Out In the Yard....

We have LOTS of day lillies and tiger lillies in bloom - its a good thing Kevin's favorite color is orange :)

It seems that a FEW of our day lillies have been disturbed...

a deer has been here.....a'snooz'n in the day lillies...

theyr'e all matted down in a nice little bed

and here is was what remains of the flowers...

Perhaps we need to try our Irish Spring soap trick - as per our July 12th post. It seems to be working with the pot out front - the leafy vines are growing back in after the last deer attack. See? Look.

AND! We have grown our first raspberry!! I picked it, after snapping a pic, and Kevin promptly split in half for us to share - yum.

...and there a LOTS of Japanese Beetles ALL over the raspberry leaves - chewing them into lacy-holey leaves, but mostly, those beetles are DOING IT all over the place!

I counted at least 7 beetle-couples getting it on right there in our garden.

How inconsiderate! 

But not so impolite not to include an up-close view of the dirty deed.

Missing: Leaves

The other morning, glancing out our kitchen window, we notice something is missing from our large, ceramic planter of annuals. Each of the top leaves of the sweet-potato vines we planted a few weeks ago have mysteriously disappeared! I recognize this scene as the result of the late night munchies of the local deer! How rude! And after we JUST fed treats to all the deer at the Fawn-Doe-Rosa over 4th of July weekend! You'd think they might have passed along the good word.

My parents had this problem years ago - deer and bunnies chomping on their outdoor plants. UNTIL! Their friend, Larry, told them the secret of soap: Larry's recommendation = Irish Spring. Word on the street is that deer hate the scent and steer clear. My dad put the soap out in the garden on little wires and they haven't had the problems since. SO - the McBrides are cleaning up their year...with tiny little bars or soap on sticks....  Fingers crossed that the sweet-potato vine will make a full recovery.

McBrides on the GOAT!

We visited one of our favorite places in St. Croix Falls, WI today: the Fawn-Doe-Rosa Wildlife Park and Petting Zoo - its right down Hwy 8 from the cabin, so we got up "early" and were the first to arrive when the park opened at 10am. We (Elisa, Kevin, Riley, Madeleine, + cousins Corey and Mason) sang the many renditions of the "fawn-doe-rosa" song we came up with LAST year -Riley, of course, managed to keep his lyrics too-inappropriate-to-share...

Mason, Riley, Corey & Mad

Kevin + Goats

so hungry!

Mad + baby ducks and geese!

more friends: a really ugly duck, a peacock, raccoon, tiny goat.
* not pictured: grizzly bears, wolves, an elk...

more to come!