Critters and Autumn Chores

The poor scruffy fritillary. I think its days are numbered. Happily, they are feeding on the thistle.

I was wondering if I should remove the thistle plants in the back. While they propagate by seeds, some varieties spread through horizontal roots which produce shoots. No wonder I have so many this year. 

I had a huge plant last year, which I removed, getting rid of most of the seeds.

JB and I were sitting on the lower deck when the teeny tree frog hopped across the deck and up the leg of the table. I'd just removed the roof of the bench swing for winter, and it must have been under it.

I pruned my orchid cactus. This is the before and after. 

The next step is to bring it into the house. I've washed off the window bench where they will sit indoors all winter. Stuffing the pruned leaves (are they leaves?!) into a vase to root. I'll give pieces away, once they root, to people who like plants.

This is Nutmeg's box. She's been chewing on it since February [Gramma Camp – Week 24] at least. If you look closely, you can see Cinnamon's face in the box. Cinnamon roared up the back of JB's chair, jumped on top of it, head-bumped JB, jumped down and went into the box. He was lobbying to go out. That was not going to happen. Nutmeg wandered in the room, wondering what was happening! She sort of stomped off.

We've had some deadfall. The bonus is the fungus!

This one is huge!

Saturday's Critters # 405