Urban Hayseedwildlife | Urban Hayseed

There are bees in my fridge.

Rian — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:31:50 +0000

Just a short note that, while I was in the kitchen making hot fudge sauce, wifey casually said “you know your bees are coming out?”

Uh, no, I did not.

Indeed, the little buggers had started exiting their cocoons right there in the fridge. I opened up the paper towel, and there were [...]

Drilling Mason Bee Blocks

Rian — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:40:36 +0000

The not-at-all-dumb Paul asks:

“Here’s a really dumb question. How did you drill your holes? Did you use a drill press? If so, how did you get it to go all the way through? I tried making one today and the press would only drop down about 3″. So, I bought a long [...]

Mason Bee Block Design 2009

Rian — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:47:02 +0000

OK, I decided. I’m going to go with two routes: drilled through blocks and a big, ol’ piece of PVC stuffed with straws. Why two? Erm… cuz… three would be too many!

OK, today I’ll show you how my patented drill-through-rolled-liner (DTRL) idea works. Last year, I tried a similar thing, but for [...]

Mason Bees, Part… oh, I don’t know… 65?

Rian — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:22:41 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day, if you’re into that kind of thing.

As my three faithful readers may know, I am obsessed with mason bees (Osmia lignaria). Honey bees and bumble bees are also quite awesome, but the mason bee I find particularly interesting because:

It’s native. Whoo-hoo! There’s something native to somewhere still! They [...]

The Duck Pond

Rian — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:18:43 +0000

Mostly ripping out the garden these days… tho, I’ve been putting in bamboo floors and painting in the shack.

Anyway, today, after days and days of rain, was beautiful. We all went down to the duck pond.

The geese filled the sky.

And this kid filled the geese.

[...]

Chapman School Swifts

Rian — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:11:48 +0000

OK, so this has nothing to do with food, unless you’re this guy:

Whatcha got there is a hawk (or falcon, maybe?), on the right, who’s just picked off a swift in flight. You can see the soon-to-be-ex-swift hanging. I can only guess the other swift swooped in like Bruce Willis in Die [...]

What a day… sigh…

Rian — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:56:19 +0000

I mean that in a good way. Our no. 1 son is sick, and so we’ve been up at all hours lately. So, contrary to my usual sleeping-in-til-9:AM routine, I was able to make breakfast this morning and get outside before 8. I know, most people do that all the time. I don’t.

[...]

Stay on Topic!

Rian — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:11:30 +0000

OK, sorry, I digressed there for a bit… gardening, gardening… yeah… so…

Calendula are starting to bloom.

There’s a bumper crop of squirrels this year. Mmm… squirrel…

The potatoes are just starting to flower. That means there’s baby potatoes down there. Mmm… squirrel and potato soup…

These cabbages are giganctic, but they’re just [...]

Friddle Sings

Rian — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:07:13 +0000

Perhaps you remember this post about our new frog, Friddle. You see, Friddle is a lonely frog. He needs someone to share his pond with. And so every night, friddle sings the blues.

I consider this my first (and possibly the world’s shortest) podcast: Friddle Sings the Blues (657K MP3)

On a [...]

Hah! Two in two days! And, uh, frogs.

Rian — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:14:04 +0000

Went out last night to see what all the racket was in the yard. Breeeep! Breeeeep!

This guy lives in my pond. Well, I say guy. Might be gal. Both? Clearly I don’t know the difference between a worm and a frog. Anyway, this is a Pacific Tree Frog. He’s maybe 2″? [...]