walking around the yard ..having our yearly July drought

Rare hooded oriole in my Michigan yard this year, they are supposed to be only in the far south like Texas to Belize..not in Michigan.

Bambi, checking out the apples and eating some green, also ate all the hostas that were planted under the apple tree (little dickens)

Rose and black raspberry season ..two of my favorite things.

Ugly little raised bed that I'm working on making..from some leftover lumber. First I layered in apple wood and compost for hugel base and then put in some sandy loam but then Ron decided to fill it full of clay..so now I'm in a pickle as how to proceed. Suggestions welcome.

One of the 7 bluebird houses I made from leftover deck boards..some have already been grabbed up by local birds.

Another place I used leftover pieces of the old deck, as a platform for the lawn swing by the rear pond area, and a platform for a bench/table ..all conveniently located in the shade of an aspen tree.

Replaced the woodpecker ridden damage arbor on the end of the dock, with some new lumber, now the grapes and woodbine vines can climb up over it in peace..if you look hard you can see small apples on the apple tree at the far end of the pond, not ready yet.

and this apple tree north of our house is loaded with baby apples too. The deer have been standing on their hind legs eating the green apples off of the tree already and bear seem to check it out about every night waiting for ripe apples to fall of..