How appropriate it seems to have this handsome fellow peaking out from Jared's oregano plants.

He immediately brings childhood fables to mind. I hope he survives the coming winter.

Okay... This was yesterday. I stood in the doorway and took some shots of the birds going nuts at the feeders in the rain. I know the shot is awful, but it shows the streaks of the raindrops as they fell to the ground.

I am almost certain that this is a baby Lindheimer's Senna plant. I would look it up in iNaturalist, but I don't want to be dissappointed. My Class 41 buddy, Vince Armijo, gifted with a small Lindheimer Senna from his garden a few years ago. It has thrived in my wild zone. I am thrilled to have about 6 of these babies, if that's what they are.

Here's another of them.

Here is one more. I'll pass on posting the others.

We had a volunteer mystery plant in Jared's herb garden. I told him to leave it and see what it is. We now know that it is a chile pequin, I think. It seems to have pointier peppers than a chiltepin. I used iNaturalist, and it came up as nightshade! I knew it wasn't, so I smashed one and smelled the unmistakable aroma of green pepper. When I touched it to my tongue, it burned for about 5 minutes. Jared said, "Isn't it amazing that a volunteer edible would grow in a bed designed for edible plants?" I have to agree.

Jared's basil plants are the best we have to offer the pollinators right now. I have seen lots of different species of bees, moths, and butterfiles enjoying them. This is a clouded skipper.

I am always amazed when I look at Jared's herb garden. I thought he was crazy the day he came home with a bunch of junk and said he was going to build one. He designed it himself. All I did was hold things while he screwed or hammered them in place. The basil, rosemary, and oregano are amazing. Half of the basil plants you see are offsprings of the ones he planted in the spring. We harvested a bunch of seeds for next year. After the first freeze, we will take everything out and hand it to dry in the garage. I am going to throw a bunch of them in my mansalads, too.

I wonder if I could train Miss Olive to find truffles? She is always sniffing around looking for things to eat. It drives me crazy. One of these days, she'll eat something that isn't good for her.

Mr. Vinny sometimes follows her around wondering what she is finding. He is not an insectivore!

The next few photos are some "not that great" bird shots. The lighting is bad, or they are fuzzy. But, I must have liked something about them. In this one, that cardinal was trying to chase the other birds off of the feeder.

This cardinal just wouldn't turn his head to a good position.

I just liked the landing shot of the cardinal in this one. It only touched down for a second before doing a reverse flip and flying back into the tree.

I liked the coloring of this cardinal. I just couldn't get a sharper image.

I wish this was closer, but I still like the position of the cardinal.

There is a blurred line in the middle of this photo. It is one of the chains a feeder is hanging on.

This is such a pretty little cardinal.

It almost seems like some of the esperanza blossoms are opening up from the rain. That little spritz of nitrogen from the storms is so much better for plants than city hose-water.