Garden Guardian

I went out to the club for another 8-mile surfski run to the Gil Hodges bridge tonight. That's a nice distance for a postwork paddle. It took me 2 hours tonight, including a pause to mess around with my rudder, which evidently got knocked a bit off-kilter the other night when I dropped the boat on my foot. I was able to improve the situation enough to keep going, although there's more I can do to put it back the way it was.

It was a little choppier tonight than it's been on some of the nights I've chosen to take the ski, I was quite pleased to actually stay rightside up all the way!

I'd stopped to do a little gardening before I left - just watering & a little weeding - and I'd noticed that the 2nd wave of cherry tomatoes are starting to get ripe. Fresh-picked cherry tomatoes had tasted SO incredible after the last paddle that naturally tonight, after putting my boat away (this time without dropping it!) I made a beeline for the bed.

I still had my headlamp on, and after I'd eaten the easy-to-find ones I did look around a little more to see if there were any hiding - and that's when I spotted this!



Sorry it's such a bad picture, but believe it or not, that is a BIG praying mantis. Preying, too, she was actually chowing down on some fairly good-sized bug when I spotted her.

I'm just tickled to know I've got a little hunter like this providing a little natural pest control!

Now I just hope she doesn't suddenly become overwhelmed with yearning to run away to sea.

I'll be around the club at least one day over the 3-day weekend - I'll see if I can spot Her Greenitude again for a better daylight portrait.