mikehallden.bsky.social

For those of you asking, a Scooter appearance. He is doing well and mostly staying out of trouble as we hit the Fall race to the finish (fix, paint, mow, and put all the out oor garden beds to rest). Another Fall in Philadelphia (Hall and Oats) with Mr. Wiggles... 🎶 🎵

Tree number 2 is down. Another 60 footer. When this one came down the ground shook! Gonna take a day or two break next due to rain. That and my Poulan chain saw needs a new guide and chain...

Latest readon for my absence: Here are some 60 foot tall Colorado Blue Spruce trees dying from red spider mites. They suck the sap out of the pine needles 🍃 until the tree dies. Can take 20-40 years. Arborist oil does NOT help. So now I have to cut them down next to the electric lines. Sigh.

Here's my kitty, Scooter, aka Mr. Wiggles: He's supervising my driveway resurfacing project! 😄😉

I'm resurfacing my driveway. Scooter wants to help. Just wait till I put the tar emulsion down. Hoo boy, Mr. Wiggles is gonna be a black cat!

Happy Caturday from one cool cat...

Scooter was supervising my gardening efforts today: "What's this guy doing? Scooter, are you helping me with gardening? Gonna eat the weeds? Plant some seeds? He always gets right in the way with what I'm doing. Hi!"

I find the Slush fund Court case to be utterly gob-smacking. This review by senator Sheldon Whitehouse sums it up pretty well. Imagine the government trying to sue itself. Actually, you don't have to imagine... www.facebook.com/share/1GRn9Q...

This is a nice fat Monarch caterpillar on a milkweed leaf. It will grow and turn into a butterfly in late August and September. It will belong to the special "super generation." These adult butterflies fly thousands of miles south to Mexico to spend the winter!

Scooter doin' a lewd... Eh, what!?

For Scooter (the cat) fans, it's Monarch butterfly egg laying time. Here is a female Monarch butterfly laying eggs underneath the leaves of a milk weed. Scooter sees her and gets ready to chase. He loves to chase them. Pardon my panicked voice.

It's Sunday and I have a whole hour to think! Life has been busy lately. Anyway, I try and catch up with major political events and there is one recent pair of folks who are doing an outstanding job reviewing the mess we are in WITH humor. If you have access to substack: substack.com/@muellershew...

Been busy lately. But I'll try and pop in when I can. Here is the Hummingbird at the feeder, near the very tip of the Canna leaf...

Scooter says hi, it's 102 out here! This was a couple of days ago, 7/2. I keep checking on him, but he lets you know when he's ready to come in!

Welcome to the Squirrel and Mourning Dove and Deer Watching Party. It's getting to be a real Managerie out there!

It's that time of year in the Philly area with lilies blooming like madness in the spring. Scooter is about to nap 😴 in preparation for Sunday morning at 4:24 AM EDT when Summer arrives!

Deer invasion! Aren't they beautiful? 😉🥰

Pardon my snarky sense of humor, but we really need to step up our understanding of what world conflict is actually called (let's go Earth 2.0 people)! 😄😉 www.facebook.com/share/v/18vm...

This is a European Musk rose bush I planted a few years ago. It is really coming in this year.

Want to see a bridge built in a couple of minutes? It is really a startling and interesting example of modern engineering and material science! Enjoy! youtube.com/shorts/TKE_S...

The Jackmani Clematis is in bloom! 5/28/26

For what it's worth: If you haven't caught Ali Velshi's weekend show ("Velshi" Sat and Sund 10AM-1PM), you might want to record it and watch it sometime. In my opinion, Ali and Chris Hayes are two of the best journalists, interviewers, and writers on the news front anywhere these days.

This is where I was three years ago (under this mower) scraping out grass and sharpening blades when this little cat came up to me and adopted me... happy 3 year old gotcha day Scooter...

Brutal today. Scooter was out for about 4 hrs till it hit 97° then he came slinking back to the house like let me in! Like a character in: "Gimme Shelter" Oh, the heat is threat'ning My very life today If I don't get some shelter Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away... Good news is he made it!

Hey, Allison Gill: Heard you wondering why "shipoopi" poped into your head. I remember it from a song of that name from the musical "Music Man (1962)... @muellershewrote.com Shipoopi share.google/yVzXqeBWr6fy...

Rainy day Scooter...

I finally got Scooter to look up so that I can get a decent face shot. Still playing in the plant bucket like the last time...

Planting some canna corms for the later Hummingbird visitations. They love cannas. Lookit the size of some of these corms. They should be gigantic this year with a little luck.

Scooter and the cold snap: Temperature dropping like a rock for a few days, so here is my last Scooter shot for a bit... Let's see where Scooter is. Where is he hiding in the jungle? Hi Buddy. How's it going? Got a good hiding spot? Getting a little cold snap coming in. Maybe 33 degrees.

'Tis the season for tax cheating from the Epstein Class. The biggest "tax cuts for tax cheats" has occurred from Trump firing and cutting out tens of thousands of the IRS Tax Cops: $80 BB from IRS auditors.

Get ready for lots of stupid gardening stuff from me. I like this tulip variety. I swear it was called eye liner, but it looks like a Rembrandt or Carnival type but has these striking white leaf edges...

AI is beginning to challenge anything you might believe is true or false. There was a report originating on Face Book, that Ted Lieu questioned Stephen Miller about a $6.2 billion wire transfer to a Cayman Islands shell company. Based on search results, this story is not a real. Good luck America.

I finally moved my 6' tall philodendrons outside. Scooter was immediately enraptured by them and is playing lion 🦁 ina jungle 🌴!

Like I said. Scooter is just happy to watch his squirrel-pals these days.

Hey Scooter, you're not even going over to say hi to the Squirrels? Day after Easter, 2026.

Just to remind people, we just sent our vice president over to Hungary to campaign for Victor Orban on the eve of possible thermo nuclear war in order to support Orban's continued fealty to his puppet master Vladimir Putin. Tell me what I'm missing...

Scooter sez Happy Easter everyone! May you all have a hug and a skritch from me...

OK. This is great! Somehow it really hit my funny bone!