Fleurs, Fins, & Furries

As we revel in the first sort of real monsoon season that Joshua and I can remember, bunches of new stuff are happening. The crotons and begonias in our two big flower boxes are bursting at the seams.

Our hot and dry August 2026 has the one UPSIDE of attracting a wide menagerie of our local critters each night. While the leftovers are surely a draw, I wager the watering hole is more important to everyone’s wellbeing.

Of the nearly incalculable blessings, magic, and FUN we enjoy at The Surgeon’s House, serving duck eggs, homemade goat cheese and goat yoghurt rank pretty stinking high. They take a second only to knowing the two couples who are responsible for these fine creatures and the delicious fruits of their husbandry.

Just a couple of days ago I was lamenting to Joshua that we had not seen any raccoon families this year then lo and behold, the camera was ‘incorrectly aimed’ so that we enjoyed the following happy surprise!

Even in our normal gardening routine, we occasionally meet with a “what’s that?” moment but none has surpassed this swiss chard root passing itself off as a multi-headed mutant of some kind. Look at the size of this beast. It was a veggie root so we investigated the possibility of cooking it but we couldn’t even cut it!

With summer in full swing, we have all sorts of outside happenings and visitors. The Capt. came across a rather UNinvited visitor who joined recently for coffee on his porch – even loving mostly ALL aspects of the Earth Mother, these guys give me the creeps. He departed into lake Ludwig for an eternal swim.

Well, surprise of all surprises. We have been suspecting that Mr. Skunk had set up housekeeping under the honey shack but little did we know he has been up to more than just housekeeping. We definitely have a Mrs. and either 3 or 4 babies!

As planned, Joshua showed up right at 5 a.m. at Tara and Lyle’s to make his attempt to relocate the colony in their water meter. We always move honeybees before daylight or after sunset when the largest number – hopefully all – of the folks will be back in their home for the night.

We feed the birds multi times daily and with the absence of precipitation along with rising temps, keeping the water bin really ultra-full has become paramount. Every variety of creature is looking to wet a whistle and in the case of our raccoon visitors, more than a whistle seems to be popular.

Who was it said that a picture is worth thousand words? Ain’t that the truth! See for yourselves as we start with a rare lobster and shrimp fest at TSH.

This week saw Fiona Pappillon up to some nonsense having captured this 8” lizard, species unknown, but a homerun on the color spectrum. It wasn’t injured albeit feigning death when Joshua discovered the near-crime scene. Luckily, Fi gave in quickly and the not-so-little guy survived. Check out his turquoise cravat and vest – pretty snazzy and uptown, right?

ROLLING INTO JUNE! As difficult as it is to believe, here we find ourselves rolling right [...]

May on the mountain is simply exquisite – perhaps the month of May at its zenith! - so we want to give you a fun glimpse of what’s waiting for you, starting with our first spotting of a new hummingbird nest in one of our pear trees.

Mother Nature always wins out on Her terms and never more evident than with our hit-and-miss success or lack thereof with our passionflower vines and our attempts to transplant wild penstemon. This season in the mural patio the passionflower blossoms RULE.

You may remember that the 3 honeybee colonies we received last year with such hopeful promise were all lost to us – one colony abruptly swarmed and left while the other two perished over the winter . . . ‘bee-grettably’ beekeepers across the country, and likely the world, are reporting this as an all-too-frequent occurrence.

What more could there be you ask? How about sweet peas, daffies & narcissus regaling the dining room, volunteer kale, peppers, The Youngster as always 4-6 weeks ahead of the Grand Old Gramma, and a breakfast offering of a homemade deep dish chicken potpie . . .

Will wonders never cease? Well, I certainly hope not! A once-in-MY-lifetime opportunity presented itself recently when we were picking up our weekly goat cheese and yoghurt/sour cream order from our friends Camille and Brian who own a ranchette down in Clarkdale.

Everyone here at The Surgeon’s House seems to be into something.

As we cruise through February, Mother Nature is barely beginning to awaken so on particularly sunny days, our finned babies in the lower pond are vaguely navigating about while our Miss Fiona Papillon is ever-vigilant on the ‘birdies watch’ and trying to keep our feral Jasper from getting to his good eats.

With the insane proliferation and year-round breeding habits of the javalinas, this recent January passerby is a welcomed addition.

The Capt. and I celebrated our Samhain ‘bone fire’ a bit belatedly this year so we conjured up a combo meal deal of Solstice AND Samhain ending and beginning – yay! Many bones of 2025 to set aside and leave behind as we move into longer, brighter days and a spurt of outgrowth.