Summertime Stories

A new Daylily began to bloom among last year's plantings. I checked what I'd ordered and no such color was included. I emailed the supplier to identify it, enthusiastically telling them how happy I was with everything lest they think I was complaining. Alas, they never answered. I was angry until I remembered my own working days, when our tech manager forwarded many customer inquiries to me. I was already feeling overwhelmed with tasks and resented his forwards, so didn't answer many of the emails. That memory helped me to feel less irritation. Nonetheless, I like the Daylily:

 The fantail pigeons are becoming more numerous and more of their nests and attempts at parenting attempts have been successful this year:

 It has been hot, so I put two pans of water in for them to bathe in. Of course I was hoping for photos, but they all ignored the water until I gave up:

 When I went back later, the water was dirty and had feathers in it - but the pigeons all acted like they hadn't noticed any bathing water. "Who, us? We saw no water. Must have been some other birds who bathed." So I got no photos of them splashing and having fun:

Another Daylily began to bloom. This one I had a record of ordering and was called Paradise Pink:

 The wild Bouncing Bet mixed with the Rugosa roses and they both continued blooming extravagantly:

 In front of the house, along the county road, my new, hardy baby roses continued to bloom - and the Tree Hydrangea, a gift from a friend some years ago, outdid itself with blossoms:

And the Sunflowers began to accelerate their blooming. This was a variety called Cherry Rose:

 And a very dark maroon Sunflower, called Red Wave:

 One quiet day I was on my hands and knees, pulling weeds in the new flower garden by the gravel road. The dogs were in their fenced yard and were barking wildly. This is common for them and sometimes spurs me to holler at them. But this time I stayed calm, telling them they were being silly and barking at nothing. But I heard something beside me and looked up, over my shoulder, to see a big, brown llama regarding me with curiosity. A neighbor and I found her owner but she was at the fair, showing goats at the time. So we spent an hour following the llama and trying to put a rope lead around her neck. She finally eluded us and we had to quit. I found out later that the llama had traveled to an Amish farm and jumped over the fence into a pen full of goats (she normally lives with a herd of goats), where she was picked up and trucked back home: