Bird watch: A Rose-Breasted Grosbeak sang his lovely song yesterday while we sat digesting our picnic lunch. I am presently watching an oriole sipping from an orange half that I put on the trellis that leads into the garden. I think he is getting orange juice from all of the rain pooled in the orange. He is very orange and has now flown to the lilac tree just outside of my window. He is singing his good morning song. Now he is pecking at the gas can on the patio. The Brown Thrasher couple are dining on seed that has blown out of the feeder and bugs in the lawn. They have an impressive curved beak. I am really getting a bird show this morning. Very entertaining.

Garden and weather log: Thunder boomers all last night and into the morning. Poor Mudge didn't want to go outside when we got up. I can't blame him. It really poured and then we got hail. Now, if you haven't experienced hail hitting on skylights, well, it is especially loud and disconcerting. At the moment, it is not raining, the sky to the west is clearing, and it is intensely green out. So glad I got the pole barn garden fertilized yesterday. Now my plants will really pop. Everything looks great. The biggest garden worry is frost. We have been known to get a hard freeze as late as the first of June. A few years back, it froze all of the leaves on the trees. It was a disaster for the cherry crop. We watch the weather so we can cover up our plants. Late frost is also one of the reasons why I plant my vegetable garden so late. The iris I planted in the vegetable garden have bud stalks just coming up. I need to pull some rhubarb and find that rhubarb crisp recipe. I need some asparagus plants. Yum, all of that fresh food!