Life happens. . .

And it certainly has around here. This is our fourth summer at Chipmunk Ridge, and a lot has changed. When we bought the house, the front yard contained one rhododendron less than thrilled to be in full sun (still there), a driveway hedge of Japanese yew (gone), and the evil Bermuda grass (mostly gone).

The yard is a much livelier place now. The young crabapple to the far right of the photo below currently holds a nest of baby robins, too high off the ground for me to photograph them without a ladder. 

We have flocks of finchlets, engaging in the annoying (in humans), endearing (in avians) adolescent behavior of standing next to a full larder (in this case, on the bird feeder pole) asking to be fed.

Squirrels and chipmunks take probably more than their fair share of sunflower seed, but hey--rodents have to eat, too.

And when one of the squirrels is Stumpy the Survivor, who can begrudge a few seeds?

The goldfinches have arrived in great numbers, always a source of delight--but their propensity for preferring their food on the stem rather than in the feeder has its drawbacks. I wasn't quick enough with the camera, but here's what's left of a rudbeckia blossom following a goldfinch lunch.

At least more blossoms will follow--and probably more goldfinches, rodents, butterflies, and who knows what else. Life happens around here.