Found Exhortation
The nicest places to walk these days are the alleys.

The nicest places to walk these days are the alleys.


Spotted in my backyard in the last month (in no particular order): carpenter bees (concentrated wintergreen oil spray works to get them out of the deck; no need to use chemicals), yellow jackets, wasps, mosquitoes, house flies, aphids, sparrows, pigeons, morning doves, starlings, cardinals, robin redbreasts, mocking birds, gnats, earthworms, cabbage butterflies, slugs. I have invited in praying mantis (hoping for the best). I choose to trap the rats and monitor for termites (or I would be seeing them). The ants are late this year.
Teeming with life or full of unwanted pests? It’s all a matter of perspective. What I do know is that the beings whose presence I welcome and enjoy would not be there if I just had a pesticide-laden chunk of concrete.