young ones hang around the feeders most of the day.  It looks as though two of the youngsters are males and three are females.  We have a family of Downy woodpeckers that hang around in our yard and G’s. 

     I had to fill the hummingbird feeder today so even though I don’t see them often they are coming around.  The small flock of goldfinches is enjoying the Echinacea seeds every day.

The cannas are continuing to bloom and they are now quite a bit taller than I am.