Our white trash-in-chief thinks science is a dumb hoax, and it will all be fine.  A deadly virus killing hundreds of thousands of us, horrific fires torching the whole west caused by climate change, unprecedented increases in destructive hurricanes, you name it, it will all blow over and go away, in his shrunken excuse for a brain.  You’d have to be blind not to see the cause and effect.  This dangerous juvenile delinquent needs to go.  And that’s my mini-rant for today.  Back to real science.

The “Thorny Badlands II” is quite thorny and badass right now.  I’ve started clearing around each tree, and in the process discovering all sorts of cool plant life amongst the weeds and briars.  It’s pretty wild out there right now, but by next spring it should be starting to look more like a natural habitat, with native trees, wildflowers, and grasses.  Here are some snapshots, including some tiny “Mammoth” sunflower seedlings I planted in front, starting to bloom.

Here are some brilliant flowers blooming around the house: tropical hibiscus, native coneflower, zinnias, and roses.

I think the wild grapes and pokeweed berries along the back fence are really very photogenic, despite what some people think of those “weeds”.  The birds love them.

Finally, the morning glories are creating a screen of rainbow colors along the fence.  Most of all the aforementioned have volunteered on their own; I just sit back and enjoy the show.

After raining a lot, it’s back to sauna setting.  Not that conducive to working outside, but it doesn’t stop me from trying to extract yet more photographic angles from the same old scenery.

Actually, changes are in the air, literally, as leaves are starting to fall, which means atmospheric transitions are not far behind, and with them more autumnal  conditions.  Then some serious work begins.

Here is the improved herb garden and herb/etc. “annex”, on either side of the back door.  Also some newly potted herbs (and a mini-rose) on the back porch, and some actual peppers competing with all the marigolds in the veg garden.

Here we have a zinnia bud (so fibonacci), some goldenrod full of bees, and poppies spreading in the California rock garden.

Between rains (!) I got some misc. garden jobs done–potted and transplanted some herbs, organized gardening supplies, weeded, and did other landscape maintenance.  It’s looking a little less chaotic each day.  I even scored a pepper, woo.

The bees and butterflies (in this case a gulf fritillary, I believe) are busy at work, too.  Goldenrod is a bee and pollinator magnet.  There’s even a small sunflower that made it past the varmints.

It may be very hot here, but nothing like the whole west burning down.  One way or another, humans will find a way to take out our planet, and themselves with it.

As mentioned, it’s hot out, but Misu and I are chilling inside, watching hummers work the flowers, and waiting for rain.  There are worse ways to spend the quarantine, such as spreading the virus.

9/11.  If we could have known then, what we know now…we thought that was about as catastrophic as it gets.  Who knew.

Appropriately, it was grocery restock day, once an ordinary, mundane activity, now fraught with apprehension and death.  Most people were masked and distancing; predictably, the one person who wasn’t was the one acting rude and defensive, like, how dare everyone show her up for what she was.

We have our routine strategy down, with all precautions in place; yet it still causes me the same anxiety each time, knowing just a random encounter could kill.  Death by shopping, what a pathetic epitaph!  So far we’re still around.

Between that mentally exhausting exercise and the travesty that is trump, I could only take a few photos, but quantity isn’t everything!

The good weather and work continue.  No chance of flowers going away any time soon.  The rainbow-colored morning glories especially are in their prime, intertwined with the wild grapes along the back fence.  Hummers are still humming away among the zinnias, though no luck yet sneaking up on them.

To look out there, you’d never guess there’s a world full of dying people all around us, and the next routine shopping trip could be our last.  That’s true any time, but with a much higher probability now.  I try not to think about it too much, just armor up and limit our exposure.  And get ready to vote the demented criminal out.

I guess it’s the dry season after all…for now.  One never knows.  When you have Colorado going from 100°  to snowing in one day, who can tell anymore?  I’ll take these warm, sunny days any day.

We seem to be in a gold and orange flower scheme right now.  Witness all these warm colors (with touches of cool)!  The bees blend right in.

I have a reluctant confession to make: the ravens may be–cravens!  That is, they may be crows posing as ravens.  (Haha, I bet you thought I was referring to imposters posing as leaders!)

Today I learned that, just as we humans have northern or southern accents, some crows have a regional “accent” that can make them sound just like ravens, with the deep-throated croaks, and so on.  Weird, huh?  The two species don’t tend to interbreed, though it’s possible in isolated cases, not groups.  They do have many characteristics in common, just on a smaller scale in the crows’ case, though some of these guys are pretty large and imposing.  I’m not ready to concede defeat yet, so I shall call them cravens for now.  I want to believe!

Syke–this is not a post about ravens, I just needed to get that out.  And now back to more earthbound pursuits.  The landscape maintenance goes on during these warm, dry days.  No danger of running out of tasks, though.  Or cool bugs, flowers, and fungi/lichens to photograph.  Check out the bee I caught in mid-flight!

Warm, dry, sunny days continue…as does the garden work.  Little by little, the blank slate is becoming more parklike and nature-friendly.

Ultimately, I’d like to surround the perimeter with evergreens and shade trees, so in every direction you’d eventually just see a green screen, with grass paths through flowery natural environment areas.  I won’t live to see it mature, but that’s the general idea, anyway.

Here are some flatbreads E made to go with my Indian meal.  Misu says, y’all go right ahead and slave away, while I supervise.

This dry, sunny weather seems to be holding, so we were able to get the weed fields (lawn) mowed, and I’m proceeding with my various projects.

The beauty of garden therapy is, I’ll never run out of things to do or money to do it with.  Nature does most of the work, and I just assist.  Bonus points for all the natural exercise and breathing that comes with it.

Here are some more pretty flowers doing fine without my help.