Nature

Wildlife

We live in a city of 3 million, so when several weeks ago EHJ claimed to have seen an animal in our back yard that looked like a brown ferret, I feared the urban worst: rats. But today I glimpsed the same animal... ginger colored in fact, and with Ayi's help, determined it was a huang shulang (yellow weasel.) I did a few quick google searches and found that these tenacious little guys live in the Beijing hutongs, in populated Shanghai, as well as, apparently our very own QD. Rather cool to have a wild animal scurry through our yard I think.

We have other "wildlife" invading at our back door in the form of ants.

"Hey, Mom, I'm just watching the ants," Bei Bei just called over to me.

Then reported, "They're in a group!"

And then, as afterthought added, "and that stuff looks like pee."

That 'Stuff' is the dregs of an awesome ant killer my dear friend Kay imported from the UK and bequeathed to me upon their repatriation. We get ants every year about this time, and thank goodness we'll be Stateside this time next year, because I've just run out of Miss Kay's magic potion!

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Gardening

Our complex is looking tired. The grass is overgrown. It gets nearly knee high, starts going to seed, and then is shaved off withing an inch of its green life by the team of gardeners. We've opted for our own lawn maintenance in our backyard garden and we've enjoyed the time we've spent out there.

EHJ is my champion helper in all things garden related from bargaining for and selecting the best plants, and deadheading and weeding in the months that follow. Last week my friend Carla gave me two sunflower plants that she stared on her 19 floor balcony. EHJ helped transplant and water them.