Lovely Autumn weather and a brutal murder.

Here's my youngest son, William and baby Matilda.


We're having some very mild weather in Eastern Washington State.  The last frost was early this spring and so we had a good year for fruit.  We didn't have a frost to kill the tomato plants until October 26th! and I still have tomatoes growing in my little greenhouse.  When I left for England in early September I thought I'd seen the last of my flowers, but here they are still.  These pictures were taken today!

Clematis in the fallen leaves.


Rose - 'The Fairy'.


Alyssum.


Petunias on the rock wall.  I tried to include the honey bees that were flying about, but they buzzed off.


California poppy.


Instead of the leaves freeze drying on the trees like they have some years, they turned pretty colours and slowly fell.


Very sad news.  Ducky Boy was murdered on Tuesday.  I was standing outside the house with Matilda when I saw a Red-Tail hawk fly up off the ground by the crab apples.  Red Tails don't come close to the house as a general rule.  I knew he was eating one of my pets and I had a feeling who it was - Ducky Boy.  My oldest son, Keegan retired from the air force last week and is home right now, happened along as I was standing horror struck at the thought of Ducky Boy being dead.  He went closer and confirmed my fears.  That bloody hawk kept circling around and screeching.  Then he had the audacity to sit on a pole right above me, look me in the eyes and screech.

Poor little Ducky Boy.  He was such a lovely little guy.  He would follow me around the garden and would have fun playing in the dripping hose puddles by my trees or in his own little pool.  Every evening he'd go in his duck house and wait to be locked in.  He was reliable as clockwork.  Every morning in the winter, I'd fill a rubber bowl with hot water for him to sit in - oh how he enjoyed that.  He never flew very far away.  A few circuits above the house seemed to be enough for him.  Watch out when the Duck Man was coming in for a landing!   Sometimes we had to duck or we would have been ducked in the head.

This spring a wild girl duck landed on the lawn and Ducky Boy was all like - "Hey, how are you doing"?  She tried to lure him off into the wild blue yonder and I thought we were going to lose our little duck, but he just stood on his tip toes and watched her fly off.  He must have really liked us.

Now Chicky Girl sleeps all alone in the duck house.   We got her three friends this past spring.  They were supposed to be pullets, girls, but one grew a big comb and started cock-a-doodling.  One hen was eaten by a pup coyote, leaving just this horrible rooster and a very unfriendly hen.  The rooster couldn't hold a candle to dear Jet Lag and Chicky Girl hates him and hides from him.

I think I have bird drama over-load.