Christmas Cactus in June?

 

I suppose stranger things have happened, but here we are in June and my Christmas cactus is trying to bloom. Since it is "inside", actually on the enclosed porch, I haven't paid much attention to it, just occasionally sticking my finger in to see if the dirt is dry.

Most of my time is spent outside when the weather permits, sometimes even if the rain is light. Remember how the narrow space behind my porch looked when I first saw it?

Looks a little different now. The drop off is still the same, but it doesn't look so .... desolate now. I didn't get the azalea bush that lies at the beginning of the side garden in this shot. It was a bit scaggly, but is looking a lot healthier now that it is getting regular attention. I am trying to propogate some tiny stems and some have died, but three of them look promising.

Not all of my efforts have been in the upper gardens or even the raised beds. When all the vegetable seedlings went into the raised beds, I found myself left with lots of vessels. The rectangular ones (there are 5) would be perfect for window boxes, but my windows are either in the shade most of the day or not conducive for boxes. I still have a good many seedlings that need a few more weeks of growth, so I filled them with those. Charming Eddie is inspecting my work. 

Eddie enjoys walking about outside with me and never ventures far from me, but I am always focused on him. The recent bear activity and the fear of those pitbulls make me even more vigilant when he is outside. Mama turtle and her baby are solar lights and they ignore my Eddie.

Mr. BoJangles has been tiresome lately. He watches closely for the porch door to open and has escaped a good half dozen times in the past few weeks. It seems he always does this when I am tired and in the middle of something I am determined to complete before calling it a day.

That little stinker can run! He always heads up the driveway, the route that tires me out the quickest. When you call out to him, he will pause and look right at you before taking off again as he heads to the main road, all uphill. HeWho will jump on the riding mower (the golf cart has been stuck in the soft dirt for weeks now) and head off after him. I have usually made it to the top of the drive by them, panting and fearing the worst each time I lose sight of the little devil.

The road is not a busy one  since it dead ends, but the school bus uses it, as well as all the residents and the mailman. He is so little and so fast and my mind's eye pictures him under attack or under the bus. When he hears the mower approaching, his hackles will rise and he will look for me. When I bend to pick him up, he literally jumps into my arms. He is never happy when he is handed off to the man on the mower, but his mistress is wasted by then.

Like Toni Louise and Dora Louise, he loves adventure, but I can't add "Louise" to his name! It doesn't flow right from the tongue ..... and he is a boy! But so was Martha, the boy cat. I miss Martha's company in this nice weather. I bet he could have caught Bo and contained him for me!