Fortifying the Compost Bin

... the lilies under my deck have started to bloom ...

A badger is getting into my compost.

 A badger?

A raccoon?

A ferret?

 I haven’t seen the animal.

But I shall call the animal badger.

 Badger dug a tunnel under the rocks that surround the compost bin.

 ... so many blossoms on the clematis at the front door ...

 Badger pulled out all of the good stuff – and rejected the onion skins, the match book cover and the watermelon.

 Badger did chew the rind of the watermelon through the pink, and the white, and only left a slim rim of green.

Ria and I decided to fortify the compost bin with rocks on the inside of the bin where badger was digging underneath with a tunnel to get onto the bin.

... a close up of my clematis ...

Not everyone can drop a rock into a compost bin and have the rock drop exactly where they want it to.

 That is what I tried to do.

 “Get you head out of that bin,” I heard Ria say.

Too late.

Half of my body was already in the bin.

 I could swing myself right over and maneuver the rock to a perfect spot. Ria had gone to get a 2 x 4 to do the same thing.

I tried not to mind the smell, telling myself, it is just food returning to earth. Ria was looking for rocks – first big ones, and then apple sized rocks to fill in the chinks. I had never heard anyone call rocks, apple-sized, so I began to look at them in a new way.

I head across the tracks to a huge wild rose bush.
Ria just reaches out and finds one on the trail.

The lid is secured to the top of  the compost bin.

The day is 30 above.

 Blistering heat.

 Good for the contents of the compost bin.

 I can hardly wait until morning to see if we have out maneuvered badger.

Arta