Mother's Day

The most exciting thing that happened this week was the arrival of the ComEd bill for our first month of solar energy production. The total was $14.84, considerably less than the usual $300. “And it was cloudy!” Terry remarked. When we have more sun, we may break even or better, although by then it could all get used up by the air conditioner.

Our first ComEd bill since putting in the solar panels. Note remarkable difference in the size of the last bar on the graph.

Gracie got broody again and had to spend a couple of days in isolation. The nights were too cold to leave her outside.  We set up the rabbit hutch in the greenhouse. She was back with the flock by Wednesday.

Gracie does time in solitary

Thursday morning, Hilda heard a ruckus in the greenhouse when she went to open it up. There was the lonely pheasant, whom Terry has named “Bertie.” He didn’t know what to do and flew around knocking over the plants (including Hilda’s best pepper seedling). Hilda went around the outside to open the other door, through which he made his escape. Bertie hasn’t been around so much since this little misadventure.

I finally got the hummingbird feeder up Saturday morning. Moments later, a male hummingbird was on it, as if he’d been waiting. I didn’t see him again until early the next morning.

First hummingbird on the feeder

I was delighted to see the white crowned sparrows were back. They don’t always stay long. This year, we have a group of 5 hanging around.

Five white-crowned sparrows, two of which are having an altercation over something

The 13-striped ground squirrels visit the feeders also. Goldfinches are seemingly picky eaters and throw 10 sunflower seeds to the ground for every one they eat. The ground squirrels stuff these seeds into their cheeks until it appears that their faces will pop. Then they run off to cache the seeds in their dens.

Ground squirrel packing his cheeks

The apples are in full bloom. Terry has been anxiously watching for pollinators. Bees are most active on sunny days. If the apples bloom during a cloudy spell, there will not be as many apples. Yesterday was beautiful. The trees were humming with insect activity. Some were the size and shape of honeybees, but the color variation makes me suspect that there were several different species represented. I saw a bumblebee also, but it was camera shy.

The apple orchard and the fifth oak

A bee with pollen-packed leg baskets.

I haven’t seen any tom turkeys around lately. I mostly see a solitary female. She has made a dust bath beneath the fifth oak. When I first saw her out there, I feared that she had dug up the native perennials I had just planted. She had left them alone, taking advantage of a spot to the west where I had loosened the soil by pulling up the dandelions. I tried to get a picture of her in the dust bath but was not able to sneak up on her. Here she is walking away from the dust bath (through dandelions that I had mowed three days previously).

A turkey leaving her dust bath

And here is her dust bath.

Turkey dust bath at the base of the fifth oak. The shadows of the branches obscure the contours.

Hilda has had a hankering for spanakopita. She used to be able to get big boxes of it at Sam’s. They haven’t had any in stock for some time. She and I looked everywhere we normally shop to no avail. I suggested that we make it for Mother’s Day.

As I was searching the frozen foods at Meijer looking for fillo, I saw a box of prepared spanakopita. I persisted in my original quest because it would be a fun activity for us to do together. I didn’t take any pictures of the process because working with fillo is always nerve-wracking. You have to move quickly and keep the unused dough covered with a wet towel, but not too wet. We developed a system in which Hilda would separate the top sheet from the rest and lift. I lifted from the middle to the opposite end, and then we both moved the sheet to the cutting board.

The final product was good. We used up the whole package of fillo and filling made from two packages of frozen spinach. There are plenty left for the freezer.

Spanakopita

Jane joined us for dinner. She took a picture of Hilda and me because “someday you’ll want it.” I’m just so grateful that Hilda is still with me, still with it, and still engaged, interested, and independent. I have so many friends who are orphans now. It was a good Mother’s Day.

Mom and me on Mother's Day