Drive-thru drama, the fliers, first veg and flower patches

First up, our local Sonic recently had some drama with the arrest of someone who threw a mint at the drive-thru into someone's car, hitting them on the head. No injuries reported, the mint thrower and the mint recipient knew each other, but the contact was unwanted by the mint recipient, and, therefore, an arrest followed. Okay. That's that shared. I hope the poor mint involved doesn't get in trouble. Also, any unsweet tea at Sonic with any flavor shot is to die for. I mean, seriously. Good, good stuff.

Our fliers are coming out in full force, healthy and beautiful and ready to entertain us for the next few months! Look at this beauty on one of our butterfly bushes! Isn't it stunning?! 

The garden is starting to really come in, and our pollinators have returned to help us turn lots of things into food. Case in point, the yellow squash and the zucchini pictured below came from the garden yesterday. These plants form gorgeous huge yellow blooms that our pollinators use to help  us get these garden goodies. Without pollination, those flowers would simply fall off and yield zilch. 

So many people disregard our pollinators. Please don't be one of those. Plant something for them, anything. If you have pets, obviously, research what you plant, not everything is safe for domesticated pets (dogs, cats, horses, chickens, etc). But you can almost always find something you can do for pollinators, whether it's in a pot or a small patch of earth or a big garden. But do something. If we don't help them, they cannot help us. And for the love of all that is holy, don't kill them with pesticides in your garden! Deal with the imperfect fruit or veg instead. They taste just as good, and they're way better for you without pesticides. I'm no tree hugger, but I'm not an idiot, either. The earth should be handled with the proper amount of respect and care. If we don't do that, then we don't deserve earth. 

The zinnias and sunflowers have gone wild! We do need some rain as their future performance will begin hinging on our water supply. Praying for some liquid sunshine soon, I wouldn't mind a good, old-fashioned summer thunderstorm followed by a steady rain for a few hours, as long as the storm doesn't turn violent, obviously. But look at this! Beautiful! Row after row after row of zinnias and sunflowers. They are not mixed in, rather the patches are beside each other. We'll get a solid patch of cutting gold sunflowers living next door to a multi-color patch of California giant zinnias. I cannot wait to see these in full force.

Baby Iris is growing! She's over two pounds now and expressive and interactive with humans in her behavior. She has the energy of ten kittens, but when she sleeps, she sleeps well for several hours at a time, so that's a relief. Right now, she's simultaneously killing a toy mousie and chasing the border collie. She's a multi-tasker.

Heading off to fry some zucchini and squash. I'm going to thinly slice them and throw some butter in the cast-iron skillet and salt and pepper them, turning them until they're gold on both sides. I like jazzed up squash with herbs, etc., but the first fry-up should be one where the star of the show is the full taste of the first garden vegetables of the season. As the veg gets more prolific, casseroles and other oven bakes will definitely come into play. 

Today looks beautiful, low 80s with very low humidity. No complaints here, that's a very good growing day. Hopefully, though, some rain is in our near future. Love to you on this 11th day in the month of June 2022. The calendar pages are going so fast, I can feel the breeze from it!