On the move

This has been a super busy week.  Last Sunday was spent frantically making up for the lost time that was spent indoors through our spring break.  We moved all of the plants that I started in January and February to the dry stream bed.

It doesn't look like much, but it sure was a lot of work!

We also put up a Purple Martin house.  I read that Purple Martins help eliminate mosquitoes, and that is high on the priority list for me.  My son and I had a picnic on a nice day in early March, and were bitten by several mosquitoes.  It's going to be a bad year for them, I'm afraid. * I just read, and so am edited this post, that the Purple Martin's diet has been studied, and it has been suggested through several studies that only 2 to 3 percent of the Martin's diet consists of mosquitoes.  There are many reasons why this is the scientific view.  There is only one study, which has no real support, that suggests that they consume more than a few mosquitoes a day.*   I read that adult Martins come through our area around March 15, but they will not nest in a new home -- they always return to their former homes.  However, the adolescent Martins do not have a strong connection to a nesting ground and are more likely to take up residence in a new house.  They don't come through until about 4 weeks after the adults.    So we're keeping our fingers crossed.